Happy New Year 2026
Discussion Topic: Memories of Christmas
We enjoyed an afternoon remembering Christmases past. Have a read through and see how many of these ring a bell with you and bring back memories …
- A wartime Christmas with Mum deciding that we needed a tree. As there were none available, she sawed a bush from the garden, planted it in a pot and used silver paper dropped by the Germans to make decorations.
- Meeting Father, who worked in Covent Garden and walking to Trafalgar Square to see the tree. Then walking along the main London shopping streets to see the festive window displays.
- Christmas turkey dinner, crackers, opening presents around the tree and watching the Queens Speech on a small black and white TV.
- One year there was a Stilton cheese on the table. Father said that the blue veins were made by insects and the cheese suddenly moved across the table. Unbeknownst to me, he had tied a string to it and pulled it. I wouldn’t eat Stilton for the rest of my childhood!
- A turkey being carved at the table, a Christmas pudding with coins in it, and a toy snowman which was brought along one Christmas by an aunt and which became a regular fixture of Christmas from then on.
- Learning to knit during lockdown and making knitted decorations for the tree.
- Father bringing home Smiths crisps and Tizer, which we didn’t have at any other time during the year.
- Mum shopping at Gravesend market and bringing home the Christmas tree on the bus! It went into a bucket and was decorated with crepe paper and a string of 12 lights, one of which would flash when it got hot and broke the contact.
- Ceilings covered with paper chains and lanterns.
- Staying awake one Christmas Eve and seeing ‘Santa’… in a pink dressing gown and curlers!
- Mother starting to collect dried fruits (during post-war rationing) weeks before Christmas, which she kept in a tin. The contents were checked periodically before she decided that there was sufficient to begin baking.
- Stockings with an orange in the toe; pillowcases with presents in.
- Celebrating Christmas while living in Saudi Arabia. As there was no Christmas tree, a suitable plant was acquired and painted!
- A real tree, glass lights and presents in pillowcases at the bottom of the bed; playing games in the afternoon as there was no TV.
- Decorations going up a week before Christmas to coincide with a birthday; making paper chains and Chinese lanterns.
- A real tree with clip-on candle holders. The tree would go up on Christmas Eve and most of the needles would end up scattered on the floor.
- Taking the turkey to the local baker because he was the only one with an oven big enough to cook it; Dad making the stuffing; all of the turkey being used - nothing went to waste.
- Looking in Mum’s wardrobe one year and seeing the presents; feeling bad about it after as it spoilt the surprise on the day.
- Feeling grown up having a first taste of alcohol – a ‘snowball’ made from the tiniest amount of advocaat and plenty of lemonade.
- Having to wait until 7am before bursting into parents’ bedroom to wish them a Merry Christmas and get the festivities started.
- Mum spending hours once the children were in bed creating a farm landscape for me and a castle for my brother out of a piece of hardboard and a box. Grandparents provided the farm animals and the soldiers, all of which were played with for many years. It was only years later that we discovered that money was particularly tight that year. That knowledge only made the present even better.
Our next meeting will be on Thursday 29th January 2026 when we will be 'Investigating Family Search'
Report by: Helen Stenhouse