General Chat

Thought I would share with you a letter I have had printed in the South Wales Echo today - they have a Christmas competition every year so I am hoping to be lucky with this -


Going to bed on Christmas Eve in our little cottage on the mountain side - magical!!! All the smells of Christmas throughout the house - Christmas pud, home made stuffing, Dad trying to ice the Christmas cake and me definitely not going to sleep at all on the offchance of seeing Santa. Lying there convinced I can hear the sleigh bells , trying not to sleep and wondering if Santa will really come down our chimney. Messages to him have been sent through the flu on the fireplace and then, it's morning!!!! I move my feet and hear the rustle of paper and realise he has actually called - wow!!!! I sit up and see my stocking crammed with all sorts - a big shiny red apple and an orange in the toe, a shiny new penny, a tangerine wrapped in gold printed tissue paper, a kaleidoscope, some crayons, lots of sweets and a doll sticking out of the top. Such excitement - "Mum, Dad, come and see what Santa has left - he's been!!!!" Then I notice that I have a little wooden desk with inkwells and best of all, purple and green ink!!!! A Rupert Annual and some Enid Blyton books - Sunny Stories, and a book with pop up pictures. What to do first - some writing, eat some chocolate, read a book - so much fun!! I don't notice how desperately cold it is upstairs in this little cottage and downstairs I go carrying my spoil to find a roaring log fire in the front room - Dad has chopped down half a tree and stuck it up the chimney to burn all through Christmas - on the sideboard a bowl of sugared almonds and a bottle of sherry. The smell of a pheasant that Dad has shot roasting in the oven and the table laid for Christmas dinner. The cake has been finished and decorated with liquorice comfits and a little tree and snowman on top too!! Such memories are truly unforgettable and bring enormous joy of a wonderful carefree childhood Christmas - Christmasses sadly do not have the same feeling today, but the memories linger on

Ann,
That's lovely!
Strange how we didn't feel cold on Christmas day isn't it?

maggie

you're right, we didn't - it was so cold upstairs in our cottage you could see your breath in the cold air and the windows used to frost up on the insides!!! I did have bronchitis every year without fail mind you!!!

That is lovely Ann...............it reminds me of the tales my dear Mum used to tell me of her childhood Christmases.........especially the bit about listening for the sleigh bells.........she was convinced that she heard them one year : ))

aw how lovely xxx

n

That is really nice.Merry Christmas to you x

Merry Christmas to you too - and listen out for those sleigh bells!!!!

When my oldest 2 children were about 3 & 4, my sister was round just before christmas helping me bath them. They were getting very excited about Santa coming and my sister mentioned that they'd better be good because Santa went round all the houses checking on all the girls and boys. I opened the bathroom window then crept downstairs to the back garden and rattled some little jingle bells underneath the window. My sister said their faces were a picture when they heard the bells as they were convinced Santa had just peeped in on them. They couldn't get out of the bath, into pjs and bed quick enough. It made that christmas really special for them and they couldn't wait to tell eveyone the next day that they'd heard Santa going by on his sleigh. They were extra well behaved up till christmas day too. Merry Christmas everyone!!

Carolyn

what a lovely thing to do - wish I'd thought of it when mine was a little un!!!!

n

What lovely memories, Ann.

I have also written about my childhood Christmas days in my 'Childhood' book and yes, we had Jack Frost pictures on the insides of the bedroom windows (weren't they beautiful and no two alike they told me), and like you, we never felt the cold on Christmas morning. Mum lit BOTH fires for two days. Dad spent all his savings on special food, drinks, fruit, nuts, sweets and presents.

I still silently thank Mum and Dad every year for making my childhood Christmases so special.

Birdi

I was so lucky to have such terrific parents too - we were quite poor but I never went without and they always made sure that above all else I always had good shoes - Startrites - and I'm 73 now and my feet are absolutely perfect - can't comment on the rest of me but the feet are good!!!!

just goes to prove that children are - or were - unaware as to whether they were poor or not - as long as they were happy that's all that mattered

Round here, someone (I don't know who - but I'd like to thank him)dresses as Santa and walks round the estate ringing a bell on Christmas morning.
Such a small thing - but so precious to children.

LOL Maggie; how do you know it's someone dressed up as Santa?

It might the the man himself.

When I was a tiddler, Mum took me to see Father Christmas. I was actually a bit scared of him, but I accepted the present, of course. One year I was put onto a 'train' in a department store and the train rocked and rolled along, the scenery changing as we 'travelled'. After meeting the man in red, we boarded the train and went on the return journey. My face must have been a picture of wonder and I couldn't understand why Mum was laughing so much.

She must have thought that was a couple of shillings well spent!

Birdi

n

That's luverley Ann! I hope you win the contest!

No chance of being cold here tomorrow, forecast is 35C! (40 for Mon & Tues, yuk!)

Merry Christmas to all, whether you are snowed in, feeling the heat or somewhere in between, may your ham be yummy and the turkey moist!

:-)

n

n

thanks Cherilyn - where are you in Oz? I have two cousins in Sydney and one in Adelaide