I may sound like I'm bragging but I really don't think I've ever had a bad Christmas in my life, and I owe that to my brilliant parents! I'm an only child (not spoilt, I promise) and my parents always went all out for me. In the lead up to Christmas there'd be shopping trips up to London, visits to Santa's grotto, and other events. And then on the day itself we'd have family, friends, and neighbours join us in the evening. Sometimes though we went over to other family members' homes for Christmas and that was great too.
Now that I'm a mum, I work very hard to keep that magic alive for my own kids who are still quite young. I want them to look back at Christmas as a special time, so a lot of the traditions and things my parents did for me, I do for my kids. I suppose the only difference is that they get a lot more presents than I did!
How are similar/different are your then and now Christmases?
I'd say they were different but not that different if that makes any sense. There's still a lot of the same traditions. We use the same recipes that previous generations have used that we grew up with. But now, as some of you have already said, it's all about our kids and the rest of the young generations in our families.
One thing I've noticed for sure is the expense. Gone are the days when you could give someone some socks or smellies. And I'm sure food costs weren't as high as they are now.
Well since I became a mum my Christmases have revolved around my children as it does for all parents. My parents divorced when I was very young so I'd spend alternate Christmases in each house with a different set of siblings. In some ways that still exists but not for me - for my kids as I divorced their dad over a decade ago. But as with my parents, my ex and I make it work because the kids come first.
My dad comes from quite a religious Catholic family so we would go to mass Christmas morning. I'm not religious however so we don't go to church, although my husband comes from a Catholic family so when the kids stay with him they have been known to go to mass.
But for me, no two Christmases are ever the same as it's different each year depending on where I am, who I'm with, where the kids are going to be etc. And if Christmas is at mine there's no tradition or traditional turkey meal as such like when I was a kid. It purely depends on how I feel.
Christmas has changed a lot since I were a kid! There were five of us kids and money were tight. I wouldn't say we went without and my mum and dad made a real effort, saving up throughout the year and everything. But there were definitely no flashy gifts. If anything they bought us stuff we needed. No luxuries. But Christmas were still fun. These days I really like to push the boat out. Christmas is once a year so why not. I have three stepkids and we do our best to treat them even when they're not spending Christmas Day round ours. And one tradition I still keep from my childhood days, is watching the Queen's speech. Although now of course it's the King's speech.
I do try to get home to the UK for Christmas but it's not always possible. I come from a big family so we'd have these huge, loud family Christmases, Essex style! LOL! So I suppose that the biggest difference is that now I'm more likely to be celebrating Christmas in America, with either just my husband or we go over to his family.
The American Christmas menu also looks very different to the British one. No Yorkie puddings to go with the roast turkey dinner for a start. We don't really have Christmas pudding or mince pies either. Though it does make me laugh when Americans think there's meat in mince pies - no there isn't!
And crackers are not so common here either. But when all is said and done, Christmas, whichever side of the Atlantic I'm on is great. Just a little different, though of course the biggest difference is when I don't celebrate with my family.