[Selkie]

a clown bear sounds really creepy...

[Trillium]

I thought so too, Rosemary. When I snuck a look in my parents gift hiding spot, I thought it was for my younger sisters. My dad and I were always at odds so I guess he figured this would be the ultimate insult. And it was. I lied and told friends I'd simply received books and music.

[mkhenry]

We must have been fairly poor when I was a kid,but no one ever told us. Chistmas was the most wonderful time.  We had great food. Cakes all home cooked and started in october when we all had to have a stir.
A giant chicken and lots of veg.
Very few presents but we did not expect them so we thought it was great when we got an apple and an orange.  We all so got Chocolate money and a compedium of games made of paper that you had to cut out.
We all loved it.Then we sat around the piano and Dad played while we all sang the old songs.
Yes we might have been less well off they most kids are today but we did not know it and we did not care.  

[Selkie]

Henry, that sounds lovely - we all used get to make a wish each when stirring the Christmas cake mix.

We used all get round the piano for carols too.

[mkhenry]

Henry, that sounds lovely - we all used get to make a wish each when stirring the Christmas cake mix.

We used all get round the piano for carols too.

It was a typical Irish Christmas Rosemary,lots of family lots of fun and lots of love,and I loved them so much that Christmas remains very very special to me all these years later.  

[Selkie]

Ah yes Henry, an Irish Christmas

Do you put a lit candle in the window to welcome travellers over the holidays?

It's an Irish tradition I really love

[mkhenry]

Ah yes Henry, an Irish Christmas

Do you put a lit candle in the window to welcome travellers over the holidays?

It's an Irish tradition I really love

Yeb plus a jar was  always ready for anyone who called,and they would be made most welcome.
The singing went on until my Dad was too tired to go on.

He played many musical instruments and once he was tired of one we would make him play another.
Then it was the old wind up record player with us all dancing and just having fun. We were aways sad to go to bed but by then we needed it.
We always saved some chocolate money for bedtime and boasted how much we had eaten.
Lovely great days.  

[David.]

We used all get round the piano for carols too

When my father was a child during the Great Depression, the family were told they were too rich to claim National Assistance as they had a piano, so the piano got smashed up for firewood.

[Gwiz]

Dad was a postman all of his married life, and mum didn't work, she stayed at home to look after us all, money was therefore quite scarce in our house. we didn't go on holidays or anything like that, but we did go and stay at gran and grandads council house in Aldershot for a weekend or two. I remember we had to sleep on a bare matress on the floor of an unused bedroom.
for Christmas presents, mum and dad used to save up greenshield stamps all year that they got from the local shop, and then they "spent" them on us three kids.
I remember up to the age of about 14 (I'm the youngest), my parents could never afford to heat our council house in Tolworth, so we vertually lived in one small room downstairs as that was the only room they could afford to heat.
Going to bed was murder! having to undress and wash in cold water. Brrrrr.
In the deepest mid winter, We often woke up in the morning with an actual frost on the blankets formed from the water in our breath.
But I can honestly say I had a very happy childhood, and I reckon my experiences as a kid, has made me so that i see the funny side of just about everything, I'm often told that I don't take too much too seriously, I see that as a blessing, rather than a handycap!!

[David.]

Yes, no central heating in those days!

We were lucky because there was an open fire in the living room (when we could afford coal), an electric fire in the dining room and a portable parafin heater.

Only when it was really cold (none of these mild winters then) and there was ice on the inside of the bedroom windows, was I allowed to have to the airing cupboard door slightly ajar to let some heat out into my bedroom. If I was also ill in winter, then I would be allowed the portable heater.

[Ruby Red]

I can still remember the cold lino on the bedroom floor and the outside toilet seat was so cold to sit on that I used to put my hands under my thighs as a kid to lessen the shock! :shock:

[DD.]

I can still remember the cold lino on the bedroom floor

Lino! - You had lino :?:

[David.]

We had lino, but only a rectangle in the middle of the bedroom, with stained bare boards around the perimeter. Trouble was that the lino was mostly under the bed!

[Ruby Red]

I can still remember the cold lino on the bedroom floor

Lino! - You had lino :?:

 Beginning to sound like the 3 Yorkshiremen. lol

[shaun]

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE
1940's, 50's, 60's and 70's !!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a tin, and didn't get tested for diabetes.    

Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking .

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a van - loose - was always great fun.

We drank water from the garden hosepipe and NOT from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.  

We ate cakes, white bread and real butter and drank pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because......  

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!  

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem .

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no text messaging, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!


We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents .

We played with worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.  
Made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not poke out any eyes.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!

Local teams had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!  

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.  

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned

HOW TO
DEAL WITH IT ALL!  

And YOU are one of them!

CONGRATULATIONS!  

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good.  

and while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.    

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!