Christmas is coming

[CatrionaL]

Whit wi Annette en her big pillowcase an' Moonwatcher wi his special expandin' Christmas stockin', am beginnin tae feel underpriviledged. We hid yin o' ma faither's auld socks.! But we enjoyed the same excitement.

Talking of toys, my first dolls house was made for me by the German prisonners of war, working on my uncle's farm. My favourite doll was a present from the Polish soldiers billeted in our home. That also is part of Scottish history.

The storm was that bad last night, I thought I might get blown away. What a worry. I'd have missed logging in to Talking Scot.

Enjoy what's left of the weekend
Catriona

[Montrose Budie]

....much snipped..............
The storm was that bad last night, I thought I might get blown away. ....snipped

Glad to hear that you are OK !

Sounds a bit like Glasgow and the West of Scotland in the January 1968 "hurricane", which the English media always ignores in favour of a more recent similar event in the South of England..... from memory the death toll in the West of Scotland and Glasgow was in the 20s.

I can still recall lying in my bed that night and wondering what the noise was, apart from the wind, - it was the massive seas crashing onto Ayr shore, - our house was 4 miles away from Ayr shore !!!

Davie

[CatrionaL]

Glad to hear that you are OK !

Thanks Davie.

Amitiés
Catriona

[Dennis]

Its amazing the things you can draw wi a piece a paper an a lump a coal.


dennis

[Tracey]

Its amazing the things you can draw wi a piece a paper an a lump a coal. dennis

Coal ? whats coal Tangerines once a year
I vaigly remember the days before central heating and decimalisation. The coal man (what happened to him and his horse !) used to come and fill our bunker with anthracite ? to put on the reayburn !

My best christmas present was a black and white (remoteless !!) tv !! - showing my age now !
and whisky was something that was put on cotton wool to relieve tooth ache and not something you left santa !
The best bit about Christmas for me was always having new pj,s and the main lights going out and just having the glow of the tree lights !!

Which reminds me of walking home from school as it got dark and looking into peoples houses to see who had a colour tv

[sheilajim]

Hi Everyone

I have to ask this. What's with the tangerines? Does anyone know of the origin of this tradition for Xmas?

When I was a kid growing up in Montreal, I would be puzzled about the "oranges" put in our Xmas stockings by my scottish mother, along with the candy, etc. (presents were under the tree). We had oranges all year long, they were nothing special. I didn't know much about the difference between oranges and tangerines.

I really didn't give it a great deal of thought till one year when my older sister who was visiting for Christmas , remarked looking at the groceries that had just been bought. "I see Mom has got her Xmas tangerines". "What are you talking about" I answered. "You must have noticed that she buys tangerines every Christmas" my sister said.

For some reason I never asked my mother about this. So now I'm asking the people on Talking Scot. What's with the tangerines?

[StewL]

Hello Sheila

My thoughts on this are twofold.
Perhaps it was because in Scotland the fruit was very seasonal in those times, reliant on imports?
Secondly, for a lot of families it could just be that it was also a seasonal treat caused by nothing more than economics. I cant recall, but perhaps they were a bit out of the average persons price range at other times of the year.

Remember the fruit, nuts and sweeties etc in my christmas stockings.

[joette]

Christmas with five children & a limited budget tested my Mothers budgeting skills to the limit but we were never disappointed.
It started with the saving of money to buy pressies.Mum would have something special like perfume or a piece of jewellery that Miss Johnson would let us "pay up" with our pocket money.Woolworths was a great source of the lovely bubble bath with a plastic flower inside for the Aunties.The men-Daddy & Grandpa got "ciggies" or a rose for Grandpa a keen gardener.I dont remeber wrapping them so I guess Mum or Margeret did this.Poor Granny aye got Bath cubes.
Up the town to see the lights in Georges Square preceded by the trip to Lewis's to see Santa.What an excitement as you craned to see what this year's theme would be.Telling Santa what you wanted & praying hard you would get at least one of them.
Christmas Eve hair wash & bath,letters up the chimney to Santa,lights off & Mum would tell us stories of long ago & then "The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot" it would have even my brother bubbling & off course most poignant when they became "I'm so sorry for that laddie cos he hasnt got a Daddy" My Dad was the biggest kid at Christmas.. & all the time.He would tell us scarey stories until it was time for bed.
My big sister & I would lie in bed to see if we could hear Santas Sleigh land on the roof & worry he would go down the wrong chimney when we lived up a close.
Christmas morning we were not allowed to get out of bed until Mum & Dad had checked to see if "Santa had been" We knew that if we looked before everything would disappear back up the chimney.In reality it was so that Daddy could get the fire "drawn" It was also his sole yearly contribution to housework when he made the breakfast.
Then we would be told to get on our new slippers & maybe new dressing gowns & wait at the top of the stairs(when we lived in a flat we waited at the door)Then out would ring the immortal words"Santa's been" & five overexcited weans would fight to see who was first down tha stairs.
We would find our presents stacked in neat piles with "our stocking" on top to signify ownership(Dad was minus a few socks that day)
My Mother still keeps this tradition & whoever is there still has to wait to see if "Santa's been" & we still jostle for pole position.
After your roll on bacon or sausg. it was off out to show off your toys with your friends & to have a "Wee go " of theirs & vice versa.
For a greedy guts like me I dont remeber much about the food. What I remember is laughter,song,fighting & excitement & feeling safe & cosy & that all was right with world.
One year Santa had to make a New Year delivery of my present- a telephone exchange.How exciting was that.My best present ever was my"Indian Girl" outfit made from an old sugar sack & hand stitched &embroidered by Mum.Dad was sent on a Midnight Mission to find a long feather for the headdress-so some neighbours son was missing a feather from his headdress that morning.
I didnt know that they were really hard up as Daddy was idle after quitting a job away from home down at Sellafield or whatever it was called then.He was missing us all too much & came home one weekend & never went back.To me & I still have this one it was the best present ever.

[sheilajim]

Hi Stewie & Joette

Stewie- Canada is much too cold for oranges, tangerines or any other citrus fruit. They were imported from the U.S. Scotland would also be too
cold for them to grow there.
Joette- Loved reading your story of Christmas at your place.

I remember one Xmas when my older brother and sister nearly strangled me.
My Scottish mother had a temper, but was generally easygoing. My father was the disciplinarian.

In our family, presents were to be opened Christmas Morning, no exception, according to my father. The problem with this, was that to my father Christmas Morning began 9.00 or 10.00 A.M. To my brother, who was 12yrs old and my sister who was 11 yrs old, Xmas Eve changed to Xmas Morning at midnight. Before going to bed on Christmas Eve, our father had sternly told the 3 of us, that we were not to open our presents till Christmas Morning. We solemnly promised that we would wait till morning before opening our presents.

My brother and sister had long passed the age of believing in Santa Claus. I, however, was 5 yrs old and a true believer.

I was sound asleep that night when a shake on my sholder woke me up. It was my sister. "Santa has come" Don't you want to find out what he brought you? she said. "You must be very quiet and not wake Daddy up". It was pitch dark outside and probably about 1.00 or 2.00 in the morning. I got very excited and of course, promised that I would be quiet. My brother came up and whispered harshly at my sister." What did you wake her up for? You know how noisy she is".

We tiptoed quietly to the living room, where the tree was, not even turning on a light till we got there. The first thing we did was tear into our stockings, ignoring the tangerines for cookies and candies. Then we set to opening up our presents, leaving the ones from Santa till last. Excited as I was, I was quiet as I opened mine. I loved stuffed animals, and when I opened Santa's present and found a pink cat, which was soft and cuddly, I forgot everything. " I've got to show Mummy and Daddy what Santa brought me" I thought. I ran out of the room. My sister, Nan said. "Going back to bed?" "No, I answered. I'm going to show Mummy and Daddy" I heard Nan say, "Sheila wait", but I paid no attention as I ran through the house.

I got to my parents room, opened the door, and shouted. "Mommy, Daddy, Look what Santa brought me". My father jumped up with a start, he looked very angry and I got frightened when he said harshly. "What are you doing out of bed?" Almost crying now, I said quietly. "Daddy, I wanted to show you what Santa brought me. "Do you like it?" He asked. "I assured him I did. He actually smiled then, turned to my mother and said "She likes it". He turned back to me saying. "Go back to bed. Show me in the morning". He then shouted "Eddie! Nan! Get back to bed. If I have to get up, it will be too bad for you!" My mother said. "Oh for heaven's sake. It's Christmas. Leave them alone".

Needless to say Eddie and Nan were furious with me. "I'll never wake you up again" Nan told me. Eddie said to Nan "Can you believe it? She actually went in there and woke him up.

I was sorry that my sister and brother were mad at me. I didn't know what I'd done wrong, but I was happy when I went back to bed with my new pink cat.

[mjh]

My Dad was the only licenced Burner Mechanic in our area of the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland.(Until my big sister,so much for his dream of W.K.Haldane and Sons)He offered 24/7 service and was gone before I got up for school and still out when I went to bed.Christmas and Easter were the 2 days when he would do just about anything to stay with the family.He'd be first one up and head straight for his stocking.He wanted only 2 things.Thermal socks and a shot of Drambuie.(Nasty stuff,he gave me some once and my face was numb for most the day .Try saying Merry Christmas when your tongue has no feeling.)He would stick his little shot bottle in his shirt pocket.This was a very important part of the "stay home with the family plan".He'd wake the 6 of us kids and say things like "Ooh isn't that nice.When do we get to have a go with that?"(Unless it was one of them Rock albums that didn't even make a good frisbee.)Some one always got a game and we would each be challenged to play as the dinner cooked.But the ideal would come to an halt with every phone call we would wait to see if it was someone calling to say Merry Christmas or if it was a service call.Eventually the call would come (Without fail)Dad would be called to the phone(He hated the "flaming thing "as no one could understand his Glasgow accent.so why even pick it up?)That's when the bottle would come into play.Whenever they told him of some problem that could wait(a strange noise or something equally obscure)he would pull the bottle from his pocket and say "I 'm sorry but I can't come just the now.I've a drink in ma' hand and I canna drive."As most Newfoundlanders still used a wood stove for cooking we could get away with it for the day as they weren't without heat.But we would also get the call where they would tell how Granny was visiting from the Old Folks Home .The bottle would be put aside and he'd be of like a shot.Many times missing his Christmas dinner.One of the best presents we bought our parents was a microwave oven.No more long waits to reheat his dinner when he came in from the cold.
HK

I remember this as well. It was very important to make sure that someone gave Dad new socks for Christmas. It was also important when giving out the gifts to ensure that Dad did not open his new socks until he had opened his other gifts. He always came down the hall in his bare feet on Christmas morning and as soon as he got his socks he put on a pair and was off to the kitchen to make breakfast for everyone. He only made breakfast for us all on Christmas morning and on Easter Sunday when he would boil us all eggs, and put out food coloring in vinagar for us to decorate them. I can also remember a few New Years and Christmas days when he did have a drink. It was only one or two during the whole day but all the same as soon as I could drive I became designated driver on these occasions as I do like the taste of alcohol. The phone would ring and before I had time to think I would find myself still in my holiday best standing next to a furnace watching Dad perform his magic. I don't think any of us every really complained at being dragooned into going with Dad as he spent so much time out on calls that this was the best way to get him to yourself. I have so many memories of stories my Dad told me while I was dressed in a pair of his old coveralls as we travelled from call to call and most of them were of Home (Scotland) the rest were of his time in the service while serving in Malaya. He was NCO in charge of the dog handling section and had many stories to tell about his dogs. I loved the one about the surprise inspections. They had one once and as you can imagine the dogs loose on patrol attacked, there after they would get notice to leash the dogs and would know right away that an inspection was planned. So, as you see Christmas stories cover a variety of subjects and some have nothing to do with Christmas other than that's when you heard them.