...very familiar!

That Blue Peter Advent thingy certainly looked like a Grade A fire hazard (coat hangers, tinsel, open flame...)...

And Aftershave - no disrespect to any of Massive who use the stuff, but it always seemed grotesque to me and nowadays feels like its inextricably tied to the awfulness aspect of the 70s (brown suits, loud wallpaper, bad haircuts, casual racism...). Anyone else agree?

a couple of days before Christmas, to stock up on beer and Babycham. The only time of the year alcohol was purchased outside a pub.

Also, being a chorister at the time, touring the old folks homes and hospitals of Buxton on Christmas Eve - often by candlelight - singing carols, and being given warm mince pies by the staff.

And being genuinely excited to find, on waking on Christmas morning, an old sock had magically been filled by sweets and a satsuma overnight.

Eee, them were days!

Going to bed on Christmas Eve and shutting my eyes tight, otherwise I apparently wouldn't be able to hear Santa's sleigh-bells.

A mince-pie being left on the hearth for Santa, and a carrot for Rudolph (even after we had a gas fire put in).

Waking up too early on Christmas morning - five o'clock, I believe, on a couple of occasions - and being allowed to slip into bed between Mum and Dad for a cuddle.

Nana popping round for a sherry (whatever that was) and suddenly having to have a lie-down.

Being scared when the cracker was about to go crack! Some would have those little cellophane fish inside that would curl up in your palm and read your personality.

My older cousin telling me "The Truth About Santa" (I was eight, so luckily I realised she was lying).

Lovely post. I've gone all warm.

"useless gismos from Ronco like The Buttoneer"? Whaddya mean?! I've been looking for one of those for months; can I find one anywhere? No. I have to bloody sew the things back on with a needle and thread. In the 21st Century, we need the Buttoneer more than ever.

Oh yes, and I still have a bottle of Old Spice on the bathroom shelf, as I happen to like it. So there.

*flounces off to watch The Generation Game Christmas Special*

and unwrapped a parcel on Christmas morning. Inside was a policeman's uniform. I stared at it almost in disbelief - not daring to believe that it was real - and then ran to put it on. I was so proud of it and couldn't stop looking at myself in my parents' full length mirror in their bedroom. What I would give to be able to feel that again.

Was always the happy recipient of jokes as he attempted to make some rubbish home made decoration every year usually involving tinsel, coat hangers, gold spray paint and a polystyrene tile.

God bless you dad I miss you so much. You don't know how much fun you gave us.

Great

For Christmas a crate of soft drinks was bought and placed in the cool basement, and I was allowed to fetch a bottle whenever I wanted until the crate was empty (=no more soft drinks until next Christmas).

Waking up before the rest of the family every morning during the holiday; making a breakfast tray with hot chocolate and three or four kinds of delicious cake before turning the telly on for the childrens Christmas morning program (best TV show of the year...)

The big old laundry hamper coming out of storage to be filled with masses of Christmas presents as the family members arrived at our house for the festivities.
One gift at a time was handed out and everybody watched it being ripped open and commented on the contents before the next present was selected from the hamper.
And at the end, after distributing the parcels in a balanced and fair way, round after round; the bottom of the hamper was still full of at least ten to fifteen presents addressed to - me!
I was the baby of the family and spoiled every Christmas by parents and my much older siblings giving me tons of lovely gifts...(which is why I always buy a bunch of Christmas presents for myself these days, that I'm not allowed to enjoy before Christmas Eve. I would feel depressed if all I got was the meagre loot that are distributed within the family these days. Is there a duller sentence than "Us adults don't need to buy gifts for each other" ? Not acceptable!)

And after the Christmas dinner and the gift giving the fun and games began. Darts and table tennis in the basement, singing and playing in the living room, the over-eaters gathering in front of the telly in the dining room - too full to risk any movement bigger than reaching out for the cake-tin...
I would walk from room to room, watching or participating in each activity before moving on to the next group of people; singing, commenting on the Christmas programming, debating the rules of the game going on, or simply hanging out on the stairs talking and laughing.
The best day of the year, by far.
(And then I grew up...and that was definitely overrated!)

my mum would stock up with countless pints of milk and loaves of bread because the shops wouldn't be open again until Jan 2.

Or so it seemed.