What Childhood Memories do you remember about Christmas of Yesteryear?

As a child growing up in the early 1960s I vividly remembered the fake snow covered Christmas Tree my father made. Just a coffee branch covered with cotton wool. An activity that included everyone in the family . Decorations were expensive so my father being a creative man would use pine cone ornaments or handcrafted minature toys which he carved himself out of pieces of wood , my mother would have us cover match boxes using red crepe paper tied with thread and hung from the branches. Paper garlands were made from red and green crepe paper. Christmas wreath was made from vines , shaped into an open circular frame and covered with moss collected from the cocoa trees growing behind our house. All siblings looked forward to going to the cocoa field to collect moss for our Chritmas Holly. Christmas held its own magic. Each child in family got only one toy each year. So we cherished what we got and was happy.
Christmas eve the smell of home made bread , and black fruit cake baking in the aluminum oven placed on the stove filled the air. Ham was brought from the village shop  This was eaten with bread on Christmas morning. 
​(Source:  Patricia Bissessarsingh - Virtual Museum of Trinidad and Tobago)
Traditions have changed over the years but memories of Christmas of long ago remain etched in my memory. What do you remember about Christmas when you were a child? Tell us about your memories in the comments below.

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