Christmas is just around the corner. Even though I know when it is EVERY year, it still seems to creep up on me and I'm left totally unprepared! Haha! Still have masses to do before the big day.
It seems all so different to how it was back in the day when as kids, Christmas took forever to come by. But we loved all the customs and traditions that we had back then - carol singers, nativity plays, shops decked out with glittery decorations, and people wishing you a merry Christmas and actually meaning it! Not a grumble to be heard!
But of course it's the family traditions that stick out in my mind. We had a set of Christmas decorations that were put on the tree every year - some of them made by my mum. And she also used to bake these delicious cookies each year including these yummy mini pineapple tartlette type cookies. We always used to celebrate in one of the uncle or aunts house - real proper family party we used to have! And my grandfather used to make this 'punch' for us kids (non-alcoholic of course!) Whenever it was our turn to host Christmas my mum would always do lamb as she couldn't stand turkey - and to be honest nobody minded that. Oh and let's not forget mass on Christmas morning!
Then of course there were all those Christmas traditions that anyone who grew up in 80s/90s Britain would be familiar with: Top of the Pops, Chocolate selection boxes not forgetting the obligatory Roses/Quality Street, the Christmas version of quiz shows such as The Generation Game and Blankety Blank. And Christmas EastEnders! Unfortunately I seem to be the only one in my family who still keeps up the tradition of watching the EastEnders at Christmastime... as I seem to be the only one who watches it throughout the year! But I remember when we all used to cram ourselves in the living room and around the TV to see the latest cliffhanger.
And all of the above is still what Christmas means to me. There's been many changes over the years and many of these traditions are no longer kept. But it brings back a lot of happy memories when I think of our family Christmases back then.
What were your family's festive traditions and do you still keep them?
We're a very devout Catholic family so Christmas was always a very religious affair for us. We did what everyone else did - the tree, the presents, the dinner, having the family over etc. But we also put a crib up, went to midnight mass or mass Christmas morning. For us the spiritual part of Christmas was as important as everything else.
We'd spend the day in jammies and we always had a pancake breakfast. I have a German grandmother so we grew up with certain German traditions like lighting the Advent wreath, making stollen and Lebkuchen, and singing traditional German songs. My husband is also of German heritage so we pass these traditions down to our kids.
I was brought up by a single mom who didn't have much money. But every Christmas my mom got me and my sister brand new clothes and shoes. Even now I like to buy something new to wear at Christmas. Even if it's just new PJs!
TOTP, EastEnders, Christmas movies, finding out who the Christmas number one was, Christmas shopping up at Brent Cross, midnight mass, and my mum's apple pie. That's how my Christmases were. They look quite different now!
Movie watching in the run up to Christmas! December is always a hectic month with a lot going on for Christmas. But my mam always made sure that we made time for ourselves in the evenings to do something fun and relaxing as a family at the weekend and especially during our Christmas school holidays. So the movies would come out, the lights would go out and the snacks would be on the table. There were five of us kids so the whole family took it in turns to select a film. It didn't even have to be anything especially festive. Just whatever we fancied. Now that I'm married, it's a tradition that I've carried on with my stepchildren whenever they come over during the festive season. They do have some strange choices but that's all part of the fun I suppose! Hehe!
We always, always had Baileys in our house. It was the only time of the year that we (well not us kids obviously but the adults in the family!) drank it. Even now I have to get a bottle or two and I often make Baileys flavoured desserts such as cheesecakes or trifles. Just the mention of the word Bailey's reminds me of family Christmases.
And while this isn't my childhood tradition - more my kids' - but the first year we got married, I learned to bake Christmas cakes and that year, I baked three! 😁And that's kind of stuck so every year for the last twenty odd years I always bake three Christmas cakes of various sizes although I may only get round to decorating one. And I use my mum's recipe so I kept that tradition going!
First of all I'd just like to say that I hope everyone had a merry Christmas. Now just New Year's Eve to go!
Where Christmas traditions are concerned, well let's just say that they've kind of evolved over the years. My husband and I have been married for a long time so we brought with us the traditions that we were brought up with. Some things have stayed somethings have gone, and some things have undergone a bit of a modification process. Especially now that we have children, we've all come up with our own traditions. When my children grow up and have families of their own, I wonder how many of those traditions they will keep.
Anyway of of the things we like to do is have a good quality ham and that was something my mum always insisted on. We eat very little of it at lunch but it's served up as sandwiches in the evening when anyone's hungry.
Arts and crafts were always big in my family. We often used to get together and make our own paper decorations. Well we've elaborated on that and these days I tend to bake mini Christmas pies, get out the wine, and a group of us on Christmas Eve, whoever feels like joining in the fun, create all kinds of festive decorations while listening to lots of classic Christmas hits. It really is a lot of fun and I hope my children have good memories of these evenings - although of course they don't get any wine.
I'm from a West Indian family so we didn't have the traditional kind of Christmas dinner that most people had in England but it was more the type of thing my parents would have had when they were growing up. So we had chicken, pork, beef, fish, prawns with sides such as rice, coleslaw and cassava or plantain. dessert was usually Caribbean rum cake and my mum's homemade mince pies.
We either went to midnight mass or early on Christmas morning. And we always phoned our family in the Caribbean. It had to be a quick call mind because in those days overseas phone calls were EXPENSIVE! Like proper! But we had our family and friends who lived nearby calling in all day so the house was always busy and full of music and people chattering away. Presents were always unwrapped after lunch but I can't lie - the Queen's speech was never really part of our Christmas traditions. In fact I don't ever remember watching the Queen's speech at all.
Haha! Angel I have to say that your Christmases past sound virtually identical to mine! 😂 I was born in the mid-seventies in London, and I reckon that anyone from around this time in Britain would have experienced a similar kind of Xmas.
My parents split up when I was very young so I grew up with two sets of Xmas traditions. But things like Xmas telly, tins of chocolates, elaborately decorated trees, Xmas shopping etc. those were things that were experienced within both households.
I would spend Xmas Eve with one parent and Xmas Day with another and I appreciate how both households went out of their way to make Christmas special for all us kids. At my mum's, no Christmas feast was complete without a sherry trifle using my nan's recipe that was made by either my nan, my mum or one of my aunts (with a sherryless version for the kids because we couldn't stand the taste! Oh the days before we discovered alcohol! Haha) While over at my dad's, if I was there for Christmas Day, my lovely stepmum would have a movie night for me and my brothers, where we would snuggle down in our PJs with blankets, hot chocolate, biscuits and popcorn. Lovely!
I did try doing the same things with my kids but they seem to be too cool for Xmas so a lot of the traditions that I grew up with went out the window - except for presents of course. They never say no to those. Haha!