Sunday, December 15, 2013

Christmas at the Co-op

During the last few quiet weeks, I’ve been watching more TV than usual to accompany my knitting. This has meant rather greater exposure to Christmas advertising than I might have wished, which in turn led me to ponder some of the differences between Christmas now and the Christmases of my childhood.

Until I was nearly thirteen our house was a TV-free zone, which meant my only exposure to advertising in the home before then was in the pages of newspapers and magazines, neither of which featured largely in my childhood reading habits. Even on our trips to town, there weren’t really any adverts for toys or games on display, which must have spared our parents much of the pre-Christmas pestering today’s parents seem to have to endure.

Instead we girls relied on one very special Saturday to inform ourselves about the latest toys and games and decide what suggestions or requests we might include in our annual letter to Father Christmas. That Saturday was the day in late autumn when our local Co-operative Society opened its Toy Fair in the big meeting-room on the first floor of its premises in the main street of the east Lancashire cotton-town where I was born.

Not our Co-op, but it gives a good idea of the style

Almost trembling with excitement, my younger sisters and I would be taken by our parents by bus into town, where we would join the queue for admittance into this Aladdin’s cave of childish treasure. There we would spend a blissful hour or two wandering round the displays to find the special one or two items we felt we might be able to ask Father Christmas to bring us. Even then we had a very clear understanding that we couldn't ask for much, but that if we were modest in our requests, we would probably find them satisfied on Christmas morning.


The other great treat of that day was the visit to Father Christmas’s grotto in a side-room off the main hall, with the inevitable question as to whether we had been good, and the invitation to whisper in his ear what we would like him to bring us for Christmas. Then he would hand each of us a small gift as an earnest of the treats to come and we would go home, tired but happy, to start counting down the days to Christmas.


Soon afterwards would come the letters to Father Christmas, written out in our very best handwriting, with no spelling mistakes or crossings-out, which we would leave on the mantelpiece for our father to put up the chimney before he went to bed.

The other ritual which was inexorably linked with the pre-Christmas period as I remember it was the divi. For my overseas readers I should explain that each time one shopped at any Co-operative Society department, one was given a receipt, which was carefully put away safely until it was time toclaim the dividend or divi – our share of the profits of the Society. Twice a year out came the receipts, which were carefully pasted (usually by us children) onto a special claim form, bearing our member’s share number, and even more carefully totalled up by our mother, so that we knew how much divi we could expect.


By the time I was in my teens I was very aware that this bonus went at least part of the way towards paying for the presents which would appear in the stockings we left at the end of our beds on Christmas Eve. By then too I was long aware that our parents helped Father Christmas out by delivering those same presents, which had been carefully hidden in the bottom of the wardrobe in their bedroom, but for the sake of my two youngest sisters my lips were sealed. 

The idea of piling presents round the tree didn’t feature at all in my childhood, since our tree was tiny and stood on a table in our small living-room, well out of harm’s way. It’s a pity Simon didn't do the same….

.

Images via Google

62 comments:

  1. I still have you and my other older sisters to thank for not blowing the secret so that I - so many years your junior - could go on believing in the magic for a good few years, until about eight or nine years old as I recall, and even then it was a schoolmate who disabused me. I can still remember and almost feel afresh the welling up of excitement when one felt down the end of the bed in the dark to find, not a flat and foppy empty stocking, but a full and stretched to bursting one, with a tangerine and nuts and raisins in the toe and lots of lovely crackly paper-wrapped lumps up its length. Then on with the lights and off with the wrapping, as toy after toy emerged and was investigated, and all before breakfast. Even now I am slightly horrified to hear of families who don't open tree presents until AFTER lunch, such as my first set of in-laws. Such delaying of gratification on Christmas Day? Unthinkable!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have a feeling that our parents would have hung us older ones up by the heels if we'd let the cat out of the bag, Baby Sis. :-) Not that I was ever tempted to, as I've always been a great big softie where Christmas is concerned. I love the traditions and the sheer innocent excitement and enjoyment.

      Oh, those stockings....Before it was late enough for us to put the light on I loved feeling my way along my full stocking in the dark, trying to guess what all the lumps and bumps might be. As well as the nuts and raisins and tangerine, there was always a net of foil-wrapped chocolate coins to keep us going until breakfast time. When our two were small we didn't have tree presents either. Instead we did all the present opening with them in our big double-bed, though the replacement of stockings by tights meant that they had pillow-slips at the bottom of their beds. DD knitted big, brightly-coloured Christmas stockings for her two. :-)

      Delete
  2. That was an enjoyable ttrip back to childhood Christmas - and another benefit of your enforced leisure. I could see that Toy Fair and feel the excitement.

    Not a great deal was made of Christmas when I was a child - there was more fuss at school than at home where there would be a tree, some decorations - but that was that apart from a stocking with Swiss pencils, chocolate, nuts and tangerines.
    There would be a present or two...John Bull printing sets were much appreciated and I still remember a large red locomotive which I adored and was very bitter when it was removed a couple of years later as I was now 'too old' for it and handed on to a cousin who wrecked it in weeks.
    I can still see that locomotive in my mind's eye.

    I only saw Santa in his grotto once, when an aunt took me to his lair in a department store.
    It was clear that Santa had drink taken - but sitting on the knees of strange people, drink taken or not, didn't particularly appeal to me then or since so I didn't mind not repeating the experience.

    I remember the Co-op dividend...and was a Co-op member until leaving the U.K. when the dividend seemed to have turned into some sort of card with points as opposed to the receipts you describe and which I too remember.

    My husband's family celebrated St.Nicolas, but once installed in the U.K. adapted to Christmas instead and, as the eldest child, it was his duty to seek out the presents hidden in the back of the wardrobe and determine what they might be. He reckons he had about an 80% success rate.

    Television only appeared in the house when I was twelve, but I don't remember TV Christmas advertising at all....and I hope I was mistaken when I read in an online newspaper recently that payday loans companies are now targeting advertising at children before Christmas!

    More pressure on parents - though why they give in to it is beyond me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad you enjoyed it, Helen. I can well imagine that growing up in Scotland, your childhood Christmases were pretty low-key. Hogmanay has always been the big celebration, at least according to my late father-in-law, a Lowland Scot. It does seem unfair therefore that you should have been deprived of one of the best-loved of your few Christmas presents like that. Sometimes parents just don't understand....

      Our Lancashire Father Christmases (never Santa back then) don't stand out in my mind for any such dissolute behaviour, though I do remember the fun of trying to guess who was inside the outfit when he appeared at school and Sunday School Christmas parties. In fact a couple of years ago DH was asked by the president of the comité des fêtes in our French village whether we ever visited in December, as they were looking for someone new to play Le Père Noël. :-)

      It must have been interesting for your husband to make that adaptation to new traditions. I love the thought of him sussing out the hidden presents for his siblings.

      As for TV advertising, I too don't remember any Christmas ads as a child, only endless plugs for Persil and Fairy liquid. But you're absolutely right about the ubiquity of payday loan adverts as the companies seem to go on proliferating and do most of their advertising during the day and early evening. I truly detest them and the way they make debt with extortionate interest rates seem acceptable and normal. Grrr!

      Delete
  3. A fascinating trip into Christmases past Perpetua. The Co-op loomed large in our household too, though this was much earlier, and one of the very few numbers i can remember from the 1940' is 167345.
    I never saw a TV ad until I was in my twenties and am none the worse for it.
    One of the great advantages of having low expectations is the joy of having them exceeded.
    As for Simon's awful cat, he might well have been killed and roasted for Christmas lunch in my youth.
    (Only kidding, I think)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Ray. Yes, the Co-op was very important to us and my mother did as much shopping there as she could, though day-to-day groceries were bought in the village. I'm in awe of anyone who can remember a 6 digit number from so long ago. My memory for words and facts is good, but numbers just slip out of my mind.

      I think not expecting too much and being pleasantly surprised is a good thing, but possibly a dying art, if today's adverts are any guide. I simply can't believe the amount of money being spent, given the prices of this year's must-have items. Sigh.... Simon's Cat is a good antidote to the need to have everything perfect at Christmas. :-)

      Delete
  4. Oh Perpetua what memories you've brought back for me. I can still remember our Co-op divi number - it's kind of imprinted on my brain. We never put presents around the tree either, because they were from Father Christmas and the first you saw them was in a pillowcase on the floor at the end of the bed (about 3 o-clock in the morning if you were lucky - if not then around 7 o-clock).
    Thank you for this post it was lovely. Carry on with the knitting.
    Patricia x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I thought it might ring bells with readers of my generation, Patricia and I'm deeply impressed that you can still remember your divi number. I haven't a clue what ours was. :-) The sheer excitement of waiting to see what Father Christmas had brought us, with no parcels round the tree to give hints, was almost unbearable by the end, but such fun. I often wondered how out parents coped with us waking them up so very early, until I found out when our two were young. :-)

      The knitting is progressing nicely, thanks - a pair of socks for DD.

      Delete
  5. I must have been a timorous girl Perpetua, there was no stepping into santa's grotto for me even though it deprived me of a gift.
    Today we never watch TV adds if at all possible - I prefer to record the programme and then whizz through the adverts on playback. On a regular basis neither of us is exactly sure what some of them are advertising anyway!!!
    It must have been more relaxed in the old days - my father would dig up the tree from the garden on Christmas Eve afternoon. We would all help him decorate it in the evening before finally climbing the stairs in anticipation and excitement of the following day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, poor Rosemary. I have happy memories of those encounters with Father Christmas, but of course my mother was always somewhere comfortingly near when we were small.

      We too prefer to record programmes and skip the ads and if we can't we simply mute the sound and enjoy ourselves trying to guess what is being advertised. Not what the advertisers hoped for, I'm sure. :-)

      It was indeed very much more relaxed back then. We girls used to have great fun making decorations from crepe paper and smothering our small kitchen and living-room with them, as well as decorating our tiny tree. Happy days....

      Delete
  6. This was fascinating, Perpetua. I didn't know about any of it before I read your post. I wish I lived in a time when advertising was less prevalent. I grew up watching far too much television; we were not limited at all, in fact we were encouraged to watch TV constantly. There were problems and it was a way to keep the kids busy, I guess. In our home today, the TV is rarely on and my children actually have to earn the time they spend watching; they use "currency" that they earn for good behavior. They almost never watch more than 30 minutes per day. It's one of my proudest choices in parenting. I would have loved to shop for gifts the way you did as a child, it sounds really fun and something to look forward to all year. I also liked learning about the dividend system, which is interesting. It would be a fair amount to keep track of but I think it would be worth it to be able to cash in through things you had already needed to buy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm glad you enjoyed this post so much, Jennifer. Yes, advertising does seem to permeate the whole of life nowadays and I gather you have even more TV ads than we do in the UK. Thanks goodness for the BBC, with no ads on either TV or radio.

      It's sad to see the TV used as a free babysitter for som many children and i do admire you for going against the trend and limiting it severely. My parents did the same and we too were allowed only one programme of our choice each and we couldn't watch the others once we'd seen our own. DH and I solved the problem by not having TV at all when our two were young and only got it when they were teenagers.

      The trip to the Toy Fair was a high-spot of our year, but would be impossible to reproduce nowadays, with toys and games so widely available all year round. As for the dividend system, it did indeed take some discipline to keep all the tiny receipts safe until they were needed, but the financial reward made a real difference to my parents' limited budget, so the work was worth it.

      Delete
  7. The ads are particularly annoying this year, but like Rosemary, we avoid them as much as possible by recording what we watch on TV. Something that I've noticed with our son and daughter and their friends is that they are set on a simpler celebration - not so much focus on the gifts under the tree, and I like that.
    And......thank you for the smiles with Simon's cat!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As I replied to Rosemary, we too try to record as many programmes as possible on the commercial channels and where we can't we simply mute the sound in the ad break. :-) I'm glad to hear of the change of focus for your children and their friends and I'm sure they are not alone in this. I see the same with our two, with the social side of Christmas - board games and charades and conversation - becoming more important than the material.

      Delete
  8. Thanks for this glimpse into your childhood Christmas memories. We didn't have the Co-operative Society, but we did have the Sears Christmas catalog. I would spend hours looking through its glossy pages.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad you enjoyed it, Kristie. One of the joys of blogging is learning about so many different customs. I hadn't a clue what a catalogue was when I was a child, but i know for sure my sisters and I would have loved browsing through one. :-)

      Delete
  9. Christmas was so much more fun and appreciated in the days before TV and advertising. We had a stocking with a sugar mouse, chocolate coins, some crayons, nuts and a tangerine, and one big present. I was the eldest so I had to pretend for a few years for the sake of my younger brothers, but it was all part of the fun. Thanks for the memories once again Perpetua...and another lovely Simon's Cat video. I hope Christmas for you and your family is wonderful xxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Ayak, I'm sure you're right. Our expectations were low, so they were easily satisfied with not very much. We too only had one big present, plus small gifts from our one set of grandparents and a couple of aunts. I'd forgotten about sugar mice, which didn't always feature in our stockings. Keeping quiet about Father Christmas for the sake of the younger ones actually made me feel rather grown-up. :-)

      Delete
  10. Oh dear, poor Simon - he does have a life with that naughty cat. I can remember standing in my bedroom window (should have been asleep) looking out at the stars to see if I could see Santa going by in his sleigh. My heart's desire was a Patsy doll - looking at your picture - similar to the little doll in the high chair - sure enough on Christmas morning, the wrapping paper was a bit wrinkly, but there she was. Oh how I loved that doll.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He does indeed, Molly,and we once had a cat who was nearly as naughty with the Christmas tree. :-) I have a lovely mental image of you as a little girl keeping an eye out for Santa in his sleigh. I'm glad you got your heart's desire and I'm sure you treasuerd her for years. One year my next sister and I were given walkie-talkie dolls very like the bigger ones in the picture, but dressed entirely by our mother to keep the cost down. I can still remember those dolls and their clothes. :-)

      Delete
  11. Replies
    1. It was indeed, Linda, and in many ways far more memorable.

      Delete
  12. Thank you for your recollections of your childhood Christmases, Perpetua. We didn't have a TV at home until I was seven, but I do remember watching children's programmes on the neighbours TV before then. And I certainly remember giving my mother's Coop number if I ever went to the local branch, to buy something on her behalf. She certainly used to make good use of her divi & I know that I was the beneficiary on some occasions :-)

    Your latest Simon's Cat video is exactly the reason why we've decided this year, NOT to have a Christmas tree & decorations, because Šárek the kitten would do exactly the same thing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad you enjoyed them, Ricky. It's the time of year to be a bit reminiscent, I think. :-) We didn't have a near neighbour with TV, so getting one of our own was a very big event. Shopping at the Co-op was something we had to catch the bus into town to do, so until I was in my teens it was always my mother who gave the number. She certainly made the best possible use of the divi.

      So no Christmas tree this year at the Chaplaincy flat, then? Very wise and I'm sure you can make up for it with other decorations hung well out of reach. :-)

      Delete
  13. I was happy to wake up in the early hours of Christmas morning to find a stocking filled with nuts, a tangerine, coloured pencils etc. and a Rupert the Bear annual at the end of the bed. I made paper lanterns and paper chains with strips of sticky paper for decorations. Tv can be an interesting source of entertainment, but I would love to have the facility to skip those adverts!




    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So you had a stocking rather than a pillow-case too, Linda? I always loved the lumps and bumps when it was full. :-) We too had an annual each, Rupert Bear or another young child's annual when I was young, and then the School Friend annual by the time I reached secondary school age. Our decorations were made from crepe paper rather than stick paper, but were always home-made. As for the ads, try turning the sound off for a few minutes peace and quiet. :-)

      Delete
  14. It's so fun to hear about customs and memories that are so different and yet the simplicity of the season for all of us was so much the same: our requests were modest and the joy in small things so great. One of my favorite memories from childhood was the advent calendar my mother would keep with us and each day, we'd find a little treat -- a piece of candy or a holy card or tiny toy -- under our pillows when we went to bed. And Midnight Mass or Christmas Day mass with all the Christmas hymns. And Aunt Molly arriving with presents. Who needed Santa Claus? The joy over the presents was secondary to the joy of her presence in our home over the holidays. Those are the memories I treasure most -- and miss most -- as the holidays approach once again. Thanks for sharing your memories, Perpetua, and for triggering some sweet ones of my own!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's one of the major joys of blogging to discover and appreciate these differences, Kathy, and also trace the similarities. Our Christmases were very modest, but we enjoyed every minute of them with our parents, our one set of grandparents and an aunt and uncle or two. I always enjoy reading about your beloved aunt Molly and can imagine how you miss her at this time.

      Advent calendars didn't figure in my childhood and indeed I didn't even learn about them until I started to learn German at the age of 14 and my German teacher told us about German Christmas customs. I made sure our two had a calendar erach, though without the gifts, and now the grandsons have great fun with the lovely electronic advent calendar from one of my favourite internet firms. I even buy one for myself to make up for the deprivation of my childhood. :-)

      Delete
  15. Perpetua, I've never heard of a co-operative society or a divi... interesting. Was this all over England or just Wales? We didn't have TV at our house in New Orleans until I was 9. And I found my "Ricky" doll (from the "I Love Lucy" show) hidden in a closet when I was 8. I remember being shocked at first, then the reality of it dawning on me... and then the realization that it was best that I say nothing. It's funny because the magic of Christmas didn't disappear with the fact that now I knew my parents part in the gift giving. Christmas was so much more than that. It was still full of the Savior's birth, and angels, and despite the fact that I knew Santa didn't come down my chimney, I still believed in the Saint Nicholas that started the tradition. As far as I was concerned, parents just try to keep the tradition and magic alive for their kids.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The co-operative societies with their dividends were inspired by the work of a great 19th century social reformer called Robert Owen, who was in fact born only a few miles from where I live in Mid-Wales.
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_cooperative_movement
      The idea was the shops were run for mutual benefit, with at least a proportion of the profits being returned to the members as dividend and they were a great force for good. The unified Co-operative Society still has shops and other businesses all over the UK today.

      It sounds like your childhood had many similarities to mine. I too didn't mind when I discovered that my parents played the role of Father Christmas and enjoyed keeping the tradition going for my younger sisters. Carols and the Christmas story were such an important part for us too, at school and chapel and in singing carols round the Christmas tree, though I was a teenager by the time I heard about Saint Nicholas.

      Delete
  16. I enjoyed your memories of Christmas so very much – some were similar to mine. I had never heard of the divi. We also had a very small tree on top a small table. I would place my shoes by the little stove in the living room on the 24th. A couple of weeks before that mother would have taken me to the Galeries Lafayette or Le Printemps department store in Paris to look at the animated windows and give my letter to Santa – usually Santa was sitting on top of the stairs at the Galeries Lafayette. We did not get a TV until I was 13 ½ but there were no commercials on it. On Christmas Day (when I was a child) I would see if Papa Noel had brought some of my presents, then my grand-parents and great aunt and uncle would come and bring me what Papa Noel had brought at their home for me. I had no siblings and no close cousin (just second cousins in the country) so no children to play with. When I was a teenager I started going to London to my pen-pal’s family for Christmas and loved it there and I kept going to England every Christmas after that. They knew how to have fun – some of my best memories are of those Christmases in England.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm so glad you enjoyed the post, Vagabonde. I'm fascinated to hear that you had such positive experiences of English Christmases as a teenager as well as the French Christmases of your childhood. Paris at Christmas must have been magical and I can well imagine how the department stores would have glittered with stylish decorations.

      I love the idea of you placing your shoes by the stove for your presents from Papa Noel. My sisters and I each used to place an old stocking of my mother's at the foot of the bed and it was so exciting to wake up and feel the weight of the stocking full of interesting lumps and bumps of parcels. We didn't have a lot of presents, but there was always a big one from our parents and small ones from grandparents and our aunts and uncles. So many happy memories.

      Delete
  17. Gorgeous posting Perpetua bringing back many happy memories. You childhood was a few years later than mine ... we never had TV in our childhood home. I would go to my Aunt [across a country road], scrounge a lower branch of her macrocarpa tree and decorate it with streamers made from crepe paper. I have never visited Santa's grotto [city too far away, or perhaps wise parents who didn't want to expose their children to unknown delights], but did wander around the back room of the bookshop. This room was large, had a polished wooden floor with squeaky boards, and we whispered as we walked around. The dolls were on the back shelf! I would look, but it took several years of wishing before a doll came to my stocking, and it wasn't a walkie talkie but one that had patterns to make clothes from.
    My favourite present was one from an aunt ... a jigsaw puzzle. The box had a picture of an English cottage with roses all around the doorway. I opened to box, never having seen a jigsaw puzzle in my ten years, and found all these pieces of cut up heavy cardboard with a picture on one side. After peering for several moments I worked out that the pieces fitted together. Many happy hours were spent on the floor of my parent's bedroom [in sunshine] putting the puzzle together. How much more satisfying that project was than sitting pushing buttons on some electronic gadget ... well to me anyway:)
    Our youngest son was five years younger than his siblings and those siblings were threatened that Santa would not visit them if they 'spilt the beans'.
    I love your cartoon! What a precocious little girl!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I really love your very different memories, Shirley. Having googled macrocarpa, I can now easily imagine your childhood Christmas tree and I'm sure it looked very festive. Isn't it interesting how deeply childhood experiences leave their mark. I can almost hear that bookshop floor creaking and see its polished boards and the dolls on the back shelf. I'm glad you got your much longed-for doll at last.

      I was another jigsaw fan when I was a child, gradually working my way up to the really big ones with hundreds, if not thousands, of pieces. I was a sickly child and playing with a jigsaw was something I could do quietly in bed when I felt better but wasn't allowed to get up. :-) I'm still known to put the occasional one together when I feel like it....

      Glad to hear that you too resorted to threats to make sure the magic of Santa was maintained for your youngest son. I just don't understand those who want to take away that magic too soon.

      Delete
  18. Oh how I enjoyed hearing of your Christmases past, Perpetua. While we did have presents under the tree, there weren't many, and we didn't start hearing or thinking about Christmas until just before. The anticipation was so much a part of our holiday and we always attended church on Christmas day as it is a holy day in the Greek Orthodox tradition.

    How interesting about the divi, Perpetua, and the part you and your siblings played in it. I cannot thank you enough for sharing this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's always such fun to hear how other people celebrate Christmas both now and in the past, Penny. Your Greek Orthodox customs I find totally fascinating and I enjoy the differences in US traditions too, such as cookies instead of mince-pies and Christmas cake. :-) I do think we kept Christmas within bounds in our youth, without the hype that seems to start earlier and earlier every year.

      As for the divi, the whole idea of co-operative societies - people working together for mutual benefit - was very important in my Northern childhood and being able to get our little share of the profits from our own shopping really mattered to us.

      Delete
  19. Wonderful post Perpetua, and you bring the past alive so well, while stirring old memories for us all. TV came when I was 12 or 13, and prior to that we listened only to the ABC radio, so I was never exposed to spoken ads - in fact, I remember being embarrassed in primary school when the teacher asked for examples of radio advertisements, and I had absolutely nothing to offer! We visited the stores and admired the windows in the weeks before Christmas, and our gifts from Santa - one only per child - appeared at the end of our beds. We had no Christmas stockings, which we seemed to think were something from the past, or Europe. Christmas was lots of fun though from decorating the live tree on Christmas Eve (found in the bush by my Dad), cooking festive treats, and going to my Grandfather's place 5 hours away, where we children put on our own concert for the adults. As others say, those were simpler times!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Patricia. I think these Christmas memories are some of the most vivid I have from my childhood because I've always loved the Christmas season. Commercial ads were only to be found on TV in my youth, as we didn't get commercial radio in the UK until 1973, by which time I was married with two children of my own.

      I'm glad to hear you too had pre-Christmas expeditions to look at the toys on offer. The custom of the Christmas stocking began in Europe, but it certainly spread to north America with the European migrants and I'm slightly surprised it wasn't taken to Australia too. There was nothing quite like the lumpy, bumpy stocking across the foot of the bed on Christmas morning. :-) I love the thought of your Dad bringing in your Christmas tree from the bush and the concert you gave to the adults at your grandfather's.

      Delete
  20. This was a delight to read and I enjoy hearing about your family Christmas customs, Perpetua. I have never heard of a Co-op of this nature, nor the idea of being transported to see, for the first time, the array of children's delights that would be a child's temptation. I have no memory of a life without almost continual advertising! I don't question that through the years I've probably been very influenced by non-stop messages, overt and subliminal. I think it would be a wonderful thing if we could roll back the clock just a bit and recapture some of the simplicity you help us remember. I think it's an important goal for me to at least try. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Debra. I do love both the variety and also the similarities between our different customs. The ubiquity of broadcast advertising which is such a feature of US life is a relatively recent development in the UK, particularly on radio, where there were no ads allowed until 1973.

      As for the Co-op,since you're such a history buff I'm copying what I wrote above to Rian: "The co-operative societies with their dividends were inspired by the work of a great 19th century social reformer called Robert Owen, who was in fact born only a few miles from where I live in Mid-Wales.
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_cooperative_movement
      The idea was the shops were run for mutual benefit, with at least a proportion of the profits being returned to the members as dividend and they were a great force for good. The unified Co-operative Society still has shops and other businesses all over the UK today."

      I find that Christmas is getting simpler again for DH and me as we rein in the shopping and just enjoy spending time with our children and their families, whom we don't see often enough during the year.

      Delete
  21. Hari OM
    Gosh that is so similar to my own memories of Christmas it is spooky!! Although Scottish (and yes Hogmanay is the big one!), due to the years of mine and siblings childhood being centred in Suffolk we also got quite a good Christmas, albeit within the constraints of quite a severe budget. Ipswich Co-op was always on the list and I too recall the "stamp book" as mum called it. In fact, part of our training in household management was to each be given our own divi booklet, so that whoever's turn it was to "pay the lady" after each week's shopping, got the receipt stamps for their book... sigh. Happy days.

    That cartoon with santa hits the mark; I have so many friends who are trapped in the bigger and better each year cycle. It's all about the update update; use it up and throw it out; Oh for a return to the goodies-filled stocking (or pillow case - yes we had those too, although there was one memorable year when dad decided to fill both legs of a pair of wooly tights for us all!!)

    Last night I attended a Carol Service in Rosslyn Chapel; that is about all the celebration I need or want. It was sublime. YAM xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, we're of nearly the same generation, Yam, so life wouldn't have changed much by the time you can remember your early Christmases. Budgets were tight for us too, hence the careful and modest selection of a suggestion or two for Father Christmas. However I didn't experience Co-op stamps in my childhood, as they weren't introduced until 1965, the year i went to university. So it was always the tiny receipts pasted onto the long sheets which were the key to the divi.

      I really love the cartoon and unfortunately know some families for whom that wouldn't be too far from the truth. Thankfully both our two give their children a stocking, though there are also presents under the tree for everyone, to be opened to the accompaniment of a mince-pie or two. :-) Your carol service sounds like bliss. I've yet to attend one this year, but hopefully next weekend i can remedy that.

      Delete
  22. Hi P, I'd forgotten about my Christmas trips to the toy shop, thanks for reminding me. Visiting Santa was too traumatic for me as a little kiddie, I was happy to forgo this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We all needed to do a little consumer research, BtoB, even at that tender age. :-) I remember holding very tightly to my mother's hand when visiting Father Christmas as a small child.

      Delete
  23. Ah, the Coop. I used to stick the green shield stamps in the booklet for my mum. I do wish Christmas was more like the one you describe- now it's Amazon who has replaced the kind of toy fair you talk about, it's sad. Two of my Children wrote to Father Christmas this year, in their best handwriting, with carefully drawn pictures. They're under no illusion, but I was thrilled.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, you youngster, MM! Co-op stamps didn't come in until the year I left home for university. :-) i know what you mean about our modern Christmas shopping habits. I'm afraid Amazon stepped into the breach for just about all my Christmas shopping this year, because of not being allowed to drive. But there's hope yet if your children down there in the south of France are still writing to Father Christmas with such care. :-)

      Delete
  24. Those stockings! We still have the 'Elbeo' Fully Fashioned Support Stockings our mother wore and then our girls used as Christmas Stockings all through their childhoods and I can now keep for any future grandchildren. Or would their dead, great-grandmother's elastic stockings just be too strange to be quite healthy?! Happy Christmas to both of you and your nearest and dearests!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gosh, you still have THE stockings?! I remember them so well. They were so strong and elastic that we could prod and poke them as much as we wanted without doing any damage. :-) Of course you must keep them. They're a family heirloom. Our two had to make do with pillow-slips, as my tights would have shredded with the first parcel pushed into them. DD knitted stout and colourful Christmas stockings for her two when they were very small.

      Delete
  25. Do all childhood Christmases seem simpler, regardless of era I wonder?

    Mine are memorable for my mother forcing us all to eat a proper tea regardless of the size of Christmas dinner we'd consumed just hours before, followed by the adoption of a vegetative state in front of Morecambe and Wise - that dates me! - which I loathed. My first proper teenage rebellion, some years on, was to insist on an afternoon walk on Christmas day, and to read in my room on Christmas evening!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm sure they do, Annie, if only for the fact that as children most of the busyness and hard work passed us by and we could simply enjoy everything. #

      Oh, Christmas tea! An inescapable facet of Christmas Day for us too, though the Christmases I remember long predate Morecambe and Wise on TV. We did watch a bit of TV but mostly played games with visiting relatives. You were a braver teenager than I. Rebellion didn't enter my head until I went to university. :-)

      Delete
  26. Ah... the joys of a real Christmas...
    Annie @ knitsofacto commented above about a childhood Christmas being simpler...
    a just post-War Christmas was most clearly simpler...
    I'm sure it was because our parents couldn't afford great luxuries...
    and the fact that rationing kept certain things out of their reach...

    There wasn't a Co-op in Pinner, where I grew up...
    but there was a William's Bros... which later became International Stores...
    I still have some of the "divi" metal tokens that we'd carefully collect...
    and then be allowed to spend with the ration book.

    I always made a bee-line for the biscuit tins with their glass lids...
    and work my way round to the "broken" biscuits and use my tokens on those...
    up to the ration card allowance...
    because they were always more exciting than the rather formally presented, clean biscuits of a single kind...
    at my age then, I don't really think I'd clocked that I'd get more for the same ration allowance!!

    Ahh...
    custard creams, squashed fly biscuits, figgy sandwiches, parts of shortbread fingers, lemon puffs...
    a delight that I'd enjoy finding now in a packet...
    but I'll bet they all get tipped or fed to the pigs...

    The tokens I still have were left over when William's Bros. became International Stores...
    the biscuit tins all round the counter space, remained for a while...
    but then vanished and packets appeared!!

    We had Christmas stockings that we had to leave by the fireplace along with mince pies [Mum's best] and a glass of whisky...
    always out of Dad's bottle, too...
    strange he'd be so generous to Santa?

    There was always a card or board game, a chinese puzzle, a marshmallow, a Tunnock's finger [and I've been addicted ever since], a Waggon Wheel...
    a model car and in the toe...
    an orange, or a clemantine/mandarin/satsuma...
    depending what my p...
    oops, sorry, Santa had in the sleigh!!

    Solved the Tunnock's addiction recently, over here in France....
    the Bretons make "toffee in a jar"...
    this used with some crispbread and real plain chocolate [not Nuttella] spread makes a very good substitute flavourwise...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I forgot to mention that the stockings always appeared at the end of our beds...
      before we woke up!!

      Delete
    2. And...
      whatever happened to paperchains and pots of flour glue?

      Delete
    3. The Christmases I remember so clearly were in the 1950s and I well remember ration books, though rationing was lifted when I was 8. I'm sure you're right about rationing and lack of means ensuring that Christmas was much simpler for most people back then. This was some time before Macmillan and his "We've never had it so good".

      I also vividly remember broken biscuits, which were the treat we were allowed to buy while we waited for the bus home after primary school swimming lessons.
      http://perpetually-in-transit.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/going-to-baths.html
      There were lots of foodstuffs sold loose then, even butter. Today's Health and Safety bods would have a fit!

      Our Christmas stockings were always placed carefully across the foot of our beds, though we did leave a mince-pie for Father Christmas and a carrot for his reindeer. When I was young our parents didn't drink and there wouldn't have been a bottle of alcohol in the house.

      I've had to google Tunnock's finger (your Scottish upbringing showing there, Tim) but we had a similar selection of small goodies, always including a tangerine (those pips!) to keep us quiet for a while before waking our parents completely. And we made paper chains with crepe paper and a pot of flour and water glue. My father, being a painter and decorator, was very good at getting the right consistency for us. :-)

      Delete
  27. My Granny always called it the 'cwop' and we had a really big one in Bradford. We didn't see Santa Claus there though, we went to the rather posher department store which has now burnt down - Busby's - great place!
    I too was the oldest and your post made me feel ashamed as I led my little sister on a present hunt once before the big day and nearly came through the ceiling as I went up into the loft....I don't think my little sister actually knew what I was doing - she was just on look-out duty. (I didn't find anything...)
    Lovely memories. I so glad to say that we don't have live TV anymore and so are spared advertising in any language!. This year, the children are still quite excited but realistically so and we're enjoying teaching 'On the Twelve Days of Christmas' to Spanish friends!
    I hope you have a really lovely one, Perpetua.
    Axxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So did mine, Annie and my mother, and indeed all of us children. I was a lot bigger before I realised it was spelt with a hyphen. :-) The Co-op in Darwen was the nearest thing we had to a department store, though its various departments were spread out in several shops in a couple of adjoining streets.

      It sounds like you were a more independent-minded child than I was, as I wouldn't have dared try hunting through the house as you did (not that we had a loft in any case) I was very conformist back then. :-) Well done on sticking to your decision not to get another TV. We didn't have one when our two were young and DD has just given up the licence on theirs and they only use it for watching DVDs. Of course your three are excited still. The nature of the excitement may change, but the enjoyment is just as great. I'd love to hear your Spanish friends rendering 'The Twelve Days of Christmas'. :-)

      Delete
  28. What a wonderful memory! I'd no idea about the co-op...

    Pearl

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Pearl. No, the Co-op is a very British thing - an early form of socialism, which still exists today, though in a changed form.

      Delete
  29. Thinking of Christmases past the one present that really stands out came from my Grandmother when I was about 5 years old. We had lived with my grandparents for several years and then we moved out of state about 6 or 8 months before Christmas of that year. The present was a doll with long brown hair and a little red suitcase full of clothes for her that my grandmother had made. A black and brown houndstooth coat with a matching hat (with feather!), two dresses yellow and blue, a long party dress, lavender with stiff netting to make a petticoat and a little corsage pinned at the waist, and surely there must have been a nightgown of some sort that I don't remember. How I wish I had those little clothes yet today. What a treasure! She must have missed me a lot and thought about me as she made those little clothes.

    Victoria
    Indiana USA

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What a wonderfully vivid reminiscence, Victoria, and one I can strongly identify with. I wrote a post a couple of years ago, in which I remembered a doll my mother had dressed for me for Christmas when I was about the same age:

      http://perpetually-in-transit.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/ghosts-of-christmasses-past.html

      After all this time I can only remember the party dress, but you're remembering a whole wardrobe of lovingly-made clothes. Yours must have been the best-dressed doll in the state. :-) Like you, I now wish I still had my doll with its beautiful clothes, made with the same care and attention your grandmother lavished on the doll she was dressing for you. I think we were both very lucky and cherished little girls.

      Delete
  30. Dear Perpetua, I'm so glad that you suggested this posting for me to read. It brought back such good memories of Christmas here in the States. Every year Mom took my brother and me on the bus that went from Independence, Missouri, into downtown Kansas City and the Jones Department Store. There an entire floor was devoted to Christmas. We could sit on "Santa's" lap and tell him what we wanted; we could visit all the displayed toys; and we could enter a winter wonderland of scenes from a Christmas book/poem/story.

    Some Christmas we had several gifts under the tree; some Christmas just one or two. But always the excitement. The glee at opening the gift.

    We always had a tree that stood on the floor and I continue this tradition. For the past 40 years I've viewed that tree as my gift to the cats with whom I live. I always hang wooden and plastic ornaments on the bottom limbs so that the cats will have something to play with.

    Only once have I lived with a cat who climbed the tree. That was Noah, who died in January 2007 after being my friend for 17 1/2 years. I had a tree that year that was nine feet tall and must have been about 10 feet or more in circumference. A very dense tree also. EAch day Noah would hunker down next to the trunk and then climb the limbs to fall asleep toward the top. I'd call his name, see the tree shake, and then he'd appear on the floor where he'd do the feline stretch that is an art form.

    Thank you so much for sharing Simon's adventure with the cat who's befriended him. Peace.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dee, this is such a wonderful trip down your memory lane of childhood Christmases and beloved cats. We may have been born thousands of miles apart, but there are many similarities between your childhood experiences and mine and I love this sense of connection that blogging brings us.

      I'm trying to imagine living in a house with ceilings high enough for a 9 ft tree! I've always lived in houses with low ceilings, so that even a 6 ft tree would almost touch the ceiling. The nine-footer must have been a truly wonderful sight and I now have an irresistible mental image of your beloved Noah climbing it and then sleeping the sleep of the just high in its branches. :-) A lovely story, Dee. Thank you for sharing it.

      Delete

I welcome your comments and will always try to respond to them. Thank you for reading.