My first recollection of Christmas was as a three year old and I was living in the Police House at Roade with my mother, father, older brother and paternal granddad. I suppose to say that Christmas for me was magical is an understatement and, hopefully, something that we can all identify with.
Although we are talking 64 years ago, I can remember the living room in perfect detail including the corner in which stood the magnificent Christmas Tree! Now, my father being in the Police was not without his contacts so he was able to access the tree (complete with roots) from Salcey Forest, which was placed in a large soil filled barrel and covered in red crepe paper. Next, came my favourite thing – the beloved lights which my mother had proudly managed to buy from a shop in Towcester (things were still in short supply after the war). They weren’t just bulbs, they had little shades on them in different colours and each one depicted Disney characters which I would spend hours looking at with total awe.
I have to say, at this point, that those lights were brought out year after year (as were all the decorations) until I was 20 and left home. I didn’t want anything new! – I just wanted everything that was reminiscent of Christmases past....... The glass baubles of all colours and sizes, which reflected the light beautifully, were kept in a well worn greyish cardboard box with little compartments and had the words ‘Christmas Decorations’ scrawled across the lid in pencil.
The baubles were fragile but I can’t remember any being broken...... There was silver tinsel which was a bit thread bare but it didn’t seem to matter and the Lametta frequently fell off but that didn’t matter either. The best part was the switching on of the lights when it was all done and, because the tree lights consisted of quite large pear shaped bulbs, the whole room would light up – It was truly wonderful and I have a vivid memory of looking right up at the tree which seems to go on for ever (but I guess that’s because I was tiny). We had paper garlands across the ceiling, paper bells and on the mantle piece there was a cardboard Santa Claus. The setting was complete when my mother, who was an accomplished pianist with a good voice, played carols and Christmas songs, my favourite being ‘I’m dreaming of a White Christmas’ which had been recorded and released in 1942.
Christmas was not without it’s worries when I was small....... Although I would stand on tip toe and look out of my bedroom window on Christmas Eve, hoping to catch a glimpse of Santa and his sleigh in the sky, I was not at all keen on the idea of him coming down the chimney and into my room which had it’s own fireplace. I can remember feeling frightened and sliding further and further down the bed in an attempt to hide.
Even worse, when I awoke in the morning, before it was properly light, I was scared half to death by a strange shape in the room which was actually a blackboard and easel!
I didn’t have a stocking – I just had a few simple gifts in a pillow case but it wasn’t the Christmas presents that were important, it was the whole atmosphere of Christmas and why it was being celebrated which I understood (in simple terms) even as a small child.
I loved all the festive food items, such as they were, but we didn’t have a turkey in those days – It was always a chicken which was a treat and not something one would eat on a regular basis. Our chicken came ‘complete’ and my mother would have to draw it and pluck it over an old tin bath, with some of the down flying around the room and getting up her nose making her sneeze. Mum also made her own stuffing with home grown herbs which tasted wonderful and her recipe was unique to her. She also made her own Christmas Cake and her own marzipan which was at least half an inch thick under crudely applied royal icing liberally sprinkled with silver dragees. To finish off, a fancy paper band was pinned around the cake. To this day, I love rich fruit cake and I adore marzipan!
Of course, Christmas eventually came to an end and I was very sad. The decorations and lights were put away carefully in their boxes until the following year and the tree unceremoniously dragged out into the garden followed by a trail of dropped pine needles. Oh woe! However, twelve months later the whole process began again and I was very happy.
Does one ever recapture those magical feelings experienced as a very small child? I don’t think so......
Although we are talking 64 years ago, I can remember the living room in perfect detail including the corner in which stood the magnificent Christmas Tree! Now, my father being in the Police was not without his contacts so he was able to access the tree (complete with roots) from Salcey Forest, which was placed in a large soil filled barrel and covered in red crepe paper. Next, came my favourite thing – the beloved lights which my mother had proudly managed to buy from a shop in Towcester (things were still in short supply after the war). They weren’t just bulbs, they had little shades on them in different colours and each one depicted Disney characters which I would spend hours looking at with total awe.
I have to say, at this point, that those lights were brought out year after year (as were all the decorations) until I was 20 and left home. I didn’t want anything new! – I just wanted everything that was reminiscent of Christmases past....... The glass baubles of all colours and sizes, which reflected the light beautifully, were kept in a well worn greyish cardboard box with little compartments and had the words ‘Christmas Decorations’ scrawled across the lid in pencil.
The baubles were fragile but I can’t remember any being broken...... There was silver tinsel which was a bit thread bare but it didn’t seem to matter and the Lametta frequently fell off but that didn’t matter either. The best part was the switching on of the lights when it was all done and, because the tree lights consisted of quite large pear shaped bulbs, the whole room would light up – It was truly wonderful and I have a vivid memory of looking right up at the tree which seems to go on for ever (but I guess that’s because I was tiny). We had paper garlands across the ceiling, paper bells and on the mantle piece there was a cardboard Santa Claus. The setting was complete when my mother, who was an accomplished pianist with a good voice, played carols and Christmas songs, my favourite being ‘I’m dreaming of a White Christmas’ which had been recorded and released in 1942.
Christmas was not without it’s worries when I was small....... Although I would stand on tip toe and look out of my bedroom window on Christmas Eve, hoping to catch a glimpse of Santa and his sleigh in the sky, I was not at all keen on the idea of him coming down the chimney and into my room which had it’s own fireplace. I can remember feeling frightened and sliding further and further down the bed in an attempt to hide.I loved all the festive food items, such as they were, but we didn’t have a turkey in those days – It was always a chicken which was a treat and not something one would eat on a regular basis. Our chicken came ‘complete’ and my mother would have to draw it and pluck it over an old tin bath, with some of the down flying around the room and getting up her nose making her sneeze. Mum also made her own stuffing with home grown herbs which tasted wonderful and her recipe was unique to her. She also made her own Christmas Cake and her own marzipan which was at least half an inch thick under crudely applied royal icing liberally sprinkled with silver dragees. To finish off, a fancy paper band was pinned around the cake. To this day, I love rich fruit cake and I adore marzipan!
Of course, Christmas eventually came to an end and I was very sad. The decorations and lights were put away carefully in their boxes until the following year and the tree unceremoniously dragged out into the garden followed by a trail of dropped pine needles. Oh woe! However, twelve months later the whole process began again and I was very happy.
Does one ever recapture those magical feelings experienced as a very small child? I don’t think so......
Thank you that was lovely to read, as I am around the same sort of age and have very similar memories
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