When we were young, Christmas was nothing like as commercial as it has since become. Some of this was due to wartime and postwar shortages but also people did not have the money. My early memories of Christmas are of going into Mummy and Daddy's room at the Haynings where the fire had been lit and , although it was a big room (20ft by 20ft and NO alcoves!), it was warm and very welcoming. Stockings (we were under pain of all sorts of dire consequences no to open them earlier) and family Christmas presents were opened here and then the others at intervals throughout the day to spread the excitement and also allow appreciation of what we were being given. These other presents were placed under the tree on Christmas eve which left time for speculation as to who was getting what! Each year among these would be a large parcel of books (Annuals and such like) from the Webbs all carefully chosen so that there was something to interest each of us.
Due to the war the only new decorations for Christmas were home made paper chains. But there was a box full of old favourites which appeared each year. In particular there were some green "ropes" (made of string and paper? About 3/4 inch in diameter) with silver (papier mache) bells hung at intervals. These were a great favourite and would generally be strung diagonally across the dining room.
Once father was back from the war, we had a living Christmas Tree which spent the year planted in its box which was then buried in the garden. Every so often when dug up, the box would be past redemption and a new one would be constructed round it. One of my great regrets was that we did not have any lights on the tree. We had candles in little clip on holders but these were virtually never lit because of the fire risk. Daddy considered lights unnecessary and a waste of money although he did try and rig a string of bulbs running off a car battery.
Christmas lunch/dinner was always a great occasion, the dining room was a large one and I remember on one occasion there were 17 of us although who was actually there I cannot remember - we certainly used a card table for the overflow.
The King's and then the Queen's speech on the radio was sacrosanct and we all had to be very quiet while it was on.
All very happy memories.