So many memories. Difficult to pick a favourite. My dad was a church minister till I was about 6, so a lot of church-related ones. I knew Christmas was close when we started Carol singing round the streets - we would visit houses of people we knew who were house-bound. I remember one young student playing the flute - it was the first time I had every heard one, and I still remember staring up at the stars and hearing the notes of 'Silent Night' and 'O Come All Ye Faithful' floating up into the night sky. So beautiful.
Sitting under the tree (a real one) and smelling the pine scent and looking out for my favourite decorations, two carved swallows, which my Mum still has and which are older than I am!
Waking up on Christmas morning to 'Joy to the World' (same tape every year - when it fell apart, I found the identical recording on CD, so it still starts off my Christmas day!) and to a stocking bulging with presents. Christmas morning service with loads of carols and then loads of people for Christmas dinner - my parents invited anyone in the area who they knew would be on their own for Christmas Day.
When we spent Christmas with my grandparents, I remember my grandmother had a Christmas snow scene that came out every year - my aunt had made a 'fairytale' castle out of old cardboard tubes covered in crepe paper, and this was set on a bed of cotton wool 'snow' with a mirror 'lake' complete with a horse and sleigh, skaters and a plastic church that lit up and played 'silent night'. Looking back, it seems incredibly tacky, but as a child, I thought it was magical (the lovely thing is that this year, my aunt made an identical castle with her grand daughters, so the fairytale scene now spans 4 generations!) My grandparents also had a friend living nearby who would dress up as Father Christmas on Christmas Eve and visit all the houses in the road that had children and give us all a selection box. We knew the Father Christmas we met in the grotto in town was fake, but we were totally convinced this one was real because we saw him walking along the street!
The Christmas I was 6, my parents were so poor they couldn't afford to buy me any toys, so they made me ones - little wooden toys and Mum made me some felt puppets and she and my grandmother knitted some clothes for my dolls and teddies. They were so worried about me 'missing out', but that was the best Christmas of my childhood and I kept those toys until they fell apart.
So many happy memories. Thank you for starting this thread...I'm off to wallow in nostalgia now!
