Looking back on Christmas in the 1980s

Lindsay Woods remembers a Christmas that stood out in her childhood

AN ’80s Christmas: This, I remember… My Christmas dress. Hanging in the wardrobe for weeks; covered by a thin layer of translucent plastic so as to reveal a taunting glimpse of the layers beneath but robust enough to keep prying fingers from staining the fabric. It was a deep emerald green, comprised of a stiff layer of silk taffeta with an edged collar in white at the neck and a glorious sash of deep navy which fastened at the back in an ample bow. Delicate white hosiery and black patent shoes were the finishing touches. I felt worldly, sophisticated and took no heed the shoes in question rubbed the back of my heels and suffered on regardless in my vanity. I was six years old.

That year, I charged Mr C with the demanding task of delivering to my home on Christmas Eve, what was undoubtedly the toy which topped every poll in popularity that year, ‘The Live N Learn Play Boot House’ from Matchbox. It had everything an aspiring custodian of young minds could ever wish for. A schoolteacher with an enviable, angular hairstyle, willing and inquisitive pupils (four in total; two boys and two girls), a playground and an adequate studio apartment for said teacher located directly above the classroom; all contained in the unexpected and slightly eccentric structure of a boot. The silk taffeta confection had clearly gone to my head and I was at peak ‘notions’, for despite various requests from my parents to include an alternative in my correspondence to the North Pole, I stood firm and obstinate in my one and only request.