So tomorrow is Christmas Eve. How did that happen? I sincerely hope you are all enjoying the break and eating copious amounts of mince pies. I know I am. I am currently applying Alice’s logic after she told me that she was three so could have three mince pies and next year she will be four, and still like mince pies, so she will have four then. On that basis I’m allowed thirty five! Best get eating.
It’s been such a wonderful festive period already with a million new memories made and so much fun had with the girls. And there is more to come as the big day arrives.
I really hope the girls remember all of this magic for years to come. It’s the small things that you may think are insignificant that truly make it Christmas. That film you watched or funny games you played. All of it. I don’t want them to forget a thing.
It seems the whole team still remember so many small moments from their own childhood Christmas’s and we thought it would be fun to share to get us feeling all warm and fuzzy and Christmassy inside.
Strangely I can’t remember one favourite childhood memory, more the overall feeling of excitement and happiness. I do vividly remember being forced to go to bed and laying our stocking on the end of the bed in eager anticipation. My mum must have been stealth like in her stocking filling skills. Then opening your eyes in the night to see it filled to the brim. Pure magic.
Although if you want to go for humour it was the year my Nan walked back up to her house to check on her dog. After a good hour and a half she still hadn’t returned so we quickly dashed up in the car only to find her asleep in the dog basket after one too many sherries!
Lorna
I remember being 7 and waking up ridiculously excited. I crept into my brothers room and asked him if it was time to get up, but he said no as it was still the middle of the night and to go back to sleep. After a while he said if I promised to go back to bed we could pop downstairs to see if Father Christmas had been.
I remember vividly walking into the living room and seeing ALL THOSE PRESENTS. I was utterly amazed and said “I must have been a really good girl this year”. God only know how my brother got me to go back to bed even after my promise, but I did, and when it was morning and I eventually got to open my presents I was on cloud nine. I was well and truly spoilt that year. Thanks Mum & Dad. xxx
Laura
One of my fondest Christmas memories actually comes from my school years – something I never thought I would say! The annual tradition of Maidstone Girls’ Grammar School saw one of the world’s finest storytellers, Mr Rowell, take to the stage to read 1,200 giddy girls “The Polar Express” in the final assembly of the year. Now, if you’ve ever been to an all girls’ school, you will know all assemblies were rather tumultuous affairs, all except this one. You see this assembly was looked forward to all year long, and that is no exaggeration. Everyone may have been exhausted and overexcited for the Christmas break, yet somehow Mr Rowell managed to capture each and every young girl’s imagination, completely captivate his audience, and deliver the magical Christmas tale producing tears, laughter, and, most importantly, Christmas spirit. I genuinely feel so grateful that I was at school all the while Mr Rowell was. Admittedly, I may not have been the model Physics pupil, but I’m hoping he’ll forgive me when he realises that I still remember his story telling fondly 12 years on. It takes something special to deliver a story in a more visual way than any film adaptation, and by the end of the story I think every single girl sitting cross legged on that very cold hall floor could hear the sleigh bells ringing. Pure magic.
Lauren
It most definitely has to be the time I was sure I saw Santa fly over the local Beefeater!
Lisa
I lived in Saudi Arabia for a few years when I was growing up and one of my favourite Christmas memories is Santa bringing my little brother and I our first ever bikes whilst we were out there. Mine had rainbow streamers, a basket, the works. I am pretty sure we spent the whole of Christmas Day riding around on them in the sun.
As always, please do leave your own favourite memories below and Happy Christmas xx
Image by Anna at We Are The Clarkes.
My favourite Christmas memory is me and my brother waking up super early, going downstairs without our parents, seeing the presents there and deciding it would be OK to open them as long as we took photos of each other doing so, so that mum and dad could still see us opening them! I luckily can’t remember their reaction!! I still have the photos.
Claire this is genius. I just laughed so much. Your poor parents x
I think one of my most magical Christmas memories was the year we got our rocking horse…..I remember really wanting one, but not putting it on my Christmas list…..how did Father Christmas know?!
I remember what I was wearing, the smell of the room (which was a mixture of new wood from the rocking horse, the tree and chocolates) and sitting in the dark having crept downstairs staring in absolute AWE at this beautiful horse with chocolate pennies sprinkled all around it!
Magical!!
My Mum told me many years later I could hardly get my words out I was so shocked/excited! It makes me so happy now to see my little girl enjoying ‘Sandy’ just as much as I did.
That is truly magical, especially as your daughter now loves playing with your beloved toy too. Loving the additional gold coins scattered around it too. I may steal that idea for this year. x
One of my best Christmas memories was one year when we lived in America when I was about 7 and I got a new doll for Christmas. On boxing day I went with my Mum to the local shops to have a look at the sales and there was the most beautiful Moses basket. Mum said I could have it for my new Doll. After everything I was given the day before, it felt so special to then be bought something else extra. I cherished that doll and basket until I was well into my teens. Thanks Mum 😉 x
You were obviously a very good girl that year 🙂 xx
This is most definitely not the most magical Christmas memory but it still gets a good laugh. When I was 18 I went out for drinks on Christmas Eve and after arriving home, ahem, tipsy! I decided to open ALL of the presents. I apparently woke my mum up with my giggling and was promptly marched out the room. My poor mum had to wrap them all up again in the middle of the night. The following year my Dad sat up and waited for me to get home.
You naughty girl Claire! Absolutely hilarious though. Love a good drunken Christmas Eve xx
I love the granny in the dog bed story – I bet that’s been wheeled out every year for immortal Yuletide lols! Laura I wonder what vintage MGGS you were, my husband is Maidstone Grammar alumni and by association I know a few of the class of 97!
My Mum is Austrian so we have always opened our presents on Christmas eve. We would go in the kitchen to have a special dinner and wait for Santa to come then we’d hear his sleighbells from the living room (Somehow Mum and Dad managed to make that happen whilst we were still all in the other room together?!) We’d then all venture into the living room where there’s be a window left open by Santa, the lights would be low save for candles and fairy lights and there would be a haul of presents under the tree. Amazing.
The one memory my whole family never fail to remind me of is the year I was desperate for the Fisher Price Garage but my parents thought that the airport not only offered better play value for money, we lived on the flightpath near the airport so it would be relevant and exciting for me. How wrong they were, Apparently I had the mother of all tantrums, absolutely apoplectic that the wrong playset was gifted.
In the end, to placate me they went out and bought the garage too, and I got to keep the airport. My brother and sister deemed this further evidence of the fact I was a spoiled brat. I had the last laugh too as that year they received a colour TV to share between them, a TV I was to eventually enjoy the benefits of myself after they moved out. There are upsides to being the youngest!