Author Topic: memories of childhood christmas presents,  (Read 3933 times)

Alfred

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4869
memories of childhood christmas presents,
« on: Dec 01, 2019, 08:33:12 AM »
In those early years, many years ago  I remember waking up one Christmas morning to find there was a pillow case , inside it was a box a clockwork train two carriages  the tracks which fitted into each other to which  formed into  an oval shaped track , of course in time a signal box was added and a station too,

I cant remember how long I had that train set, but the excitement was wonderful at an early age when  as a child I really believed in father Christmas , the build up to Christmas  making paper chains ,and hanging the decorations on a small real Christmas tree,then a really exciting time,

so  I wonder if that magic still works today as many children know in advance what they are going to receive , and obviously the magic of yesteryear it .seems for many has long gone, ….mores the pity

Q; what child hood memories do you recall and will you share your memories with us on that Christmas morning,.

sparky

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 9831
Re: memories of childhood christmas presents,
« Reply #1 on: Dec 01, 2019, 08:46:59 AM »
Yeah in those days Christmas and birthdays were the only time  you were lucky enough to get a present, I would think nowadays for many children badgering their parents for long enough would mean getting what they want any time of the year would have the desired effect.

Michael Rolls

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 72679
Re: memories of childhood christmas presents,
« Reply #2 on: Dec 01, 2019, 09:27:06 AM »
My brother and I were given a similar train set - a joint present and no idea now who it came from, probably not my parents as we were pretty hard up up the time, but had quite a number of aunts and uncles. Our set included a tunnel, I suppose about 10 inches long. The loco was clockwork, so it just went round and round until it ran down, but our cat was fascinated by it all, including crouching at the further end of the tunnel for the train to appear - perhaps he thought it was a large, particularly stupid, mouse! Gave up when the train struck him on the nose!
Mike
Thank you for the days, the days you gave me.
The older I get, the better I was!

Scrumpy

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 24731
Re: memories of childhood christmas presents,
« Reply #3 on: Dec 01, 2019, 10:20:19 AM »
 We had to share a homemade dolls house.. very basic..
I always remember that Christmas.. Yet many following are just shadows..
Everything will be alright in the end, and if it’s not alright, its not the end.

sparky

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 9831
Re: memories of childhood christmas presents,
« Reply #4 on: Dec 01, 2019, 10:28:43 AM »
While not the same as a present as such, did others experience what always happened when the many aunts and uncles visited us, when I was a nipper, when leaving, they would  discretely press sixpence or a shilling in my hand.

Sheila

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 7094
Re: memories of childhood christmas presents,
« Reply #5 on: Dec 01, 2019, 10:31:43 AM »
I seem to remember an orange!  Oh well.  My grandchildren's lives are so different.

Michael Rolls

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 72679
Re: memories of childhood christmas presents,
« Reply #6 on: Dec 01, 2019, 10:42:12 AM »
Never saw an orange until after the war - too young to remember having them before it - only 2 on 3/9/39
Mike
Thank you for the days, the days you gave me.
The older I get, the better I was!

GrannyMac

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 25218
Re: memories of childhood christmas presents,
« Reply #7 on: Dec 01, 2019, 06:01:44 PM »
I wanted some ice skates when I was about 14.  So I went to the tatties (potato picking) for two weeks that autumn, organised by the school.  It was very hard work, but I earned enough and bought a second hand pair from a pawn shop.  They were beige, so I painted them white.  Pretty awful, but they were better than the hired ones from the rink.

My father bought me brand new skates that Christmas, said I'd earned them. They were a complete surprise. That has always stuck in my mind.
Just because you’re offended doesn’t mean you’re right.

R. Gervais

richmond62

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 9193
Re: memories of childhood christmas presents,
« Reply #8 on: Dec 01, 2019, 06:10:30 PM »
I did with an old football sock:

A small toy, a tangerine, a walnut and 3 chocolate coins: enough to keep my sister and I occupied while
Mum and Dad had an all-in wrestling match with the turkey.

After my sister and I had done the washing-up, we would hand out the presents under the tree:
one at a time, slowly, so we could all share in each other's pleasure at the presents we unwrapped.

My 2 sons never got more than that, as Christmas was never meant to be a feeding frenzy or a greedy thing.

When my older son was 17 he announced he wanted a computer:
so he put away half his pocket money in a jam jar on the mantelpiece, and
I matched it: when we had enough he and I went to buy a computer.

zoony

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 63553
Re: memories of childhood christmas presents,
« Reply #9 on: Dec 01, 2019, 07:02:50 PM »
Mum 'n dad always tried to buy one 'big' present and some little ones. One year it was a Scalextric, turned out to be dad's toy and I remember the Hornby train set..Ditto..
"Listen to the wind, it cleans the mind."

"Never use money to measure wealth, son"

                                           cowboy wisdom.

Cassandra

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2593
Re: memories of childhood christmas presents,
« Reply #10 on: Dec 01, 2019, 09:05:10 PM »

Sometimes my parent's attitude to 'gifting' was most autocratic. Together they specifically hated toy guns, so if aunts and uncles gave me one as a gift, they 'replaced' it with another toy, prior to me even seeing it. I eventually worked this out, as the 'thank you' letters were suitably 'vague', i.e. "thank you for your lovely gift" etc.

I always remember Xmas 1955 when the 'gunslingers', my dads younger brother and his wife had their 'Luger Parabellum 9mm' pistol replaced for them by a Schuco BMW 328 (sportscar model from the 1930's). A thing of beauty, I fell in love with it on first sight and still have it today in the loft somewhere, carefully bubble wrapped and preserved in fleece. Tin plate it was a work of art and a tribute to the German manufacturer. (pic below)

When my father passed on in '77, we all (mum, my late wife and I) lived together in the 'family seat'. We had a large, rather spooky loft, with 3 separate rooms full of artefacts from the many generations who'd lived there. Perusing a few boxes one day after she died in 2005, I discovered a large 'egg box'. Inside were all my unopened 'armaments' from 1949 to 1957. It was most nostalgic to sit there gone 60, opening a boys presents from long gone relatives inside their original and unopened boxes, some with prices i.e. 3/6d etc still on them.

My Little Dog - A heartbeat at my feet ...

Michael Rolls

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 72679
Re: memories of childhood christmas presents,
« Reply #11 on: Dec 01, 2019, 09:08:42 PM »
What a superb model!
Mike
Thank you for the days, the days you gave me.
The older I get, the better I was!

Cassandra

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2593
Re: memories of childhood christmas presents,
« Reply #12 on: Dec 01, 2019, 09:22:29 PM »
What a superb model!
Mike

Mike they made (and still do) some really fabulous models, real German precision and quality. I've had many presents as a child, Trix Twin railway sets, a 3ft long, hand made clockwork powered Queen Mary liner etc, but that Schuco has always been number one as a toy. Clockwork for propulsion, it had front, rear and dashboard battery powered lights. I apparently always took my favourite toy to bed with me Xmas night and the BMW was that years selection. Sharing the space with my Parents gift, an Airedale puppy.
My Little Dog - A heartbeat at my feet ...

zoony

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 63553
Re: memories of childhood christmas presents,
« Reply #13 on: Dec 01, 2019, 09:23:19 PM »
Given envy's place on the sin-list, surely it's sinful to evoke it?  ;D ;D  Such sensible parents and no doubt with memories fresh of the two devastating conflicts they must've both lived through.
"Listen to the wind, it cleans the mind."

"Never use money to measure wealth, son"

                                           cowboy wisdom.

Jacqueline

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5261
Re: memories of childhood christmas presents,
« Reply #14 on: Dec 01, 2019, 10:06:11 PM »
One Christmas I decided I wanted a Budgie, I was about six and still believed in Father Christmas at the time.  On Christmas morning there was a little green Budgie in a cage at the end of my bed, heaven knows how he didn't wake me.


I was fine with him in the cage, but when mum let him out he flew around and landed on my head, I screamed the place down.  Mum loved little Jimmy, she taught him tricks he used to say Hello Jimmy, he was the best Christmas present mum ever had.