Christmas is just a month away, which made me think back to my childhood Christmases and how times have changed. A few years ago, the BBC did a programme where a family, mum dad two children, experienced Christmases from the 1940s to the 2000s, the best Christmas was the 1970s – for many reasons, so I found myself looking back on Christmases from my Childhood, I was 3 years old in 1970 so I went from a toddler to teenager in that decade, and even though family life was not easy, I find myself smiling today, searching for pictures for this post!
Christmas Decorations were simple
Christmas decorations were carefully stored from one year to the next in the loft, and my father did not venture up to get the decorations until half way through December. We had artificial tinsel trees that were far from the realistic trees available now, the decorations were fragile, made from thin coloured glass, and there was usually more tree than decorations! The twinkling lights usually required a new fuse or finding the one bulb that had blown! Around the top of the walls we hung crepe paper streamers, twisting them to create loops all around the ceiling, and there were the odd tissue paper decorations that opened up in the most magical way.
Carol Singing
If you wandered round the streets in December you may get a glimpse of someone’s tree but outside decoration was rare in the UK. Instead we used to visit a local department store, either Debenhams or Woolworths to see Santa in his grotto. What we did in small groups was trail round our neighbourhood knocking on doors and singing carols for money. In the seventies there was not the adult supervision that we are now used to, children often went from house to house making pennies here and there. I used to go with my brother and sister – they took me because I was very young and they deemed people would give generously. It was totally acceptable, we would knock at a house – someone we did not even know, and ask them if they wanted us to sing. We would give a verse or two, Away in a Manger, or the First Noel. The household would sometimes bring their children to listen while we sang, and then we would be given pennies in our jar and move on to the next house. It was exciting being out in the dark, wrapped up warmly in coats and gloves, for an hour or two until we returned home to divide our spoils. I can’t remember the last time Carol singers came to my door, times have changed, we did not fear strangers in the same way as we do today.
Christmas Cards were very flimsy – not card exactly but sometimes one sheet of folded paper! Giving cards was a way of connecting with everyone you knew – at school we used to have post boxes where the cards would be delivered on the last day of school before Christmas! As a child I remember delivering cards to neighbours, and writing them seemed a long job! It was a time of goodwill, Christmas boxes were a big feature, the postman, milkman and all the local shops were given small tokens of thanks for the year of good service. We would also save all the cards and wrapping paper, we would open our presents as carefully as we could, and then the paper would be ironed if necessary and used again the following year. I also remember using old cards to make Christmas decorations at school, we reused everything – even TV programmes showed us how to make things from toilet rolls and cotton wool.
It was something that I still do, but I notice now it happens less and less, as people ‘tighten their belts’ – but people in in the 70s were not wealthier, far from it, it was just that we were more connected. I still enjoy writing cards, but then the community I live in is one of the small bubbles where community still thrives. I also give small gifts to our Postman and the bin men. It still feels ‘as if the spirit of Christmas is in my heart’ to quote Dickens.
Christmas Stockings
One of the key difficulties was getting to sleep on Christmas Eve, knowing that magically a stocking would appear when we would wake up in the morning. As I grew the stockings became bigger, at first being a large knitted sock, where there was always a Satsuma orange at the toe, by the end of the decade our stockings had morphed into a pillow case. One of the key features was the Christmas Selection box, usually of sweets – and it gave me such joy to eat chocolate before breakfast!
Presents
Amanda Jane dolls were smaller than Sindy but they had such beautiful outfits, with accessories that completed the look, be it the small yellow tie of the brownie outfit, or the felt hat of the school uniform. I also had a small furniture set, to make a bedroom and kitchen for my dolls.
It was usual to get soap and toiletries for Christmas with pretty transfers, as well as battery operated doggies that did tricks for you. I also remember a Katie Copy Kat who had a desk of her own. Pretend make up and Disney toys were also treasured. Later in the decade I remember getting a plastic playhouse, which was exciting toy.
Disney films were a pilgrimage to the local cinema, which usually meant a good hour of queueing round the cinema before the film started, so I really treasured these disc viewers which were mini scenes from the Disney films. You changed the picture with the handle that pressed down. You could get lots of these discs but I remember only having a few.
There were lots of board games and toys that you played with others, Fuzzy felt had some gorgeous ranges of shapes that you could endlessly create. Plasticine was another joy, (though you had to ensure you did not squash any of it into the carpet) however it was not long before all the colours eventually melded into one large brown ball! I remember being six and getting this chocolate dispenser, of course it was out of chocolate by the end of Christmas Day, but you could purchase the tiny bars in local shops. I even remember giving one of these to my daughter in the 1990s!
Another big feature was the Christmas Annual, these were hard back editions of comics you could buy weekly. Twinkle was always full of lovely stories, I used to want to create a Doll hospital even with a nurses outfit like the stories that featured in the books. I remember a range of dressing up clothes from Woolworths was popular, but many of my friends then had dressing up boxes filled with hand made clothes.
One of the features of Christmas was the huge metal tin of Quality street that was left out on the coffee table – now and then we were invited to choose a chocolate, I remember the purple hazelnut toffees were the most prized, I liked the toffee penny. Like everything now, it still remains a feature of Christmas, but cheap plastic boxes – not the useful tins that hung around used for cakes, or various screws and nuts in our father’s garage. Fizzy drinks were a rare pleasure, especially at Christmas cherryade was our favourite, lime being the least favourite. Scouring for pop bottles was also a way to make a few pence, as the manufacturers gave a return fee on the bottles. I remember finding a discarded bottle and handing it over for my 5p reward.
We all ate a traditional roast dinner with crackers – on Christmas Day, usually a late lunch around 3pm, the table growing as we grew older, and older sisters married bringing husbands and eventually children. We were two families joined together, my brother and I gaining three older sisters when my widowed Dad moved in with a divorcee. Back then we all had to do a week of washing up, but we all piled in on Christmas Day, because we never opened our ‘main presents’ under the tree until the table had been cleared, the plates washed up and put away. It was no mean task, five children, parents and always grandparents on Christmas Day.
The presents would all be opened one by one, each person opening a present per round, until the huge pile was eventually cleared. Then it would be time for games, either card games or later in the early 80s the board game trivial pursuit would be played. By then two of my older sisters had husbands and children of their own, so we used to play in teams. It was always competitive and insults thrown easily should you get your question wrong. It was a very long game and would go on for hours!
We would have tea and then it was to sit round the TV, we never watched the Queen but there was always a James Bond film followed by the Morecambe and Wise show. We all watched in one room, in the early 70s we did not have central heating just a gas fire in the sitting room. By the mid 70s we had central heating, but we only had one TV and only 3 channels until the 80s when channel 4 started. I still buy the Radio Times, (from the BBC) or the TV times (ITV) for their Christmas specials. Although the guides are huge undertakings with all the channels.
Togetherness was the main difference between now and then, even though we were watching TV it was a shared experience. I think that is what the BBC going back in time programme noted was the big advantage of the 70s, the togetherness. Back then Sunday’s were time for visiting extended family as all the shops were closed apart from paper shops in the mornings. I think we miss that pause before the start of another week.
My childhood was far from ideal, but I still look back at Christmases with a sense of happiness.
How does it compare to your own?
Fred the Needle 
