A week ago or so, one of the Two Birds (I think) talked about Christmas traditions that the Two Birds like to do around Christmas with their families.
They asked if anyone else had any Christmas traditions with their family and that put me in mind of something I hadn't thought about for ages.
For me, when I was young, Christmas was a magical time with traditions and loving moments a-plenty. Thus, Christmas has no bad associations with it at all, as it should be and I often find it hard to fathom people who don't have that same experience.
I lived in the poky little 1.5 (second bedroom is tiny!) bedroom house that I only moved from a year ago, from the age of 6 and at Christmas, because it was so cosy, it felt teeming with decorations when my Mum put up the Christmas tree. We were never allowed to help with it, it was always a surprise for us and I loved how piled up the tree was with all the individual decorations- I call it a bit of a chaotic tree because there was no symmetry and colourscheme but it had artistic beauty in it.
That was one thing I miss. The other was something I really miss!
We have this family friend called N who we knew from my childhood church. She sang in the choir with us, worked for the BBC, was wonderfully eccentric, had a myriad cats (she still does), did lots fo amateur dramatics and is just a wonderful person. She's remained unmarried and single her life and even featured on a programme called 'Spinsters' talking about it (Yours truly was there when it was filmed, sitting under the table with a bleeding leg) Every Christmas, she always used to come round to us for a Christmas meal before Christmas or we'd go to her. We'd have crackers, open our pressies to each other, We'd eat Christmas dinner. We'd have a good fun laugh! She didn't have a TV then, so we'd always watch a Christmas film. Because I don't like Christmas pudding, she'd always make me a special individual apple pie for my desert. She's a great cook and she'd make my name out of many pastry letters and place these in spiral of my name going round and round the top of the apple pie. It was a sight to behold! I wish I had a picture of one of them!
A few years later when I was around about 11, we began another tradition. I'd go round in the morning on Christmas eve and help her make her cats Christmas dinner which involved turkey mince, bread crumbs, chopped spaghetti, gravy. It was a special dish for her multitude of feline residents. I'd make bread crumbs for it using her traditional cast iron mincer which I'd then wash up! It was very curious and I always thought how good it smelt! We'd then always have fish fingers, mash and beans after. I remember chopping potatoes and boiling and mashing them. It was always a very happy time. I loved going to her house (I still do) because it was such a house of curiosities! She is so clever at crafts and I used to love looking round her house at the various things she'd made.
I hadn't thought about these memories for SUCH a long while and I feel all nostalgic! Thank you to the Two Birds for prompting the memories!
What happy traditions or family things did you do when you were young as kids? Or what do you do with your family?
xx
They asked if anyone else had any Christmas traditions with their family and that put me in mind of something I hadn't thought about for ages.
For me, when I was young, Christmas was a magical time with traditions and loving moments a-plenty. Thus, Christmas has no bad associations with it at all, as it should be and I often find it hard to fathom people who don't have that same experience.
I lived in the poky little 1.5 (second bedroom is tiny!) bedroom house that I only moved from a year ago, from the age of 6 and at Christmas, because it was so cosy, it felt teeming with decorations when my Mum put up the Christmas tree. We were never allowed to help with it, it was always a surprise for us and I loved how piled up the tree was with all the individual decorations- I call it a bit of a chaotic tree because there was no symmetry and colourscheme but it had artistic beauty in it.
That was one thing I miss. The other was something I really miss!
We have this family friend called N who we knew from my childhood church. She sang in the choir with us, worked for the BBC, was wonderfully eccentric, had a myriad cats (she still does), did lots fo amateur dramatics and is just a wonderful person. She's remained unmarried and single her life and even featured on a programme called 'Spinsters' talking about it (Yours truly was there when it was filmed, sitting under the table with a bleeding leg) Every Christmas, she always used to come round to us for a Christmas meal before Christmas or we'd go to her. We'd have crackers, open our pressies to each other, We'd eat Christmas dinner. We'd have a good fun laugh! She didn't have a TV then, so we'd always watch a Christmas film. Because I don't like Christmas pudding, she'd always make me a special individual apple pie for my desert. She's a great cook and she'd make my name out of many pastry letters and place these in spiral of my name going round and round the top of the apple pie. It was a sight to behold! I wish I had a picture of one of them!
A few years later when I was around about 11, we began another tradition. I'd go round in the morning on Christmas eve and help her make her cats Christmas dinner which involved turkey mince, bread crumbs, chopped spaghetti, gravy. It was a special dish for her multitude of feline residents. I'd make bread crumbs for it using her traditional cast iron mincer which I'd then wash up! It was very curious and I always thought how good it smelt! We'd then always have fish fingers, mash and beans after. I remember chopping potatoes and boiling and mashing them. It was always a very happy time. I loved going to her house (I still do) because it was such a house of curiosities! She is so clever at crafts and I used to love looking round her house at the various things she'd made.
I hadn't thought about these memories for SUCH a long while and I feel all nostalgic! Thank you to the Two Birds for prompting the memories!
What happy traditions or family things did you do when you were young as kids? Or what do you do with your family?
xx