Christmas in the 90’s
Traditions and events.
Traditions and events.
Traditions are very important to our family and we would make a real effort to ensure that they were followed to the best that we could.
Here in Australia we celebrate Christmas slightly differently because Christmas is in Summer and at the end of the school year.
Some of the traditions that we had here I am sure are what was being celebrated all over the world. Here are some of the classic traditions of the 90s as I remember.
*Class parties: sending fairy bread or some other treat on a paper plate covered in cling film. No worries about food allergies, they did not seem to exist in the 90’s.
*Driving to look at Christmas lights: We would pack some cold drinks and a snack and head off just after dark which was around 8.30pm here. The kids would often be asleep by the first house!
*Letter to Santa: A letter to Santa was written in late November and sent to the North Pole. This letter writing was serious business and the kids would spend quite a while telling Santa how good they had been through the year.
*Shopping at the Mall: Remember getting $5.00 to spend at the mall? The pleasure of buying a gift for everyone on your list was a very grown up thing to do. I got a box of push pins one year as my son thought that they would be useful.
*Charity food/toy drive: We learned the importance of helping those that we not as lucky as we were. The kids would clean their room in the weeks leading up to Christmas and the toys that were no longer needed were donated to charity. Most large stores here would have a charity giving tree where you could place food items and gifts. We would purchase new gifts for a child the same age us ours, wrap it and place it under the tree to be given out to people in need. I always wrapped one for a Mum and Dad so that there would be something for them too.
*Visiting Santa: We took the kids to the mall most years for the annual visit to Santa and the traditional Christmas photo.
*Advent Calendar: There was much delight on December 1st and the kids got to open the first window on their chocolate advent calendar. One year my son figured out how to open the advent calendar from the bottom without opening the windows. He did this and ate every single chocolate out of his sister’s calendar. She was so upset when she opened the windows to discover that her chocolates were gone.
We also had a handmade countdown that the kids could place an item on very similar to the one below.
*New clothes for Christmas: Every year we got a new outfit for Christmas. Most times it was a new tee shirt, shorts and skirt that would be suitable for the hot weather. My daughter nearly always got a new scrunchie or hair clips.
*A new ornament for the tree: We gave our kids a new ornament every year for them to place on the tree.
*Cookies for Santa: We would leave biscuits for Santa but instead of milk we would leave out a cold drink as the milk would spoil in the heat. We would always leave carrots and a bucket of water for the reindeer.
I would love to hear of some traditions that you remember from the 90’s.
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