Looking back at Christmas traditions from my childhood

This is the first Christmas where Big Munch really gets it. It’s like they’ve had an expert come into her pre-school class to talk about the Big Man and his elf crew. We have never mentioned the so-called ins and outs of how Christmas and Santa’s empire works but somehow she has gained her own knowledge.

The other Sunday we put up our tree. For the past few years we’ve been using a reusable plastic, easy to put it together, Christmas tree from Argos. It did the trick. But this year Big Munch’s daddy Mr.H said we should definitely have a real Christmas tree. So it was quite emotional (well for me) to see Big Munch decorate her first tree. Kids take so much pride in stuff like that. A real sense of responsibility coupled with amazement as she discovered each Christmas decoration. It made me think back to the Christmas traditions from my own childhood…

  1. Counting…the number of presents for me under the tree. Growing up we also had a plastic tree.
  2. Christmas Eve stay-ups… Going to bed on Christmas Eve and then Mum letting us wake up around 11.45pm so we could open a few presents dead on midnight. As we became older, we were then allowed to stay up until midnight. I think this was Mum and Dad’s plan to encourage us to lie-in the next day. Mum would always bend the rules and let us open “just one more” present until sometimes we only have one gift left to open in the morning.
  3. Wearing new clothes…A real tradition in our house. Mum said we had to wear something new on Christmas Day (as well as on Diwali and New Year’s Day). I’ve carried on the tradition. Thank goodness for the pre-Christmas sales.
  4. Turkey with a Mauritian twist…Mum always makes a traditional Christmas dinner but a family Christmas wouldn’t be a true Christmas without her Mauritian turkey biryani. Yes, biryani…with turkey. Please leave a comment below to let me know if you’ve come across this elsewhere. I can only assume that my mum created this recipe. None of our cousins have experienced this tradition in their houses.
  5. Stockings…Oh to this day I love picking out the treats from my Christmas stocking. This morning I reminded Mr.H that I’d like some coloured writing pens for my stocking. Just so he knows that I am expecting a stocking in the first place and it is not just up there for decoration. Chocolate Orange and Mint Matchmakers were always childhood classics for me.
  6. Watching Top of the Pops…I used to also start dancing around the coffee table to my favourite songs (my family used to tolerate this tradition of mine). It’s such a shame we no longer have a musical round-up show on Christmas Day TV.
  7. Eating two Christmas dinners…Yep, as you’ve guessed, food was one of the best ways to celebrate Christmas in our house. Say about two hours later after our Christmas lunch, we would be offered another plate of turkey and trimmings (and biryani). I always remember the first time Mr.H joined our family for Christmas. He couldn’t believe how there was a constant conveyor belt of meals and not just the typical chrimbo snacks.

Over to you…What are some of your Christmas traditions? What are ones from your childhood? What ones are you going to start? Which ones are you happy to stop? Leave a little comment below..

You may also like…Looking after yourself when getting ready for Christmas.

Thank you to Sophie from Esme Loves jewellery who has featured me on her recent blog post about past and current Christmas traditions.

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