Christmas Nostalgia

We did the unthinkable this weekend! We put our Christmas tree up early, normally I’m a last minute kinda girl, I’ve never understood why Christmas should start so early, but, having missed out on festivities last year, due to er….. giving birth, we decided, what the hell! Let’s be THAT family!

So, while the (synthetic) fire crackled and the decs were located, we turned our attention to the music channels, having not listened to any music other than ‘the wheels on the bus’ for what feels like a decade (having children does that to you) we knew Magic was by far the coolest channel to tune in to……

It’s amazing what those old Xmas tunes can do. Suddenly I found myself transported to childhood and, when I saw my eldest singing along to Slade, I thought not only of all those amazing Christmas memories we were creating for her, but I also looked back to those times of yesteryear. You know the ones? When legging had stirrups and jackets were orange on the inside…. When your mother dressed you in a flamboyant padded snow suit to combat the cold and East 17 tried to look hard and menacing while singing a heartfelt ‘stay’ over the tape deck.

To get you in the mood of Xmas, let’s take a trip down memory lane, when WE were the bright eyed future generation listening out for the prancing and pawing on the roof…

The Ads:

‘Good old Yellow Pages’: It think this had a revival last year, but who can forget the little boy who used the phone directory to ensure a mistletoe kiss? More to the point…who can remember the last time they used a yellow pages?

‘ho ho ho’: ah, when only toddlers and babies wore onsies, this little girl shared a bowl of corn flakes with Mr C….

The Decs:

Tartan all the way. It didn’t matter that green and red clashed with the mahogany furniture or floral curtains, our childhood trees were awash with mismatched decorations and flashing multi coloured lights. None of this matching the wallpaper rubbish we see so much of today…. We just prayed there would be chocolates on the tree (so we could sneak down in the night to eat them).

The Toys:

How many of these do you remember?

Stretch Armstrong – what an ugly bugger!

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The Slinky – fantastic fun, for about 5 minutes… until it gets all tangled up and ends up in the drawer of your orange pine dresser…

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Dream Phone – quite disturbing when I look back on this one….

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Twister – on more than one occasion I was demoted to spinner…… no one wants to play with the dyspraxic kid.

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Mouse Trap – Does the diver face forwards or backwards? The debate of many a household.

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Tiny Tears – if my mother had allowed me to have one of these hideous plastic dolls, maybe I would have been better prepared for the motherhood merry go round of milk, nappy, milk nappy.

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And the wonderful, wonderful.

Hungry Hungry Hippos – Clack, Clack, Clack, Clack, Clack…

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What do you remember from your childhood Christmas?

Tags: 1990s christmas Christmas Trees Songs Toys Xmas

Categories: a little piece of joy Domestic Goddess