Christmas Cards

[Hen-Gen]

We all like to send out cards that reflect our personalities. After all, how many baubles, robins and nativity scenes can we live with. So this our card for 2019. What d’you reckon?



PS
Gotta keep the Dustbath going!

 

[Marigold]

Love it!

 

[bigyetiman]

Absolutely brilliant, love it.
We like getting cards featuring all sorts of scenes, that reflect peoples lifestyles, or hobbies. A friend of ours who sadly died this year was a talented artist, and painted her own greeting cards, we were always excited to see her "theme" for the year. Another friend who makes her own cards always comes up with a humorous hen card for us

 

[LadyA]

I'm afraid I'm a traditionalist where Christmas cards are concerned! Olde Worlde scenes, snow scenes (although in reality, I hate the stuff with a passion!), and of course, robins! Scenes of cosy fires and Christmas trees. Bring it on!

 

[Margaid]

Love them all as it's good to keep in contact. But that one is fantastic Hen-Gen.

 

[dianefairhall]

That is so fun, Hen-Gen. I usually buy cards with wildlife on or other animals including sheep and Highland cattle.

I hate it when people send me cards with glitter on. It stays in the carpets until the next Xmas.

 

[bigyetiman]

Ah, glitter, takes me back to infant and early junior school when come Christmas out came the paper, blunt scissors and lashings of glitter for us all to make seasonal cards, cue wonky robins, obese Father Christmas's and tons of glittery snow. Not to mention making the paper chains, and the red "post box" in the corner for us to put our classmates cards in

 

[Marigold]

And the anguish when you sent one to you best friends and they didn't send me one back!

 

[bigyetiman]

Aaah memories, remember that also. I can also vividly remember the decorations we had at home where you unfolded and clipped the snowman's stomach made of tissue paper and there were a pair of red bells, there is probably a name for these type of ornaments, they made diamond shapes all the bits of paper. OH remembers a real tree with candles and being held in her dads arms to blow the candles out. Major fire hazard. We still have the candle holders which came from her great grans, plus over a dozen ornaments all made of glass which are so carefully guarded. Glass birds with spun glass tails, tiny glass trumpets that you can blow, pine cones, and even I must admit a beautiful china angel with feather wings. I am not allowed near them, her grandad bought them abroad in various ports he docked at whilst in the navy.
I always opted for a Christmas tree on the cards I made, easy to draw and nice little glittery blobs for decorations.
Not to mention the school nativity play, what roles did you all play ? I ranged from donkey to shepherd, then lighting. OH she was poor villager, shepherd, lighting also, then orchestra playing the violin

 

[LadyA]

Aaah memories, remember that also. I can also vividly remember the decorations we had at home where you unfolded and clipped the snowman's stomach made of tissue paper and there were a pair of red bells, there is probably a name for these type of ornaments, they made diamond shapes all the bits of paper.

I think they are called "honeycomb" decorations, but am not sure. We had those too. Mum carefully closed them and stored them away every year. We had bells and round ones. And those crepe paper streamers, that you pulled out from the centre, so that they were in a sort of spiral when you hung them from the centre of the ceiling out to each corner of the room!

We only had a Christmas tree for the last couple of years of my husband's life. He loved it! I had no decorations or baubles, so had to buy them all. I bought glass ones, that are NOT shatterproof! However, I've only had one break so far. Now, with the two maniacal cats I have here, I just get a small tree and put it out in the porch. I just couldn't be dealing with watching them all the time. My last cat never touched the tree, although she used to like to sit underneath it, looking like she was waiting for her gifts!

 

[Hen-Gen]

And of course we do have to be vaguely conscious of sending appropriate cards. Some years ago I sent a card to my brother who was a retired policeman showing a policeman leaning through the window of the nativity scene with a mobile phone in his hand saying “looks like travellers, Sarge”. It was returned to me in high dudgeon.
Having said that no card has ever offended me. Phrases like “get a life” spring to mind. I have a birthday card for my eldest bro that says “another year closer to Velcro shoes and stinking of p****.” But I know he’ll find this funny.

As for decorations I’m not big on those. In common with the fans of Up-helly-ya it’s lighting that does it for me. Fairy lights (no puns please), candles and glitter are my idea of good decorations Paper chains and pop up Santa’s have no place in my cottage.
For me though it’s traditional food. Goose, not turkey, sprouts with chestnuts, pudding with coins in, mince pies etc. In fact this year it’s mince pies with zabaglione which is my one concession to modernity.
And finally good red wine and/or mulled wine. No place here for Prosecco. Kinda like snowballs (drinks not frozen water) but this might be excessively gay!

 

[bigyetiman]

Got to have chestnuts with the sprouts, that is a must. Drink for me is cider or peach schnapps. OH is a white wine or sherry. Homemade pud and mince pies, we have a turkey from a friend
Spot on Lady A honeycomb decorations, that's what they were, and we had those spiral decorations I had forgotten about them. We also had some Chinese style lanterns that unfolded, not sure where they came from. I do remember packing everything away carefully for the next year, and folding up wrapping paper to use again, and cutting up cards for next years gift tags

 

[LadyA]

I once sent a card to a (male) friend, which showed a reindeer looking down a chimney pot, laughing, and a "speech bubble" coming from the fireplace end of the chimney saying "I don't care who you are, Fatso. Get your fingers out of my stockings, and get back up that chimney!" My friend was amused. His mother less so! :lol: :lol:

 

[Margaid]

My mother used to make our Christmas decorations. A packet of crepe paper cut into three, then my sister and I had the job of making cuts into the edges to make a "fringe" of pieces about half an inch wide and an inch into the paper. Mummy then used to unfold them and run them through the sewing machine, gathering the paper as she sewed down the middle of the 6-8 inch wide strips, joining them up until they were the right length to reach across the room. She even colour matched them to the room colour scheme. They were twisted as they were pinned up - from the corners to the central light fitting and then strips of lametta, which was of course quite heavy back then, were draped over the "garland". Any one over 5'10" tall was likely to brush them making them corkscrew and depositing the lametta on the floor!

 

[dianefairhall]

I remember the old decorations, too, which my granny used to keep safe for the rest of the year. My Mum (now deceased) told me that in the 30s/40s they didn't have Xmas trees but 'bowls' on the wall. These were apparently hoops that were decorated just as a tree (probably difficult to site the fairy/angel). Don't usually have a tree these days due to marauding cats but really annoyed that I can't buy lametta any more. Might buy a tree this year due to the nostalgia being stirred up.

 

[dianefairhall]

I once sent a card to a (male) friend, which showed a reindeer looking down a chimney pot, laughing, and a "speech bubble" coming from the fireplace end of the chimney saying "I don't care who you are, Fatso. Get your fingers out of my stockings, and get back up that chimney!" My friend was amused. His mother less so! :lol: :lol:

Love it, LadyA.

 

[Marigold]

I remember the old decorations, too, which my granny used to keep safe for the rest of the year. My Mum (now deceased) told me that in the 30s/40s they didn't have Xmas trees but 'bowls' on the wall. These were apparently hoops that were decorated just as a tree (probably difficult to site the fairy/angel). Don't usually have a tree these days due to marauding cats but really annoyed that I can't buy lametta any more. Might buy a tree this year due to the nostalgia being stirred up.

Ahh, Lametta! how could I have forgotten that lovely stuff! I remember spending ages sticking paper chains together and hanging them across the ceiling, and also stringing little bits of cotton wool on threads and hanging them in the window to look like snow. And how the days crawled down to breaking up from school, nearer and nearer to the sleepless night of Christmas Eve, and then, at last - six o'clock! The time I was allowed to look at my stocking and the one chosen present I was allowed to have before breakfast!

 

[bigyetiman]

I remember my mum with the sewing machine and crepe paper, and Lametta, a great favourite of my nans. We had so much fun making the chains and repairing when one came unstuck. Sugar mice with no wrappings hanging by their tails from the tree, Health and Safety would have a field day with that one now.
Same here Diane, stocking at end of bed filled with little things and one present from under the tree before breakfast. had an aunt who used to wrap her presents then wind loads of sellotape around present, took forever to get into it. Vividly remember one year the present was a very strange shape when I got it unwrapped there was a bendy Micky Mouse and Goofy Dog, made of very strange smelling stuff. If I smell anything similar now I am transported back to that Christmas.

 

[LadyA]

Mum and dad used to put the presents in the front room, and hide the key. part of the excitement (and a way of ensuring we ate breakfast first!) was hunting for where Santa had hidden the key! My parents were great at Christmas. One unforgettable year, they got us all bikes. Five new Triumph 20s were hidden in the attic during the night in the run up to Christmas. And on Christmas Eve, using a step ladder which didn't come near to reaching the attic hatch, they managed to get them all back down, down the stairs and hidden without any of us hearing a thing!!
And my mum used to make THREE, ten inch, fully iced Christmas cakes, just for our family!! There weren't a lot of sweets or anything else around, so Christmas cake was such a wonderful treat! Oh, and a relative used to gift the family with a box of Lemons sweets, which you can still get, and are amazing! A mixture of boiled fruit sweets, liquorice toffees, lemon sherbets, and other kinds, but no chocolates. They were good value, as they were all "hard" sweets, so lasted ages! You can still get them, and I'm sorely tempted, although I'm not supposed to have sugar. Been falling off that wagon lately, though, and paying for it! "Must do better"!

 

[Hen-Gen]

Sorry too be the only one but what on Earth is Lametta?
Stockings! Still not keen on either tangerines or walnuts. But yes, cake is good. I’m a marzipan addict so Easter is good too because a neighbour makes Simnel Cakes.
My fondest memory though was getting out of bed and running downstairs to see if Santa had had his slice of Madeira sponge and whether Rudolph had had his carrots. My best present was my dad making what we called trolleys. That’s those planks with pram wheels on for flying down hills. Another health and safety issue! But mine had a box seat, a head lamp and rear reflectors. It was also painted light blue. What more could a boy ask for.