Christmas Nostalgia

Well, only a few weeks until the Christmas holidays. 
I don't know about you, but as I get older, I get to thinking about my childhood, and especially those days before when my dad would sit me at the table with sheets of colored crepe paper, flour paste and a little pair of scissors. Together, we would cut strips of differing colors, link them together & paste the ends to form a chain. There was little choice of decorations in the shops then, and even if there had been, we had no money to spend on such frippery.
We would sit for hours making those paper chains and then he would get out the drawing pins and hang them up in criss cross patterns along the ceiling.
My mother would always complain about having too many, but we loved them, my dad and I, and although he died many years ago, this is the time of year when he comes most vividly to mind.
What wouldn't I give to be able to spend just one more Christmas holiday with him making those decorations, but at least he left me a rich legacy of happy memories, and they are worth more than anything money can buy. 
 
 

Christmas gifts for kids in the forties and fifties

Well, the Christmas cards are starting to sell already, so I guess the holiday season will be upon us before we can blink.
It set me thinking about my Christmas day as a child, and how different the presents were then.
During the second world war, my other half longed for a crystal set. Then, it must have seemed like a space age communication device, but I wonder what the children of today would make of it?
I remember visiting a Woolworth store one November, and spotting a small attache case. I think it was just a few cents worth, nothing special at all, but I really longed for that little case.
Christmas morning arrived, and as usual, I was awake before first light. There at the foot of my bed was a brand new bicycle, a pillow case full of other goodies, and what did I scramble to look for?
You've guessed it, the little case in which to put my pens and pencils.
Thankfully, it was there and I treasured it until it fell apart some years later.
That Christmas in the early fifties, rationing was still on in the UK for certain items. Sweets were hard to come by, but I remember getting a stocking filled with oranges, nuts and home made toffee, and what a treat it was too!
Boys would long for a fort with soldiers, model planes or those little wind up boats that they could take to the local boating lake. They would invariably sink, never to be retrieved, and many tears would follow, but on Christmas day, the smiles on those boys faces were a sight to remember.
I had a relative across the pond, who always sent me books. I have loved them ever since, but I would get the Bobbsey Twins by Laura Lee Hope at Christmas, and I never quite understood the lifestyle. I grew up in England and they were in the US, and the life seemed so different to me, I could never quite come to terms with what seemed to me a very extravagant childhood.
Pedal cars, Mr.Potato Head, that rocket shaped bicycle headlight, were all on the wish lists for kids back then, not that we were allowed to make them, but a discreet letter to Santa would usually produce some sort of result.
I suppose the inimitable steel or die cast toys are as popular now as they were back then, only the styles change, and the good old fashioned train set, so longed for by all the fathers of the world at Christmas, will surely endure better than any other toy ever manufactured!
I wonder what Christmas gifts strike a cord in your memory?
They aren't always the most expensive ones I bet.

We'll kick off with underwear of the 40's & 50's shall we?

Well, if like me, you're a child of the forties or fifties, I'm sure you'll remember some of the horrendous contraptions that we were made to wear as under garments.

The most horrible thing that I can recall, was the liberty bodice. It was like a straight jacket for kids and those disgusting little rubber buttons were a nightmare to do and undo.  To add insult to injury, the smell of rubber pervaded the outer garments and made the poor child smell like a bicycle tire.

Woollen underpants were another horror for kids to endure. The itching they caused can only be described as akin to some perverse medieval torture. I can remember many of my classmates wriggling and scratching for most of the lessons, only to be warned by the teacher to sit still or else get the dreaded ruler across the knuckles. Match these pants with a long woollen vest and the discomfort was complete. 

The adults didn't fare much better either. I can recall seeing women in changing rooms in those pink silky cone shaped tin can type bra's.  They pointed the bust so much that had they been strap hanging on the bus or tram, I'm sure that with one bout of sharp braking, the person in front would have incurred a double back stabbing.

And so to the big knickers, or directoires as they were called. 

The memory of seeing these on an amazon of a music teacher as she sat on the edge of the stage, resplendent in beige, down to the knee drawers, oblivious to all of the goggle eyed kids wondering what she kept in them ... (many thought it was her packed lunch) and then spotting the corner of a man sized white handkerchief protruding from the knicker elastic at the knee, will stay with me and no doubt many other poor hatchlings for the rest of their days.

I still can't look at a barrage balloon without bringing her to mind.

So, if you have memories of any of these things or indeed any that still cause you pain in the memory bank, I'd love to hear from you in the comment section.

Stay in touch, I'll be posting much more nostalgia of all sorts.