Christmas Traditions

Days  gone  buy  most people  had no money  to buy  things for there
kids but  they  made things  and sang songs at Christmas  and enjoyed it ,
my  gran always  put  an  orange apple and monkey nuts in one  of  her
old stockings  and  new  pennies , this I did  with  my  children  and
have  done the same  with my  grandchildren ,
but not in an old stocking ,
and I  guess  other people  did  the  same ,
Cassy

One very vivid memory -

As many of you know by now, I was brought up in a pub - the Forge Hammer in Rollingmill street in Walsall.

My Dad also worked for Hickinbottom's transport as a driver - their yard was just across the road.

The boss -Ernie? Hickinbottom - also owned a turkey farm and for their Christmas Box all his employees would receive a  turkey.
They would also get a pint and a turkey sandwich in our pub.........

So just before Christmas 2 turkeys would be delivered - heads, legs, feathers and innards and all!

Anyone entering by our back door unwarily would get socked by one or other of these turkeys, which was hanging there waiting for attention..

I remember the stink..................

I wonder if that's why I don't like turkey - one of the few foods I reject wholesale!

Wendy

MORE TRADITIONS: (Note- if there isn't a name after the tradition it was submitted my many people)

• Tangerines in the toe of your stocking or maybe Clementines, manderines
• nuts, apples and maybe a penny
• dates filled with something like nuts, almond paste, cream cheese and then rolled in sugar. Or maybe plain is just as good.
• Fruit cake - varied responses on this one, some good some bad.
• Paper chains cut from colored paper ( my spell checker isn't set for UK spelling) and hung on the tree or from the ceilings and walls.
• crackers - I never thought about homemade ones. Wouldn't that be a neat thing to do if someone could remember how to make the popper? This is something I introduced to my family three years ago and it is now a firm tradition with us.
• Bowl of nuts with the cracker perched on top.
• Box of wine from your employer or maybe a turkey.
• I haven't seen any posting answering the 1000 year old cake puzzle , but I wonder if it is the same cake as goes around here called a 'friendship cake'. Being based on a yeast ,spice and honey concoction, it needs to be 'fed' daily to keep it growing. Then you halve it , make a cake with flour and stuff (I am no cook but the directions come with the disgusting little jar!) with your half and pass the other onto a 'friend' . Woe betide you if you let it die, or fail to pass it on! A ghastly ploy to guilt you into the kitchen! Savannah of Oz (See Recipies/Foods recipies may show up for this one)
• Flaming Christmas Pudding. Remove the holly before igniting - Pat
• One tradition I think we have all over looked is making a wish whilst pulling the 'wish bone' at Christmas Dinner. Is this still done? We stopped doing it someyears ago but now I have remember it we shall be doing it this year. Yorkie
• The 1000 year old cake (from Savannah) sounds a bit like our Ginger Beer Plants. A mixture was handed over in a bottle and it had to be fed with ginger and sugar. After several weeks it was split into two halves and bottle. The second half was handed on to a friend. The drink was great though and in the days before canned drinks and all the drink concoctions that we have today it was a treat. Yorkie
• As a children we always put a small glass of sherry and a mince pie out for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. I am told by my grandchildren that a carrot must be left also for the reindeer. I remember doing this...here in Canada [and I think the States too], the kids put out cookies [biscuits] and milk...can't have the children mucking about with (gasp!) alcohol! What do your grandchildren do - or do they not send messages but visit every Santa's grotto in the area to make sure he gets the message:)) Canada Post, in addition to being probably the world's slowest transporter of mail [but that's another story] opens up a special office to answer kids' Christmas letters to Santa. He even has his own Postal Code: H0H 0H0! Phil and Yorkie (messages combined)
• As a children we always put a small glass of sherry and a mince pie out for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. I am told by my grandchildren that a carrot must be left also for the reindeer. In this age of central heating mother's have to be very ingenious in their handling of the christmas request to Santa Claus. We as children used to write a note and toss it up the chimney. More often than not it would lodge in the back of the fire and slowly char away. Now a days there are very few chimneys! What do your grandchildren do - or do they not send messages but visit every Santa's grotto in the area to make sure he gets the message:)) Yorkie
• originally it was silver threepenny pieces or Joey's found in xmas pudding. Most grownups gave them to the children when finding one in their pudding. We had a mean Great uncle who always licked the pudding off his and the put it in his waistcoat pocket. He left a lot of money when he died Norm
• I wanted to share with you all a poem I wrote many years ago about my dear BC mom ( Mam as we use to call her having been born in Leicester but it later changed to mom as we got older ) I wrote this not long after she departed this world, and I was missing her touch so much, especially the first Christmas. She was a tower of strength ar mam and no matter how little we did not have she made sure us kids never felt it. I hope you do not mind me sharing this with you all. Best wishes Liz aka Lizzie

  A Mothers loving hands
  
  The Christmas tree is standing
  All the Bells and decorations hung
  Mother heads for the kitchen
  For her work has just begun
  
  She wraps around her apron
  Rolls her sleeves up, on her arms
  Now it's time to do the baking
  As she starts to sing her favorite Carol song
  
  Sausage rolls and Mince pies
  Jam and Lemon curd tarts
  Yule log and fruit cake
  Each made with her loving heart.
  
  The fire is glowing brightly
  Tis the best Coal not the Slack
  For Christmas in our household
  Was ner, a time to hold back.
  
  The fruits, nuts and goodies
  All around the house hold lay
  For eagerly she placed them
  All ready for Christmas day.
  
  Although her purse was empty
  Her heart was filled with joy
  she did the best she can ar mam
  to make sure we all had a toy.
  
  Today we are without her
  The Lord took her for his own
  But we know somewhere up there
  She's making another happy Christmas home.
  
  Happy Christmas mom (by Lizzie)

• Dear Editor of LFH (Dave Ogden) As the end of the year once again draws close, I remember a New Year's Eve ritual that my sister, brother and I much enjoyed as children in the thirties. On New Year's Eve we each put one or two copper coins - pennies and ha'pennies - outside in the yard, in chinks in the wall as far as I remember. Next morning, lo and behold, they had changed into silver threepenny bits and sixpences. I don't think there were ever any larger coins, but the excitement was still intense. My father came from Horncastle and my mother from Edlington so I wonder if it was a pleasant Lincolnshire ritual. Does anyone else remember it, or even does anyone still keep up the tradition? Yours sincerely Catherine Thorne
• "In our stockings was always went an Orange, Apple some nuts and always a nice new handkerchief. " Also there used to be a brand new shiny penny in the toe of the Christmas stocking. The Royal Mint seemed to issue them especially for Christmas. Joe Nightingale