The world is going to hell in a handbasket, but we're about to celebrate Christmas.
Come and tell us about your best Christmas memory.
Yours, your children's, your friends'.
Mine is the best: I should be less than 9 years old, we lived in the north of France in a house with 1 floor, 3 bedrooms upstairs, 1 bathroom and a small storage room of 5M²
We were 3 children, about 15 days before Christmas around midday I went into this room where he had a low cupboard with 2 doors, I opened it and discovered Santa's hiding place, a huge 30cm red plastic car in the style of a mustang convertible.
Presents ect....
I went down the 13 steps (yes, I know there are 13) on the mornings of my very watery evenings, I counted them so as not to break my fig.
One time I went back 3 times because I was missing one, I had a good one this morning 😁 .
In short, I went downstairs and joined the family at the table.
"Dad, I've found Santa's hiding place!
I explain the red car etc...
My father drowns the fish and we make dinner.
I don't remember how my mother kept us busy at dessert time, when I pissed off my express brother by wanting to eat the only apricot yoghurt.
I wasn't particularly fond of this yoghurt but I liked to annoy my brother (Dad's favourite) because of him I took some the old fashioned way and yes it was normal as I was the eldest.
Anyway, when dessert was over I took my sister and brother on board to show them that I was right.
In a few minutes my father had taken everything away.
For 15 days I couldn't get enough.
On the morning of D-Day I ran down the 13 steps 4 by 4 and grabbed my big red car from under the tree where Father Christmas had left the tangerine peelings under my father's nose.
You saw I was right 😁
The worst thing was the lobster tails in tomato sauce that didn't go down.
Night on the toilet with a basin 😱😱😱
The best of my children had been offered a microphone on stand and an electric guitar + filled with keys .
We were treated to a French/English/Monegasque concert lasting several hours by the twins, who must have been 6 years old
After a while it gets a bit tiresome.

The best part was all the family Christmases... my parents always kept the magic alive and when I was growing up, they always made sure things were as good as they could be. The family has always been very close-knit in everything.

The worst so far was last year with the first Christmas in hospital. The second worst, the one to come, the first without my father, with my mother in depression. Well, the magic seems to have worn off a while ago, unfortunately.

I don't like Christmas...

Sad for you, you've ruined the atmosphere. Yes, the best times are with the family and the worst times are when they're no longer there.
My current family life is with my wife and 2 children, although my brother and sister live a few miles away and we see each other from time to time.
Christmas is more with my in-laws.
Life has meant that I've spent 8 years in your house, where we were more festive from Christmas to New Year's Day, where we only slept a few hours in a week, and if we saw midnight on 31 December, we shot guns in the air.
Yeah, a sick time
It took me away from my family of origin, I wasn't too close to my father any more, and the biggest regret of my life is that he never got to meet my children before he left in 2019 without being able to see him one last time, even though I'd put in a lot of effort.
2 strong characters, that's how it is
And yes, I'm a pretty cool person.
But I've had a hard time in every way, but that's life. Even if it's hard, it's forging me and I'm trying to do things differently for my children so that they have a happy childhood and a future in this twisted world

Blagoje Vidinic: J'aime pas Noël...

neither have I,

I remember one Christmas when I was little.

We recently became a family of guide dogs. This is our first dog, Sango, a golden labrador cross. He was as handsome and friendly as they come, but he was still very young: maybe three, four months old.

What we don't know yet is that he and his brother caught a disease at the guide dog kennels, which hasn't yet broken out. I've forgotten the name of the disease, but not the effects!

On Christmas Eve, everything was in place: the tree, the decorations, the cot, the lights... a warm, 'classic' Christmas atmosphere in the dining room. It's all clean, all cute, all cliché.

On Christmas morning I wake up excited as a flea at the thought of opening the presents. And then the drama begins. xD

My parents had left the presents while I was asleep, but that wasn't the first thing I noticed. Poor Sango's illness came on very strongly during the night and the result was startling: liquid shit and vomit EVERYWHERE in the dining room, on the cot, on the wrapped presents... it was carnage!

Veterinary emergency for the dog, who escaped without any damage despite this impressive display... his brother almost died though.

I think that was the most memorable Christmas for me, at least I can't remember any other Christmas Eve.

I think I've just signed my entry into hell because I'm imagining the picture and I'm ptdr sorry
It's not right 😔😔😔
I know that dogs now if they eat something out of kibble it's carnage

michbou: moi , non plus ,

We've attracted some grumpy people

Blagoje Vidinic: J'aime pas Noël...

Yes, but you love Naël 🤣

Zeus: Oui mais tu aimes Naël 🤣

Scrooge

I once won 5,000 before Christmas, which paid my tax 🤣

My best, for the 'cliché', a White Christmas (under the snow) in a wooden house in a Canadian forest with my best friend. It's wonderful to walk around on Christmas morning in deafening silence, just the trees creaking, the birds singing, the deer strolling about and the snow falling ever so lightly.

The worst was when I was a kid (7/9 years old), my father and uncle were at loggerheads. We were invited to my aunt's house (my father's sister), we'd drive 40 minutes, arrive, my father would see his brother's car, and we'd drive 40 minutes back... It's pretty tough when you're a kid who's just too happy to be there on Christmas Day (they've since made up, but then, what kind of idiot is an adult! 😄)

it's just a commercial party

villa: c'est juste une fête commercial

😱😱😱😱

Chachito: Mon meilleur, pour le "cliché", un Noël Blanc (sous la neige) dans une maison en bois d'une forêt Canadienne avec mon et ma meilleur(e) ami(e). C'est magnifique de se balader le matin de Noël dans un silence assourdissant, juste les arbres qui craquent, les oiseaux qui chantent, les cerfs qui se baladent et la neige qui tombe tout légèrement.

Le pire c'est quand j'étais petit (7/9 ans), mon père et mon oncle étaient en conflit. On est invité chez ma tante, (la sœur de mon père), on

In the north of France as a child, I experienced 1 metre of snow and temperatures much colder than they are now at the same time of year.

lens59: Dans le nord enfants j'ai connu 1m de neige et des températures bien plus négatives de se qu'il y a actuellement à la même période.
Et en poussant le bouchon ma grand mère me racontait que dans les années 45 jusqu'en haut des portes elle tombé

It's magical! Being from the Montpellier region, we don't know anything about snow, so I went and got it at the other end of the world ahah! (under -26 degrees,...)

My wife's uncle has climbed the highest mountains in the world visited lots of countries but his best memory is the Indian summer in Canada for the colours of nature.
In terms of temperature evrest and so on, he had a great time 😁

Christmas spirit?.
In the middle of covid people are sad 😥 😥 😥.
What are we going to do?
Well, we're going to make Christmas spirit out of whatever we can find!

That was only part of it, there was also a train and snow but I changed phones and lost some photos and videos.
99% rubbish bins, pallets, cable reel supports.
Wooden wine crates etc...
Screws, paint and gift paper

My step-doche who confiscates my toys as soon as we get home, the nyctalope s...acree

Christmas is a magical time for children, the most beautiful thing is to see your children open their presents with amazed smiles 👍
It's priceless 👍

Most of my Christmases until
ATTENTION SPOIL

that they believed in Father Christmas was ripping off the wrapping paper like mad, almost ripping off the box and then moving on to the next 😁

Simple and effective
On Christmas Eve 2016 my grandmother ran over my left foot on a tricky reverse ...
Out of fear I screamed, so in a panic she found nothing better than to engage the 1st gear and hop a second run over my left foot 😆🤣
Christmas evening in A&E but nothing broken by miracle lol

Happy holidays to you all and a good end to 2024 friends 😇

🤣🤣🤣

My mother's side of the family is German, so Christmas is very important for us,

A Christmas tree with candles is a must! (And contrary to popular belief, this is much less risky than your electric garlands 🤭😜😉)

There were some good times though, when my parents, from the age of 9, put me on the train to Dijon to send me to Villeneuve/Lot to spend the Christmas and summer holidays at my grandmother's. Those were good memories, until I came back. :p.
Born in Alsace, Christmas was a magical time, but many children are still unfortunately mistreated in one way or another and this holiday can quickly become a nightmare for them.
Watch what's going on around you and don't let these kids suffer if you can help it!
I know, it's not a happy message and fortunately it's not a general one, and that doesn't stop me loving this moment, but that's what comes out of me when I talk about this kind of subject.

My fondest Christmas memory was when Meno sent me the most wonderful present. A good defeat in IE

For kids who don't give a fuck 🤣

image](https://i.imgur.com/cTXDZpW.jpeg)
Oh oh oh !!!!

Kiki a hit in the 80s and 90s

I still have one😁 Not the one from my youth though^^

Lebaygue: J en ai toujours un😁 Pas celui de ma jeunesse par contre^^

I collect them I have about 250 🙂

😱😱😱😱

250!!!?? wow huge!

Even I don't have that much personality ^^

Brutus: 250 !!!??? wow énorme !

Même moi, je n'ai pas autant de personnalité ^^

And yet God knows you've got a lot more 😁😁😁

But I'm a big fan of Kevin Wendell Crumb ^^

Best memory :P
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Leguman: Meilleur souvenir :P
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Oo I wasn't even there 🤣

Leguman: Meilleur souvenir :P
#forum?topic=20073

That's what I'll be getting in the next few days in my job

Christmas 1994 what were you doing and where?
Army/ cyclone/ caledonia 😁

Come on, it's been a while since I saw this post and I haven't told you about one of my Christmases:

I was a student in Strasbourg in the year 1 before Zizou (so 1997 for the younger ones). I'd decided to leave the cité U and get a studio flat like a grown-up. So I was in the doldrums. The flat was magnificent: view over the student district, close to everything, bay window etc... but the bay window wasn't double-glazed, so in winter I peeled my skin.

Not having a penny to spend on heating, I had even less money to spend a dream Christmas holiday in my native Picardie (the Hauts de France for those who don't know who Zizou is). The same goes for the food budget, which was limited to sachets of dehydrated purée that I flavoured with spices, and the only protein I could afford was an egg every 3 days. Naturally, I fell ill with a good case of bronchitis.

As I'd always been told, "when your life goes wrong, help others and everything will be better", I signed up for the red-nose operation, which consisted of volunteering to drive drunk people home from restaurants and nightclubs. After a short wait, a minibus would pick us up at the beneficiary's place and we'd return to the restaurant/disco to drive someone else home.

Around 16:00 I realised that at the launderette downstairs, there was a homeless man getting ready to go there for New Year's Eve. I thought I'd have a bit of time, so I heated up the meal I'd prepared for myself (I'd made the effort to buy a ready-made Christmas meal for two) and went downstairs to invite him.

He accepted the invitation and my offer of clothes and a shower, after some hard bargaining because he didn't want to embarrass anyone. But when we got to my flat, he started behaving strangely. He went into the bathroom but took all his stuff as if I was going to steal it. Then he showered really quickly and kept checking to see if the door was locked. Once he'd showered, he wanted to leave without eating. I invited him to sit down and he made a lot of little gestures that showed he didn't trust me and that he was doing me a favour by eating with me. I tried to initiate conversation half a dozen times but nothing helped. I offered to turn on the TV but as it was the middle of the afternoon (yes, afternoon is a man's word, you're welcome), there was nothing on but rotten programmes like video gags and so on... Hell of a time. As soon as he'd finished eating, he thanked me and wanted to leave. Which he did.

I was pretty shaken up by this rather strange experience. But it was soon time to go and take up my post outside a disco in the Robertsau (the Chalet). He asked me to pick him and his wife up so they could go clubbing, so mission accomplished. Then nothing for a long time until the first and last real "client". The guy goes out with 3 chicks (sisters and a friend) and asks me to take them back to Eckbolsheim. It's slightly outside the area, but my supervisor tells me he'll come and pick me up himself with his car when he finishes his shift. I go with the people, who are quite heavy but brief. I leave the car with them and send a text message saying exactly which bus stop I'm at. There's no reply.

After almost 1 hour's waiting in the cold of Strasbourg and 3 or 4 text messages that cost 1 franc at the time (0.15€), I get a text message from the supervisor on duty who tells me that the person who had promised to come and pick me up had already gone home 30km from Strasbourg because he had arrived earlier. The other had forgotten me and he didn't have a car. He offered to arrange for me to be picked up by another volunteer who would be giving a lift to someone in the area and who had room in the car. Which never happened.

After more than 2 hours waiting at the bus stop, I finally gave up hope. Up until now, I'd seen how people celebrated Christmas all around me. The living rooms were all lit up, people were talking and laughing. But then the lights went out, the cars left and there was silence. And I waited at my bus stop. The drivers looked at me with suspicion, but nobody asked me what I was doing in this suburban neighbourhood waiting for the bus at this hour. It was about 1:30 in the morning so I decided to walk home. I didn't know how long it would take, but walking was the only way I could avoid freezing.

I arrived home at around 3:15 in the morning, frozen. The good thing was that my flat felt very cosy and warm. I made myself a cup of tea and went to bed. The next day, I received a text message from the Red Nose organisation telling me that some volunteers had given up their posts and that there was no point in coming back for the 31st, that they weren't counting on me any more. The homeless man never recognised me, or maybe he was just pretending to!

As well as being a strange Christmas, it was an important moment in my life. I did a lot of thinking about solidarity and how it's organised in the voluntary sector, and it motivated me to take on responsibilities in this field. So was it a rotten Christmas? It was bitter at the time, but looking back it was surely one of the most important Christmases of my life!

It's a mix of Christmas story scenario that turns into potential horror movie, serial killer 😁 .
You have to help your fellow man even if it wasn't an extraordinary evening, it was still an extraordinary gesture towards someone in need 🤎🤎🤎
When I'm at work, I regularly bump into a former professional footballer from the 70s for whom it's a lifestyle choice to sleep outdoors, and we talk practically every day.
He doesn't really like it when we help out / pay for a coffee etc...
He likes to be free without anyone but I see him struggling with 6 bags so yesterday I ordered a 4-wheeled trolley to improve his daily life without really knowing if he will accept.
If he doesn't want it, it'll help but what touched me the most
My son, who was next to me, said to me why are you ordering this trolley? I explained, and he replied that you're a good person, Dad, and his words were worth all the gold in the world, coming from his child. I know that this moment will mark him all his life, and that he'll try to do good

Your story was captivating. It's the first time on Vf that I've read all the way to the end!

lens59: C'est un mélange de scénario conte de Noël qui tourne en potentiel film horreur, tueur en serie 😁 .
Il faut aider ton prochain même si ça n'a pas été une soirée extraordinaire elle l'a été quand même pour ton geste envers une personne dans le besoin 🤎🤎🤎
Moi même je croise régulièrement quand je bosse un ex footballeur pro des années 70 pour qui c'est un choix de vie dormir dehors, on parle pratiquement tous les jours.
Il n'aime pas trop que l'on aide / payé un café

It's true, my son (Santix, in my agreement, he stopped playing recently) who is 15 is already a volunteer with the Red Cross and as they say: you educate more by example than by moral lessons! He's seen us do things like this all his life, so it was normal for him to do it. We don't tell him too often, but we're very proud.

I've often helped charities that look after the homeless (Restos du Cœur, Emmaüs and 2 or 3 others in Venezuela) and for most of them, the street is a choice. They're running away from something and feel really free on the streets. They travel light because otherwise they get robbed by other homeless people. Some of them are running away from society, a violent person, alimony, the taxman, but unfortunately others are running away from the police.

In short, thank you for your feedback and Merry Christmas to you. This year nothing special for me. Family, a roaring fire and board games. See you soon!