My very first memory of Xmas was of reindeer clomping across our roof and Santa’s sleigh making such a loud noise as it slid across the corrugated iron that it woke me up. Santa didn’t seem to care how much noise he made when he came down our chimney. But I was quite excited when I heard all this commotion during the night. I knew that he was going to leave us some exciting presents at the end of our beds so I pretended that I was asleep. We lived on a farm at Kumeu – a rural area just a few kilometres north west of where we now live. Xmas was such an exciting time of the year. When I was 8 we moved house to Orewa, just north of Auckland. Santa seemed to know, somehow, that we had shifted house because every Xmas his reindeer would make that familiar sound on our roof. The presents would be left at the end of our beds.
Xmas is so special when you are a child. That make-believe time when you are a child stays with you for the rest of your life. You always look back to that time of your life and sometimes wish that just once more you could relive those happy, carefree days – just once more.
Vern and I, as parents, carried on the Santa and his reindeer tradition with Russell and Raewyn. I could see how excited they also became as Xmas approached. “How many more sleeps until Santa comes?” they would ask. They would leave Santa a glass of beer and some food. Just the same as I did when I was their age. Santa would leave their Xmas presents under the Xmas tree, however. But how Santa got down our chimney was a bit of a puzzle as it was much too small for a chubby Santa. But I think he came through our front door because Vern and I would leave it unlocked especially for Santa to come through on Xmas Eve.
As our family got older Xmas Day changed to one of exchanging presents with our family and our extended family. Xmas Day changed to a day of catching up with my sisters and their children, eating lots of food and blobbing out for the afternoon.
As you age, Xmas does not have that same excitement. In fact Xmas can be extremely stressful for many of us. So much happening in the weeks leading up to Xmas. For some families Xmas can be awfully lonely if their families live far away.
Vern and I are now entering a new Xmas time era as we now have grandchildren. It will be interesting to see if Russell and Raewyn follow the ‘Santa and his reindeer make-believe years’ with their children. I hope so as my memories of my childhood at Xmas time were just so special.
I thoroughly enjoyed this piece, reminiscing about the christmas we knew as a small child. My outstanding memories were not so much of the giving and receiving of gifts but rather the christmas day picnics that our extended families went on. My parents together with my Aunties and Uncles and their families would go in my uncles fishing launch and travel to a secluded beach close to where they lived. There we had our xmas day picnic and the whole beach became our playground. Races on the sand, making flax boats and setting them off from shore for far distant places, setting nets for fish in the lagoon. Fun with our uncles and cousins while those who wanted to would snooze under the pohutukawa trees after their picnic lunch. And then in late afternoon the boat trip home through choppy waters and if I was lucky enough my uncle might ask me to steer the launch for a while.
When I was a young child we always had a real Christmas tree – I think Dad chopped it down from the pine forest next door. I remember putting cookies and beer out for Santa. Dad doesn’t drink beer, so I think we had to purchase this especially for the event. I’m not quite sure why we thought Santa liked beer, isn’t milk the usual beverage of choice?
As a young child, we spent the day at my Gradprents’ house in Orewa. I don’t any vivid memories of tihs, but I have seen enough photos to have a picture in my mind. One particularly memorable Christmas we spent Christmas eve in our caravan parked outside my Grandparents’ house. I wasn’t quite sure how Santa was meant to deliver the presents as there wasn’t a Chimney. I think my parents kindly agreed to leave the door unlocked for him.
Actually I don’t really remember the time that I really believed in Santa, but I loved to play along with it, writing letters to Santa and humouring my parents.
However my best memories of Christmas are the fun I had playing with my cousins.
As I got a bit older we started spending Christmas at our house and the houses of my two Aunties – each of the sisters had a turn about. I had great fun with my cousins putting on a Christmas concert for all our parents. Some years we spent the whole day rehearsing. I remember my Mum had a 45 record of Snoopy’s Christmas, which I loved. I’d dance around to it in the lounge with a little bell, ringing it during the Chorus. I think this was possible the first ever Christmas item we did, starting the tradition for years to come.
As we got older we got a bit too ‘cool’ for that kind of thing, but I tried my hardest to force the Christmas spirit on the rest of my family long after all my cousins were uninterested – for instance I made up books of Christmas carols and forced everyone into a sing along. I also made up customised Christmas tags on the computer, drawing little Christmas pictures in ‘Deluxe Paint’. This must be when my interest in graphic design began! I took charge in our house of putting up the Christmas tree, and made decorations for it. I loved listening to Christmas carols.
As my cousins became adults, I gave up this kind of thing up to some extent – though I did still do things like making a CD of Christmas songs to play during the day. Christmas then got a little boring – as young adults we were more wrapped up in our own lives. Christmas became almost a chore of sitting around talking the whole day. Even gift giving (and receiving) became tiresome as it got so difficult to buy things that people liked. Someone then had the idea that instead of buying a present for everyone, we would do a draw, and each person would buy a gift for one other person worth $50. This has been going for quite a few years now, and works quite well. We also tried various things to put a bit of interest back in Christmas – one year we had a picnic lunch at Muriwai beach. We always talked about going out to a restaurant to save the enourmous task of providing Christmas dinner, but from memory I don’t think we ever got round to that.
As my cousins started to have children, Christmas started getting a bit more interesting – having children around does make Christmas more meaningful. Now that I have a child too, it’ll be really exciting to be starting a whole new era of Christmas traditions.
In our household Calvin is very much aware of christmas time, he likes to sing all the christmas music and is expecting to be able to open the presents under the tree one of these days. We haven’t really encouraged the notion of santa so far, except that Calvin sees santa everywhere and known whos that fat red person is. This year we put christmas lights on our house, which is not, as far as I know, a kiwi tradition (maybe that’s changed now). Many houses around here are brightly lit with all kinds of things, and we take Calvin out at night to look at them.
If we left beer out for santa doesn’t that mean he would be drinking and driving?
Christmas house lights has really taken off in NZ in the past few years. Not to the extent of America (what we see in movies & TV anyway), but lots of people are starting to go to quite a bit of effort. We have 1 string of lights outside the front of our front house, a pretty sad effort, but it’s something.
New Zealand is now really following the American tradition of decorating houses at Xmas. Even in West Auckland whole streets are getting in behind decorating their houses. Each year more and more streets are added to the must-see Xmas light displays. In Onemana and Whangamata there is a competition this year to see who’s house is the ‘Best Decorated’. It is a public vote which is really nice. As Dad and I were only in Onemana for 2 nights we did not have time to participate in this. If relatively small communities are starting to hold these sorts of competitions New Zealand will be ablaze with Xmas lights in years to come.
Russ, I’m sure Calvin could leave some Soy Milk out for Santa. I think Santa would love that. That gets over the problem of drinking and driving. How about a carrot for his reindeer. Just scrape a fork down the carrot for Calvin to see on Xmas morning and I’m sure he would be convinced the reindeer had tried to eat it.
We never had reindeer or sleigh noises, but i remember putting out milk and cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer on Christmas eve, then we’d get all tucked up in our beds. Christmas Eve is hardest night of the year to try to get to sleep, we were told that Santa wouldn’t come until we were asleep, so i lay there trying to sleep, but being far too excited. I did drop off though.
Sure enough when we came through in the morning to the lounge there would be presents under the tree, the milk would have been drunk, the cookies only crumbs, and the carrots nibbled.
When we were younger our santa stockings/sacks were left at the end of the bed, as we got older they were left outside our doors, and in most recent years in the lounge by the tree.
We still, or at least a couple of years ago, we still did Christmas stockings, Mum and Dad had to get one each a few years ago too, when the shared one i had for them started to get too full!
Christmas day was always busy, we’d have Lunch with one side of the family, big meal, presents the works, and then Dinner with the other side of the family, so that by the end of the day we were extremely full.
This often meant driving across Auckland on Christmas day, from the north shore, to south auckland to west auckland, e.t.c.
I still love christmas and all its magic, decorating the house, putting up the tree, wrapping presents, listening to songs, singing along …………
There are some christmas lights on houses here in Swansea, but only every so often, some of them are quite cheap to buy. The Cities Christmas lights are really lovely, most UK towns seem to put a bit of effort into putting up Christmas trees and lights around the town areas.