When I was small my Nan would machine sew some crepe paper bags and fill them with dolly mixture sweets to be hung from the tree. I never remember eating any of them though! I don't think we went overboard with lights back in the 1960's/'70's. Our tree decorations were ones we had inherited, or made at school, interspersed with tinsel and lametta.
We made paper chains to be hung across the ceiling and a honeycomb paper Father Christmas and Snowman were fixed to the wall. We always had balloons tied to each corner of the room and it was obligatory to have two round balloons with a long one in the middle (remember that?) and we would all make out that it was arranged like that by accident!
Decorating the house for Christmas has become a much more sophisticated affair today and seems to have lost some of its spontaneous edge. We no longer have rude balloons, tacky tinsel and paper chains and yet somehow that was all part of the fun wasn't it?
The very best part of decorating the tree is taking out the old ornaments and remembering how they came to be in the collection. Hand made, child made, photos of us as newlyweds, our small and precious children's creations, souvenirs from gardens long gone. The walk through our past and the hope for our future all wrapped up in the present that is now.
ReplyDeleteOh I agree, yes you just described my childhood Christmases and yes these days it feels a bit commercial x
ReplyDeleteFor us it was those foil covered chocolate pennies - and I DO remember eating a lot of those!
ReplyDeleteWe never had tinsel, but sometimes we had those long shiny silver angel hair thingies - lametta?
ReplyDeleteHa ha I do remember all of those things Simone, we really went to town in those days with the decorating. Then because so much was put up when the new year came and it had to be taken down again the place was so bare looking, it was awful!
ReplyDeleteVivienne x
Now that sounded just like my nan and grandad's house!
ReplyDeleteI shall be making paper chains soon with the children, well S at least!
Lisa x
Christmas is just too commercial these days. Each year someone comes up with a new concept for how to decorate for Christmas and it's amazing to see how many people buy into it. Our tree is the one we've had for years, and most of the decorations were made by my son at school or by me and they get used year after year. It feels so much more special and the memories they bring are priceless.
ReplyDeleteI remember the paper chain garlands we made at school and also, at home, those crepe paper ones that stretched out like a concertina, always put up from each corner of the room to the light in the middle of the ceiling, ballons in the corners too. The tree was quite small and sparse with branches that folded out and we had glass baubles, there was always a broken one, and plastic santas on sleighs, cotton wool snow and silver dangling tinsel (lametta?) and little chocolate santas or pennies. Those were the days:)
ReplyDeleteI just love reading your recollections of past Christmases, Simone. I can't say I remember such homey touches, and it's a pleasure to read about yours!
ReplyDeletexx
I do agree with you Simone, although I've bought some new decorations during the past years, I still love to use my childhood's ones.
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