Your #ChristmasMemory

A special memory of mum Eileen Bradford at Mill Street Club with a deer and dear Higby and Dave. Christmas 2015 

I loved having the family over - and the dinner!

We used to go to Bradford on Avon to see family. I was never one for dolls, I preferred clothes!

We had big family gatherings. My husband was one of eight so we all helped with the dinner. One year as a child I got a doll but she fell down the stairs and couldn't be replaced

I loved the amazing food, my family pulling together and having a relaxing day

I remember waking early on Christmas morning and feeling my stocking, usually one of my Dad's socks, and finding a knitted dolly and some crayons.

I was the front end of a horse in a Christmas panto!

I remember Christmases when I was young with my sisters and brother. My mother was quite religious and we went to church on Christmas Day. My mother played the piano at home which she would play at Christmas.

I remember laying under the Christmas tree looking up at the multicoloured lights, thinking it was all so magical.

I remember getting a tangerine and some nuts in a white pillowcase at the bottom of my bed. I thought it was an absolutely marvellous gift as it was rare and so expensive to get.

Having been born in Poland, I remember my Dad always telling us to wait until the first star appeared in the sky before we could all sit down and eat the Christmas Eve dinner. 

Now, on that day I look up, and my Dad is the brightest star in the sky.

I remember a very special Christmas in 1997 when I was an honorary member at the Sergeants' Mess in Beaconsfield.

I remember singing Christmas carols before opening the presents so Mum and Dad got longer in bed on Christmas morning! 

I remember waking up on Christmas morning and calling out to mum and dad "he's been, he's been" when I found my stocking had been filled. Often with an apple, orange and a jigsaw.

My favourite present was a black bicycle. And I enjoyed the lunch, and there was always a silver sixpence in the pudding. I was at boarding school and a choir boy so we always had a concert before term ended. One year there was a polio outbreak so all holidays home were cancelled.

When I was growing up in Malaysia we used to sing at school, and go to church together, and make decorations. Presents I remember were colouring books and a doll.

I have been Father Christmas - it was nice seeing the children's happy faces.

I remember when I was ten I lived in Stockwood up north. It snowed on Christmas Day and my sisters and me built a big snowman. We got a bike for Christmas but we all had to share it and take turns on it.

I got married on Christmas Eve, I was only 23 at the time, my wife was 23 and a half. I was a night worker in London, printing magazines. We got married, then jumped on a train at Paddington Station and went down to Torquay where we stayed in a nice, big hotel for two weeks over Christmas and New Year for our honeymoon. We had a fantastic time and came back to our work and our life together for the next 60 years.

A special Christmas in 1945 when I was 10 and war time was over. Enjoying roast chicken!

I remember when I lived in London with my mum, dad and sister Daphne. We used to go to my aunts’ house on Christmas Day. I had four aunts and they all lived in the same house. Daphne and me used to hang a pillow case on the end of our beds on Christmas Eve. I remember I really wanted this doll and mum actually got it for me and I was so pleased.

Taking the dog for a walk on a frosty morning before dinner

Margaret aka Mrs Claus says Christmas was a highlight of the year in her home.  She remembers making paper chains with her siblings. As a Christmas present Margie would get a doll knitted by her mum – as told to support worker Paula

I was one of 11 and my father was a carpenter. Every year he would make us something out of wood like a doll's house or a truck for my brothers. For Christmas dinner we'd have a chicken that we'd reared ourselves. We would always go to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. We walked in a crocodile.

I remember presents – lots and lots of presents. I really wanted a china doll and one year I got one. I played with her a lot and made clothes for her too. I still had her until very recently.

My parents were Polish so our main day to celebrate was Christmas Eve. When I was very little my mum used to take me upstairs for a bath in the evening and by the time we came back down again, the ‘Christmas angel’ had delivered a beautifully decorated tree with all my presents underneath. It was magical. I always imagined her coming in through the window with her wings swishing against the glass and was sorry that I just missed her every year

When I was a child I knew that if I stayed awake on Christmas Eve I wouldn’t get any presents. But one year I saw someone at the end of my bed and saw a flash of a red coat – I knew it was Father Christmas. The same year my mum had a baby and I remember going into her bedroom on Christmas Day and seeing her sitting up in bed and holding a baby.

Christmas 1946. Wartime over, but rationing still working. People happy, relief at no air raids!! Looking forward to New Year, waiting for my 11th birthday on the 28th.

Dad really loved Christmas before he was diagnosed with dementia. It was always a big family gathering, 14 members of the family together and dad always cooked the turkey and bought the wrapping paper. He loved buying little surprises for everyone and anything Christmas related that he could find