General Chat

With everything being so commercial, and expensive with i want!!! How hard it must of been for our ancestors, was the family love more important??? the true meaning of christmas being together and remembering the good times together. or did they feel as guilty at struggling to provide the basic necessities. Trying to earn enough money to just put a meal on the table and some shoes on their feet and a warm blanket and fire. I'm sure they would be shocked at the stress we put ourselves under just to enjoy a time of remembrance. sandra

Well don't know if mine would have been too worried as Christmas was banned in Scotland for about 400 years and right up until 1950/60's most people still worked on Christmas day just like any other day. Christine

I've noticed several of my ancestors married on Christmas day, also some baptisms on that day. I think perhaps it was more a day for families to get together than to have expensive treats and probably all the better for that. Judith

Judith - I noticed that too on some on my hubbys rellies and thought - how romantic - then was told it was the only day off in the year most people had lol. I still think its lovely though. Sandra - I agree with you - its all becoming commercialised - there are some websites which will tell you about a typical victorian or earlier era christmas. makes you VERY grateful for things.

then things were simpler, I think as we have progressed we've become more competitive and have alot of time on our hands(i know some of you will disagree!) but more time to think than our relatives who properbly worked from sun up to sunset, and were just glad of the time off!

Christine i never knew that fact, but then so far i haven't got any rellies in Scotland as yet. Why was it banned?? sandra

My Grandparents got married on Christmas Day... altogether now... awwwwwww

I have a few that wed around christmas, so romantic, Just for Paul AAAAhhhh. I also used to work all over Christmas this will be my 3rd christmas that i haven't but now i'm medically retired i don't have to.But it does bring back how hard our ancestors had to work to make ends meet. sandra

Christine - I remember my daddy having to go to work on christmas day in the 60's. Sandra - think it is because the Scots regarded it as an English holiday and concentrated on the New Year Festivities

didn,t oliver cromwell ban christmas at one stage?!

My grand-mothers favorite story is about a doll she got for xmas in 1906 - she swapped it for her friends doll as that one was black and her parents went spare as they had saved all year to get her the white one.... Grandma always says you can never please children no matter how hard you try!!

I remember my Nan telling me that mothers in those days had no money, but would make rag dolls for their daughters Christmas present and if they were really lucky they would get an orange as well, a rare treat in those days. Try doing that today!

My aunt (still alive) and uncle married on Christmas Day in 1937. Joy

what lovely replies, it just makes you think and brings back stories that have been passed down through the generations. Even at 43 i can remember the joy of the stocking, with a piece of coal, apple orange nuts and knitted gloves and scarf. i too would love to take a peek at gr gr grandparents christmas, but imagination is a great thing you can conjure up the perfect christmas for them lol sandra

My Grandparents were also married on Christmas Day! My question would be "where would you get married on 25th December...everything is closed, isn't it?"

Dickens's Pickwick Papers, the Prince Consort's christmas tree and Coca-cola's santa dressed in Coca-cola colours are so deeply embedded that we tend to think that Christmas was always a deeply sentimental time. How do we know what Christmas was actually like, especially before the censuses? All my preconceptions come from the Victorian novelists. Having re-read Mary Barton, as I don't seem to have a copy of North and South, I imagine that most of my ancestors' battle with poverty would have left little time or money for special celebrations. Gosh, does the Pants-O-Mime have room for an Ice Queen? I can just feel the swirl of an icy cloak and a deep wet blanket of misery and snow. Bah humbug Brenda

Babz - in a church! :) Joy

Are they open on a Sunday ?! :o)) ...only jokin'..sorry! X

Exactly,,,,,,,,,, what would they think of US now i do wonder dont you?

Unfortunately I don't have a 'rosy' view of my ancestors' Christmases (only perhaps, ones in 20th century). Christmas traditions such as cards and trees (in UK) only started in Victorian times. For many it was probably just another day. Also, Christmas was actually put in the calendar in December to coincide with the old 'pagan' festivals of Yule, Winter Solstice etc. as the early Church found it easier to 'superimpose' it rather than do away with the old festivities. That's probably why Cromwell (a Puritan) frowned upon it!