The Enid Blyton Society

Doesn't that still count as religion, though?

True, lol!

Can anyone remember their best ever Christmas and why they enjoyed it so much?

I think my favourite was around 1975 when I was about 7 or 8 and old enough to savour the Christmassy atmosphere and enjoy my grandad dressing up as Father Christmas - I think we might have had snow that year too..

The Christmas that sticks out in my memory was around 1980. It was the last Christmas before my nan died (my mom's mom) and as usual we went to my nan and grandad's house for tea in the evening.

I remember I had had a car from Father Christmas which had batteries in it. It would go along till it came to a wall, then it flipped over and carried on going in the opposite direction, till it reached another wall and flipped over again. It was a really top present in those days!

My sister (older and wiser than me!) decided to experiment to see if it would work on any surface, so she knelt down with her head on the carpet and tried to get it to climb over her head. The car's wheels stuck in her long hair and got tangled. I was moaning and panicking about my car and Deb was moaning and panicking about her hair! In the end she had to be 'cut out' of it with my nan's scissors! I was more concerned that my car might be broken (typical brother) but luckily it was okay! I still have it today - and it still works too!

Those were happy Christmas days - nan always did a good salad-type tea - her cups of tea always tasted strange to me because she used 'sterilised' milk, which we never used - and afterwards we always played 'Bingo' for pennies. We were always excited when we won a 'house' - usually there were about 12 of us, so sometimes we won as as much as 12p!!

Going home that night, we stepped out of my nan's front door and found it was snowing - one of the few times I remember snow on Christmas Day. It was fairly deep too - about six inches, and dad had to clear the show from round the car before we could drive off.

That's definitely one Christmas I remember with great fondness. By the following year my nan had died, and we went to my aunt's for Christmas tea instead, but things were never the same.

Lovely memories Rob - thank you for sharing them.

Your post also reminded me about the milk we drank.
My Nan used sterilised milk too.My other grandparents bought 'gold top' milk - so it was quite a contrast to have cornflakes with both types of milk.
At home, we bought 'silver top' or 'red top' milk - never 'gold top'.

I've just remembered my brother Mike and I used to pore over the toys in my Mum's catalogues in the months before Christmas and drool over the pedal cars, Tonka Toys and Action Man paraphernalia etc etc.
Then we would 'drop hints' to our parents about the toys we dreamed of owning...

Did anyone else ''window shop' like that?

John Pickup wrote:Rob, I can see Martin's Newsagents but I can't see Roy Wood. Was he inside the shop?

He was probably asked to Move on. As was Cliff...(before Courtenay puts up a YT link )

Courtenay wrote:Except of course, if there were no religion, there wouldn't be Christmas in the first place...

There are plenty of religions that don't (or shouldn't!) celebrate Christmas. Ming is Muslim, and she celebrates it! I remember her telling me years ago that her family used to visit a Christmas family to join in the fun. You can be sure there would still be a main event on December 25th with or without the Holy Birth. The retail world would collapse without it.

Yes Pete - we always had silver top milk, or red top.

My mom always had a catalogue and we would look through it endlessly, dreaming of the toys we'd like (and probably wouldn't get!) and also my grandad had a catalogue, which mom would sometimes borrow, so we'd look in there too! Unlike today, we didn't get everything we wanted by any means, but it was fun to look!

One toy I always dreamed of having but never did was the ' Evel Knievel' stunt bike toy - it was all the rage and some friends had it but I never did.



Some toys I had at Christmas included a Sailor Action man with 'gripping hands', a toy circus, a Mousetrap game, an Action Man aeroplane that converted into a jeep, and a Meccano set, as well as Lego and a toy post office (which I loved as it also had little jars of sweets!). I had one main present a year (such as the circus) and then stuff like drawing books, felt pens, colouring book, a couple of annuals (usually Beano or Rupert etc) but nowhere near the amount of stuff kids get these days!

I remember similarly dreaming over the Toyworld catalogue... One of the most memorable Christmases was our first one in our new house (where my parents still are). I'm pretty sure that was the year we got some of our best Lego ever — my sister got Robin Hood and his men and their hideaway and I got a Lego medieval inn with knights and horses and so on. That was only surpassed a couple of years later when (for respective birthdays, I think) we got the Lego pirate ships!!

I loved mail order catalogues as a child. I remember ordering them and even running agencies! I felt like a proper little businessman.

Glad someone got it, María Esther.

Rob Houghton wrote: Unlike today, we didn't get everything we wanted by any means, but it was fun to look!

I'm genuinely confused as to where this highly predominant view has come from...? We don't really get everything we want by any means even today, ya know. Some of us don't even get Christmas.
No but in all seriousness, I'm genuinely curious to know why adults all over the world think kids these days are highly privileged.

Oh wait or are you talking about you as adults getting everything you want? Now I is confused.

Courtenay wrote:Glad someone got it, María Esther.

Of course!!!