Another trip down memory lane at Christmas time again this week. Only three weeks to go…Are you getting excited? In the last week I have been involved with the Rotary Club of Douglas helping Father Christmas, Rudolph and his sleigh as we have visited a number of schools, been at Strand Street and Tesco in Lake Road and once again to Rebecca House Children’s Hospice, which is a really special occasion. The tradition of visits around Douglas and beyond goes back many years and is still as magical for the little ones today.

But who remembers some of the other things about Christmas from say the 1960s and 1970s? These days the Christmas light displays, animated figures, deers and much more on the outside of houses are a lot different to earlier times. Very few homes had much in external decorative lighting. However, I recall when, together with my dad, we visited my uncle Ron, who was the headteacher at Ballaugh, and his wife my Auntie Marjorie. I was always told to look out for and count how many lit-up Christmas trees I could spot from the car on the way home. Inside, the houses were also generally much more modest. Brightly coloured paper chains in loops, handmade at home or at school, were looped across the living room. The chains were often ‘complimented’ by honeycomb-type paper decorations in the shape of a bell or a star. Sprigs of holly would appear attached to a mirror or picture frame. The Christmas tree was adorned with a range of different coloured baubles and tinsel, with no thought of the much more coordinated modern presentation! At the top of the tree a Christmas fairy, angel or star finished the display. Many homes would have a little nativity set to set the tone of the meaning of Christmas and does anyone remember ‘Blue Peter’ presenters giving instructions on how to make what looked like a very rickety Advent crown out of coat hangers with an actual lit candle at each corner!…Obviously pre health and safety!

Festive catering for families was much different in the 1960s and 1970s. Three or four weeks before Christmas, the making of Christmas cake and Christmas puddings commenced. The Christmas cake would be white-iced to look like snow, with little plastic seasonal figures decorating it. I remember also at school dinners, when we had Christmas pudding, if we were very lucky a sixpence could be found in some portions. It was also a time when not many households had home freezers. Turkeys and indeed chickens were quite expensive and turkeys generally large. Many people would queue up on Christmas Eve if they were getting a turkey in the shops. This predated the revolution of Bernard Matthews and mass production of the turkey. When he got involved, shop sales and the product itself changed completely. His method produced smaller, more affordable birds, making them the preferred choice for many households. For example, in the UK in 1961 Sainsbury’s sold just 50,000 turkeys at Christmas; by 1977 this had risen to 3.5 million. He also introduced the boneless turkey joint, which reduced cooking and preparation time as well as being more economical—making more time for the fun of Christmas rather than being stuck in the kitchen for hours. After that came the biggest innovation of all, the frozen turkey. This meant retailers could sell their product in advance of the peak four days of Christmas, at a time that predated the liberalisation of Sunday trading laws. Unfortunately, a lot of people did not realise how long a frozen bird would need to be defrosted and at the time this caused big problems.

Alcohol sales were predominantly through off-licensed premises, and the favoured tipple for Nanna would be a Snowball made with Warninks Advocaat or Harveys Bristol Cream Sherry. How about Babycham and if you were younger a port and lemon or rum and coke were popular. For men, Watney’s Red Barrel or Double Diamond came in large cans. How about at the Christmas parties? Favourites on display included ox tongue, luncheon meat, little silverskin pickled onions (still popular with me!), pork pies, gammon, sausages on sticks, cheese and pineapple on sticks and, if you were really posh, they would be stuck into a foil-covered half grapefruit! How about Santa, who would be starving on his travels around the world to deliver joy to thousands? Well, he would be left a glass of sherry or milk, because he was driving, and of course a tasty mince pie. For Rudolph, a carrot or two would be left to help him and his mates on their journey.

Stockings or pillow cases were left by the beds upstairs, ready to be filled with gifts if the child had been good, of course. I was often threatened with a bag of coal or cinders (no surprise there then!). Each year the stocking would contain a satsuma or mandarin orange, a real treat only available at this special time. Incidentally, my Dad, who had Cretney the grocers on the North Quay, had lots of tins of strawberries because of course they were not available at that time of year, and for lots of people they were one of the staple ingredients of the Christmas trifle, along with custard, cream, hundreds and thousands, soggy sponge fingers and of course the compulsory generous portion of sherry! Also to be found in the stockings or pillow cases, if you were lucky, would be chocolate coins, a selection box, small toys and at least one annual. Amongst favourites were Dandy, Beano, Beezer, Eagle, Rupert, Judy, Topper, Brownies, Twinkle, Bunty, Sooty’s, Jackie, Lion and many more.

Downstairs, under the Christmas tree, would be the main present or presents such as Scalextric, Meccano, Lego, Sindy doll, Etch-A-Sketch, 3D View Master, The Amazing Magic Robot, perhaps a hula hoop or a yo-yo, Spirograph, a dolls pram, a three-wheeler trike, a baby doll, Barbie or Ken, Dinky or Corgi die-cast cars…Is your favourite mentioned here? If not, let me know the toy you were most thrilled to receive! I know what was least popular with me…clothes of any description, especially socks or underpants, but I do remember once receiving a ‘Carnaby Street’ fashion shirt from my Auntie Mona, and my other favourite was a pair of red baseball boots which I was very proud of.

At Christmas dinner or teatime I always refused to wear the paper hats out of the crackers, which were much more primitive than those of today, with useless plastic objects inside. Years later, when we had Moochers and Supercards, I used to have a great range of crackers for all tastes which I ordered in February, and not many other shops sold crackers. Another product that we more or less had to ourselves was a massive range of foil Christmas decorations in different patterns which obviously are out of vogue now.

At this time there were only two TV channels, BBC and ITV, and on Christmas Day there was always a circus on the TV. Any readers wanting to share other Christmas memories can do so via the usual channels: [email protected], 333974 or by sending a letter to 12 Manor Drive, Farmhill, Douglas.