[Closed] What do you miss most about 'old' Christmas?

The excitement. But then i'm not 7 any more.

The interminable boredom.

**** all Grandad! 😀

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It's the orgies of Saturnalia I pine for the most
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Totally nothing.

Christmas is soooo much better these days.

Snow.

johndoh - Member

video recorders

That's going back a bit!

Nostalgia has a funny way of making bad things, seem like they were good in hindsight.

I remember being excited at the prospect of the "Big Christmas Film" when the BBC and ITV would do battle over who could get the best 5 year old blockbuster for Xmas Day and Boxing Day, but I've got Netflix and iTunes now.

the atmosphere in local boozers. most have gone now, sadly.

I remember being excited at the prospect of the "Big Christmas Film" when the BBC and ITV would do battle over who could get the best 5 year old blockbuster for Xmas Day and Boxing Day, but I've got Netflix and iTunes now.

Lego.

All the Lego.

The excitement. But then i'm not 7 any more.

^This

We got a bit of that back when my daughter was younger. But now she's 14 even that has gone.

I like Christmas though - I like the break knowing I don't have to think about work for 10 days.

well I'm pushing 40 and remember most of my "old" Christmases having video recorders and multi channel tv (well 4 is still multi)

For me it was the food mountain that would appear as the shops would shut over Christmas. Not for the 8 months it would take to get through all the food though!

Morecambe and Wise.

The whole country sat and watched it together.

I miss November, you know that month that used to exist somewhere between Halloween and baby jeebus' birthday night...

I swear the buildup, all the shite in shops, "Black Friday" (which lasts about a month?), marketing and toy advertising used to start at or about the beginning of December, now it seems to be from the end of October...

I suppose Christmas has always been a bit of a consumer frenzy throughout my life, and yes you [i]can[/i] avoid it to certain extent, but I can't help feeling it's getting much worse. Maybe a full on recession will finally cure us of that, But I doubt it...

I suppose I am nostalgic for someone else's Christmas really, when Christmas happened at Christmas and people weren't so worried about the gifts...

Christmas was better 25 years ago as my kids where little, the tech is secondary Christmas is magical with young children.

Once kids grow we found it much kess commercial as we didn't bother with most of the gift /excessive purchasing stuff.

We got a bit of that back when my daughter was younger. But now she's 14 even that has gone.

^^^ my daughters are 28, 26 and 22 and still love Christmas and remember fondly when they where small

The snacks. For some reason, parents wood cover the house in bowls of snacks and hide them about the place. Go put on socks 'oh, some pistachios in my draw, nom nom nom', need a towel for a shower 'oh, satsumas, nom nom nom', going outside to get some wood 'oh, midget gems, nom nom nom'.

Staying up late trying to catch santa out.

The Victorians invented Christmas and all that nonsense.

The Victorians invented Scottishness and all that sentimental claptrap.

I'm waiting for somebody to announce that the Victorians actually wrote the Bible and invented all that religious nonsense as well.

Buying the Radio Times and circling all the films we were going to watch or record over the christmas holidays.

Beers in the White Lion (with festive darts) before Midnight Service and seeing which of parents' friends were pissed.

My Dad.

The correct context...

[BB +1 , the only time of the year we bought it!!]

My dad... merry christmas pappa!

Nothing really.

I've a 10 years old who still believes in Sants, just, and a 13 year old who is equally excited. I'm off again this year as an added bonus, between the wife and I we do things for the kids and ourselves our parents did. We spend more than planned, drink too much, eat too much and go loads of parties.

Sorry to say this but I have never enjoyed Christmas because when I was a kid, tension between my parents would boil over and they would row, which terrified me that they would split up. They only stayed together because they were Catholics.

didn't celebrate it then, don't now. I'll take the few days off work though thanks

Buying the Radio Times and circling all the films we were going to watch or record over the christmas holidays.

^This too!

Always a highlight. It was the only time of the year we bought the Radio Times as well.

All of us in bed while the kids open their stockings.
My Dad,I still feel like 7 sometimes.

Buying the Radio Times and circling all the films we were going to watch or record over the christmas holidays.

We still do this. A family tradition my kids have fully bought into. Different colour circles or initials to indicate who wants to watch what. It's the only time we buy it. They know lots of people do this, so there's usually a two part offer in it, that you need the voucher from the next edition to claim.

I'm old enough to remember when the BBC and ITV had some sort of exclusive rights to their listings and you had to buy both the Radio and TV Times to get both lots.

I thought about what I missed just this morning as my kids shovelled chocolate down their gobs before school - advent calendars with nice pictures to reveal rather than chocolate / "stuff".

I thought about what I missed just this morning as my kids shovelled chocolate down their gobs before school - advent calendars with nice pictures to reveal rather than chocolate / "stuff".

i think that this will help you reappraise that....

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if the kids can start the day with chocolate, then a liquid breakfast for the grown up seems only fair 🙂

yeah I liked the more innocent times of opening an advent calendar..

the only reward was the anticipation and suspense

Seeing all those dirty pedophiles on BBC light entertainment programs.

yep, miss the 'must see' telly. That tradition seems to have largely disappeared now, although I'd imagine there's someone 30 years older than me pining for the loss of Christmas Radio...

Goin' dahhn the market for a goose and stoppin' at missus miggins for penny gin an a bag o'chessnahts, and a 'opin' that faver Chrissmuss would bring us a patch for the knee in me trahhhhziz.'Uddling rahhnd the brazier and singin' songs of old wiv the ovver orphans for alms as the snow fell all arahhhhnd, bleedin' perishin' it was but we were 'appy.

Before video recorders? Was there ever a time? 😆

Starving Ethiopians?

I do miss the feeling I would get as a kid at Christmas, there just isn't anything like it. I do get more excited now I have kids, and I hope my kids feel it too, but they are so good and don't ever really ask for anything it difficult to gauge their excitement.

I'll feel excited about Christmas when I finish work next week (Thursday :D) but at the minute work is a mare and there is potential this year for some family crap to take the shine off it. Hopefully not but we'll have to wait and see.....

Incense at midnight mass.

Writing to Santa every year, asking for a kite....

Nice Christmas lights.

Effin' 'ell, we just can't get'em right here.

I mean...

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WTF?!?

Incense at midnight mass.

That can be arranged, Rusty_Spanner.

Lots of 'my dad' answers here, so for those of us with Dads probably worth putting a little extra effort in if you take them for granted (speaking for myself).

Me - the excitement of the Radio Times and the films. Mrs still buys the Christmas Radio Times but I reckon it's not even been opened the last few years.

I still get into the spirit of it, I only miss the things I used to do because I was a kid. School plays and presents mainly.

We're skint so my budget for a christmas present this year is £13 same as the wife. Kids will do ok though, which is the important thing.

Boxing Day Hunt. 😳

I'm a bit more enlightened now, but as a kid growing up in the countryside it was a marvellous event to be in the middle of. I didn't really put together what they were actually 'doing'.

Snow, great drifts of snow. I'm sure it was actually January but time blurs the memory.

Could you not simply recreate the festive sentiment by nipping out and beating a kitten to death with a shovel?

My mum is from Germany and she insisted on lighting real candles on the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. I miss that, and the terrifying anticipation of the whole house burning to the ground, with all our presents.

Saxon Rider, I remember walking down High Street at Christmas and that stretch would be a cacophony of colour. from the top of Fore Street all the way up to Sidwell Street.
and the Christmas specials at the ABC cinema....fk I AM old!

It only lasted a couple of weeks 😉

Free pint in the local Xmas day morning - one and only time in the year.

The main thing I miss is my mum - she passed away whilst my sister and I were still quite young, so the excitement about Christmas had yet to expire. She was a great cook and always good a fab dinner, but I miss the turkey and ham pie she made with left overs on boxing day. Bloody brilliant.

The last Christmas we had with her was awesome - my grandparents and favourtie uncle all came and had to stay longer because we got snowed in! We lived in the middle of the Dalby forest at the time.

I do miss how excited I'd get. I was a bugger for getting up super early to go and rifle through my stocking. We had to wait until everyone was up for the main presents though.

My little 'un is just getting to the age where he'll start to be excited about it. Can't wait.

Found the Brexiteers!

Morecambe and Wise.

The whole country sat and watched it together.

We weren't allowed to watch ITV, that was for the commoners....

selection packs in the shape of a boot covered in mesh, full of spangles and marathon bars, not these plastic trays covered in more plastic.

Also the original snowman, although the snowdog has grown on me. My eldest is six and is hopping up and down with excitement. Understandably he loves presents, but he loves to see his family too.

selection packs in the shape of a boot covered in mesh, full of spangles and marathon bars, not these plastic trays covered in more plastic.

They were plastic long ago too.

The whole traditions we had and the people.
For 40+ years Christmas dinner was held at my Mum and Dad's, cooked by my (much) older brother. So in the morning me and my sister would open our presents from Mum n Dad, then in the afternoon the rest of the local family would turn up and we'd eat till we couldn't move, then open presents that they'd brought with them. The evening spent playing "parlour games". As we moved out and had families of our own, we still went to Mum and Dad's for Christmas dinner, bringing inlaws with us if they were at a loose end. So my kids got to experience it. This all stopped 4 years ago with the death of my mum, we now all do our own thing on Christmas day. We passed Dad between us until he died last year and with my divorce my kids are having to get used to 50:50 Christmas day. My daughter said last week "I miss the Christmas traditions we had".

I miss the build up. It seems incredibly rushed right up until the last minute so on Christmas day itself you are wasted. It's still great but just not in the same way

ninfan - Member
Starving Ethiopians?

You stay classy now, you hear?

I miss the excitement of being a kid on xmas morning.

My lad is 10 and announced the other week he doesn't believe in Father Xmas any more 🙁

So next year I think we will throw 2 fingers up at a traditional xmas and bugger off on holiday instead 🙂

Don't know about you but reading all these post, it's getting quite dusty in here.....

I should really do some work!

Snow...and sledging/snowball fights

Snow...and sledging/snowball fights

Hard to believe it's 5 years.

Lack of choice. It can be a good thing. It's like vinyl vs. Spotify. When I was 17 all the pubs were closed on Christmas Day so it'd be a big deal when you could escape to one on boxing day, even though you had to walk for miles to meet your mates, because there were no buses. Same with films. I don't know what families do today but with everybody with a tablet and headphones presumably they are all doing their own thing, whereas it used to be the Great Escape or James Bond for everybody - Granny to youngest kid - take it or leave it. Not the best film, but a communal experience. You can still create that for yourself today with a much better choice but it would take some creative discipline.

+1 for snow and also looking forward to watching films on tv that I havent seen at the cinema. Also kids tv on in the morning over the christmas period.
Money in the christmas pudding in school

My grandparents.

Christmas used to be great when I was a kid. Because:

I was a kid
We used to have my mum's sister over, or go over there
My parents liked a drink, as did they - always enough to get really happy, no more
My cousins were young adults
Everyone got along really well
We had a succession of Aussie cousins coming over on grand European tours, as young adults

So we'd end up with a dozen or more people having a proper good time.

Now my folks are too old to behave like that, my auntie and uncle are at my cousin's with her family, my sister's kids are a pain so they have Christmas morning at home and we only go over later, they argue loads, my sister spends her whole time in the kitchen, and whilst it's a good family day it's not a party any more. Usually just six of us Christmas morning.

We're all having an 80's vinyl and boardgames christmas party at our mates house on Friday night. Somewhat counter-intuitively the people who are genuinely most looking forward to this are my 12 and 9 year old daughters. I dug my vinyl out the other day, and they honestly didn't know what it was! Seriously! 😯

To them CD's are ancient, olden days stuff. God I feel old! 😥

My dad. Never seen a slim man eat as much as he did for Christmas. Despite his cultural background - a traditional roast was pretty much his favourite, especially with an old fashioned pudding. As Christmas dinner is that x1000, he loved it.

My grandparents. They always knew how to make Christmas special... Christmas at their home was lovely when I was young.

I miss the magic of it when I was a kid. Now I work in retail my whole experience of Christmas is somewhat tainted. We have Christmas meetings in July where Christmas jumpers are encouraged and the real message of Christmas is how much money can be emptied out of people's pockets.

Chocolate selection packs - mainly when bought half price in Woolies on boxing day

My kids have started to like board games. Still junior ones currently, but it's a start 🙂

Literally don't know where to [s]begin[/s] stop so I'll just say my grandparents.

*Edit - And a proper Chocolate Orange.

Oh I remember the days of circling films & TV programmes in the Radio Times!

As kids we used to go to my aunt & uncle's; they were very traditional and my aunt was quite strict. So Christmas Dinner would always be the full turkey (carved by my uncle, as instructed by my aunt... 🙂 ) and we'd do family board games and go for A Family Christmas Walk. All very traditional but great fun and they had a huge house & garden that we could play in.

My aunt was a brilliant cook except for sprouts which were boiled senseless from about December 20th. Never been able to eat them since.

Getting hammered in the longhouse as we waited out the impassable seas of winter until spring arrived and it was pillaging season again!

I miss the build up.

you are kidding aren't you? Christmas songs have been playing for the last 6 bloody weeks!

I miss having a massive feast on Christmas eve, allowing us all to be very idle on christmas day and as a kid, actually enjoy opening presents and playing with them.
Then it was flour bombing on boxing day - literally throwing bags of flower at a target from a cessna, done at Leicester Aeroclub. havn't done it for 20+ years so not sure if it's still done.

Edit - it is! http://www.leicesterairport.com/flying-leicestershire/members-evenings/

I miss getting my big brother's knackered old hand-me-down bike, while he got a new one. And so did my little brother cos he was too much younger to get my hand-me-downs although by the time both his big brothers had finished with em they were knackered anyway.
2 shiny new bikes and one shitty old one. That's what I miss.

Queens speech (yawn), Goldfinger, and two three year old blockbuster films (ET, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom) competing for the title of "the big Christmas film". A chocolate orange. A real orange. Lego. Turkey roast. Turkey sandwiches. Turkey "curry".

Mostly I miss the fact that it never seemed like a grossly overcommercialised shopping fest.

2 shiny new bikes and one shitty old one. That's what I miss

Surely your Kinesis and Yeti will fulfil two of this triumvirate? 😉

😀 4 lovely bikes and 1 shitty one just isn't the same

Christmas trees with coloured Christmas lights. I have put a vote in for coloured lights for the last few years, but the rest of my family vote for white. Bah!

I miss when it started on christmas eve and finished the day after boxing day instead of this 2 month farce we now have.