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A nice little thread here, so we can all reminisce on memories of Christmas past.

This has been inspired by a meeting at work today, when I was handed a bundle of freshly printed vouchers. Now, I spent a lot of my time as a kid in my Grandads Print House, as we would do odd jobs whilst waiting for Mum to finish work and take us home. So, the smell of printers ink and sealant has a special happy factor for me (no, it's not an intoxication). We then did the Secret Santa (I got all 5 issues of AvP War...which is a shame, as I have these in collected format already. Ne'er mind).

And the gift giving, and smell of printers ink took me back about 20 years. You see, Grandad's print house was very much a family business until my arse Uncle took it over. Back then, it was all first name basis, and some of the ladies were like superfluous grannies to me. Even the Dog was free to wander around the factory floor, usually on the mooch for Crisps. But anyways, every year, Gran and Grandad would hold a small Christmas Party for their employees. Nothing fancy, but *everyone* was bought a present by them, and whist it was never anything big, nothing they bought was cheap. And the 4 Grandkids would be there. Funny how I had not thought about that for a long old time! I even remember that the Grandkids always got a book each, and the pooch usually got one of those Winalot Stocking things (which would be duly demolished in sheer doggy enthusiasm).

I miss the old family Christmas feelings. Apart from the youngest Grandkid (who is 2 now I think) we're all in our 20's. Thankfully nobody has shuffled off this mortal coil yet, so we can still all get together, but it's just not the same!

mine was getting a model train set and my brother getting a slot car set mine was set up on the kitchen table his on the floor and the cat went nuts chasing cars and the train what a fun time

My favorite memory was when I got Unicron. I was so happy that I got that transformers I played with it for years and now it is under my bed waiting until the transformers invade the 40k universe

When my Grandad was alive, we used to all go down to his house every christmas eve. My family and all of my mother's family plus their children. It was great. That house is hundreds of years old, the walls are made of mud and stone, 6 feet thick in places. It bulges inwards oddly inside, and the roofs were made for Hagans, my mother's family, who are small men. Being a Kennedy, I'm a bit taller and had to stoop. It looks sorta like Bag End inside- lots of odd nick nacks lying around, big solid fuel stove, home made furniture.
We'd all bring food, everyone trying to outdo each other in terms of what we could do. And then we'd sit around slagging and abusing each other, doing practical jokes and giving small gifts.
Christmas hasn't really been the same since Grandad passed away, but that's what I'll remember as being christmassy for the rest of my life.

As time has passed our family has lost many members(Grand Parents,Mother,Father,many Great aunts and Uncles and one Sister) which at times gets me down during the holidays.
As a child My fondest memories are of all the Family getting together for a Huge Christmas dinner,I grew up in New Orleans,so the meal was always an event (any of you who have ever heard of New Orleans/Cajun cooking will understand).
Now,as a father with 2 children, I always prepare the same sort of Christmas dinner I grew up with , though my own cooking is woefully under that of my Grandma,I still have happy memories of past christmas' as I prepare the Gumbo and other traditional cajun dishes.
On a more "selfish" note,one of my other most happy memories was,at age 7 getting every single MEGO Worlds Greatest Heros action figure,which pretty much had me doing back flips around the tree.