↓
 

Christmas in the Fifties

Head Rambles Posted on by

When I was a kid Christmas was ruled by tradition.

At the start of December the Advent Calendar went up.

On Christmas Eve the tree was erected and decorated while the radio played Carols from King’s College Cambridge.  I never discovered where the tree came from – it just somehow arrived.  Erecting the tree before Christmas Eve was unthinkable.

Christmas morning [in the very small hours], discovering what Santa had left in the long sock at the foot of my bed.  Lots of little toys, knickknacks and treasures and an orange in the toe of the sock.

Mass with the family.

After breakfast and only then, all presents were collected in a big basket in the parent’s bedroom and ceremoniously carried into the sitting room.  Excitement reaches fever pitch.

Rarely if ever did a present require a battery or a remote control.  If it was supposed to move of its own volition, it had to be wound up with a key.  Equally no toy would ever have bankrupt a small African nation.  Each and every present would hold its value for a very long time and would never be dumped in favour of something more expensive.  We appreciated everything in those days.

Dinner was the obligatory roast turkey with roast potatoes and brussels sprouts.  Brother and sister made their obligatory complaints about brussels sprouts.  Cider was served to all and was the only time I was [as far as the parents were concerned] allowed partake of alcohol.  Main course was followed by Christmas Pudding and brandy butter [both home made of course].  Crackers were pulled and I always lost.

Afternoon was spent playing with presents and eating biscuits and Hadji Bey’s Turkish Delight [sent each year by an aunt in Cork] washed down with little maringue biscuits.

Tea was sandwiches and Christmas Cake, not that any of us were hungry.

Christmas lasted for twelve days and only twelve days.  The tree and all the decorations were removed at Epiphany on January the 6th.

Simple happy times.

 

Comments

Christmas in the Fifties — 19 Comments

  1. Yup, similar here, but without the Mass. mind you, by the time the sixties and seventies came around, batteries were starting to creep in 😉

    • And bloody brazil nuts, which took an age to break into. I always had bloody Brazil nuts in my stocking. You could never get them out whole, no matter how careful you were with the nutcrackers. And chocolate Father Christmases which were made of some stuff which wasn’t real chocolate and tasted like shit, but I ate them anyway. And yes, the obligatory orange in the toe, and if you were lucky, a mandarin in the heel.

  3. We always had chicken which was comparatively expensive in those days.

    I’d forgotten ‘Eat Me’ dates – did anyone really like them?

    Happy Christmas, everyone.

  4. Ah yes… Dates!  I had forgotten about the dates.  They came in a little wooden box with rounded ends [that was afterwards used as a pencil case afterwards].  Sticky as hell and no one liked them.  Used to feed them to the dog who then spent the next couple of days crapping everywhere.

    • Yes, it’s funny about the dates. They always came in those boxes, and they were always crap, and yet when you buy dates in the market here, they really are quite delicious. Not nearly as sticky, and not compressed. I’ve never really thought about it, but perhaps the ones in the box were dried, and the ones I buy in the market are fresh? Dunno. They’re the same colour.

      Oh, edited to wish all and sundry who come here, not least yourself, GD, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

  7. We had that, but as good reassurance we children were not all that grand and wonderful, any runaway pride was held in check, by on top of gifts and stocking stuffers was always just a wee bit of coal chunks, tossed into the toe of the stockings, so we were made aware, there was still room for improvement come next year.

    For Christmas in 1949, see this little video of a US TV show down live on the sound stage, the same way radio was done live and not pre-recorded, a Christmas special depicting pre-1950’s, but now that has all changed into what we have today.

    Here is a Christmas special presented live on TV in December 1949, one of the very earliest ones.

    https://archive.org/details/Ruggles

     

     

  8. Father Christmas used to put up the tree and all the trimmings and make mince pies while we kids slept.  Marvelous!  “Eat Me” dates were the hallowed treasures of Grandma and no-one was allowed to nick one without her say-so.  She used to suck em through her dentures! 😀  We never had turkey – we had something called a “Cape On”  never understood that till I was older!  Sprouts boiled till they were khaki-coloured and Paxo stuffing, an apple and an orange in the grey school sock and wind-up plastic crap made in Hong-Kong that was too brittle to last till Boxing Day.  Oh yes and mass in a freezing church.  Happy Days!! 😀  All the best Grandad to you and yours!

    Forgot about the big tin of Quality Street when they tasted of proper ingredients – not like the plasticky crap we get palmed off with now. And Selection Boxes…..

  11. Just watched the grandkids open their presents must be around £3,000 worth at least. We got one big present and a few small things. I don’t envy parents these days. Still that virtual reality thing is fantastic.  

Hosted by Curratech Blog Hosting
↑