Monday 3 December 2012

JYC Day 2 - The early signs of Christmasses past.


I can't be the only one whose memories of Childhood Christmasses are sepia tinted, can I? When I asked my Mum for some photos to include in my Childhood album, this was the only one she could find, horribly discoloured from storage in an old magnetic album.

I had a play with it in PSE and managed to at least make the colours better; the tree is green and my blue dress blue. I have a nasty feeling that the curtains really were that colour in 1974 - my father was a cigar smoker! I was going to crop out the chair and Grandad's slippers, but decided they were important to place the picture in context.
I remember that blue dress. I wore it until I outgrew it and cried when it was finally handed down to one of my younger cousins. I think I remember the dolly too, although in my memory she is bigger.
 
Decorating the tree was the first part of the Christmas build-up in my home. We didn't have any other decorations except for displays of Christmas cards, but we always had a real Christmas tree and it was my job to go with Dad to choose it. Our eyes were always bigger than our door, so dad would have to saw off a section from the top of our perfectly proportioned tree to get it into the living room.
 
The baubles were made of glass and very delicate, and I would string them with lametta (very narrow strips of gold/silver foil) to hang them up. One decoration I particularly recall was a stuffed robin with real (very tatty) feathers. Peering closely at the photo, I can also see the chocolate baubles which hung temptingly all Christmas, but which we were not allowed to eat unless we had visitors to share them with.
 
I have had an artificial tree at home since the kids were born  but, contrarily, I am always slightly disappointed when I visit Mum and Dad at Christmas these days and all they have is a tasteful LED tabletop arrangement. I suppose you always want your childhood home to remain the same, even as you move on yourself. I wish I had that Robin, I must ask Mum what happened to all those old decorations.
 
 


2 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh this all looks so familiar. I have yellowed photos from exactly the same era as well, and so many with home deco and bits of other people that place them right in the 70's. I also remember wearing long dresses and skirts similar to that one.

Sian said...

A really lovely post!

Yes, my memories are all that colour too. I remember those long party dresses we all had. My Mum made matching ones for my sister and me. Oh, you've got me thinking now..:)