Going to see Father Christmas - memories?

My one clear memory of seeing Father Christmas was when I got lost in the store. I was so excited that I was marching off towards his grotto and didn't notice that my Mum had stopped to look at something on one of the counters. At 77 I can still remember turning around to talk to my Mum and she wasn't there. I could only see strangers. In the few moments I was 'lost' I felt very scared. I was soon found by a Mum short on sympathy who kept my arm in a firm grip from then on.

Magenta and Blue yes uncle Holly's face was on the badge! A big jolly fellow as I recall. He should make a comeback

Kate1949 I think you and I have had this conversation before about how exciting it was to go to Lewis's. Uncle Holly used to give you a badge while you were queueing to see Father Christmas. No one else seems to remember him. The excitement of the Christmas present you were given from him, wrapped in red crepe paper. Happy times indeed.

I was frequently off school due to illness as a child. On the way to a hospital appointment my mum took me to a local department store (remember them??) to see Father Christmas.
I don't remember the conversation or the present I was given, but I do remember the magical little dioramas in the tunnel we had to walk through. It seemed so magical to me!

I think those magical shop displays are no more with the advent of inter-net shopping. My 5 year old GC has never been to see Father Christmas, nor my older GC and it is now too late.

Maybe their magical memories of Christmas will be different to ours but I still feel sad about it...

Yes Magenta8 - you are right.
My badge says -
MEMBER OF UNCLE HOLLY CIRCLE

It has a picture of him wearing a green top hat.

I well remember my dad taking me and my two sisters to see Santa at the big Co-Op department store in Belfast, probably around 1956.There was a beautifully decorated grotto to walk through before entering Santa’s room.There were elves all around to guide us. We got to sit on Santa’s lap and chat to him, before leaving we were given a little wrapped present, probably a colouring book and crayons. Almost 70 years later I still remember the wonder of it all.

He is Uncle Holly on my badge and when I saw him. Mr Holly must be a later incarnation.

Queuing in a long queue along the staircase in Lewis's in Birmingham to see Father Christmas and Uncle Holly. Oh the excitement of getting a present. The building is a Wetherspoons now.

I can only remember going to see him once and had a photo taken of me sitting on his knee.

We used to take our daughter to see Mr Holly at Selfridges. That is until it got too dangerous to go into London with the IRA bombs.

Magenta8
I also went to Selfridges and vaguely remember meeting father Christmas.
I still have my 'Mr Holly' badge!

We went to somewhere in Cardiff. Howells perhaps. We sat in a large white swan, a bit like the ghost train but with fairies and elves instead of ghosts. I don’t remember the Father Christmas bit… just the swan. I was six I think.

I remember being taken on a bus by mum to Croydon at Christmas. We went to a huge Department store, I think it was Kennards. There was, just outside the store a few ponies that plodded round an earth track giving kiddies rides, which, being a great lover of horses at the time, I loved.

Then we'd join the queue for Father Christmas, who was rather loud and bad tempered and never gave me the present I wanted (a white horse). Mum would do some secret shopping we'd get the 157 red bus home.

My happiest memory of Christmas, as a child in the 50’s, is of being taken to Heelas’s, in Reading, to see Father Christmas. To be honest I wasn’t that bothered about FC but I loved watching the animated elves, fairy tale figures and animals while we queued.

My best memory was seeing Santa at Lewis’s in Manchester. Queueing up alongside the decorated and animated windows was half the fun.

During the 1950s, I went to see FC at Selfridges in Oxford Street, London. A man called Uncle Holly showed me in and then I got to meet FC himself.

I have no recollection of what happened next apart from the fact that the whole experience gave me nightmares. I was very prone to nightmares at the time so I don't think it was the fault of UH or FC. I still have an Uncle Holly badge somewhere.

During the 1960s I took my little sister to see FC at Bearmans in Leytonstone. All I remember about that is seeing FC round the corner from the grotto with his beard pulled down and smoking a fag.

There is a photograph of me, aged about three, sitting on a wooden reindeer and holding a (live) dove on my hand. I am looking very dubious 😂 . I believe it was taken in Lewis's big store in Glasgow in approx 1961. I wasn't too excited about Santa either 😂

Oh, I don’t know, Ashcombe, my Gdcs’ primary has been very accommodating over the odd request for time off, for a very particular, special reason.

“I still sometimes marvel at the change from today - nobody turned a hair at the thought of my taking myself off down the road, alone, to my aunt’s flat!”

Nowadays, such a request for time off would not be granted or would be recorded as unauthorised.