Christmas 1963

Charming amateur home footage of a family's Christmas celebrations in 1963.

Delightful home movie footage from the Bullock family’s Christmas celebrations. A single candle burns aside a Christmas card. The card opens to reveal the year 1963. The children are preparing embellishments and decorating the Christmas tree. At the village hall young children sat at long tables are having their Christmas party. Adults sit amongst them overseeing the festivities. After tea Father Christmas arrives, and the awe-struck children gather around him and men hand out presents. On Christmas Eve the Bullock children are fast asleep, empty stockings placed at the end of their wooden beds. Santa brings his sack, heavily laden with gifts, into the house and up the narrow staircase. The children awaken and open the gifts in their stockings. The family gather in the living room and open their bigger presents, including toy cars and a gamependium. Several generations of the Bullock family eat Christmas dinner. The table is laid out with plentiful food and wine. After dinner more presents are exchanged – the camera surveys the mess of wrapping paper and empty boxes left behind. Three children have fun in a bubbly bath. A baby is bathed by his mother, gleefully kicking his legs in the water. Boxing Day morning the family are dressed smartly and the children play outside.

Featured Buildings

Cotton Village Hall

Keywords

Christmas; Family; Home Movie

Background Information

Keith Bullock recorded the footage, which features wife Ann and their five children, that is, Judith, Richard, John, and twins Susan and Andrew. Ann's mother and father Mary and Cyril also feature, as does uncles, aunts, cousins, and friends of the family. Keith's Uncle Cyril played Father Christmas at the lunch at Cotton Village Hall. At home, it was mum Ann who played Father Christmas (you can identify her by her wedding ring), as father Keith was behind the camera. The Christmas lunch at Cotton Village Hall was arranged by the Bullocks. It was a private party for extended family and friends in the week before Christmas day.