Having just been through the Christmas season, I am reminded of what Christmas was like as a child in my native England. Do you remember Christmas as a child? I remember it well. Christmas Day in England was an all day ritual which never changed from year to year. It was great fun and we looked forward to it all year. For many of the years I was a child, there was a war on, so everything was in short supply. My parents were very conservative people so, on Christmas morning, my sister and I would only get one main present and then, maybe, one smaller one. Beyond the age of seven, we were also allowed to choose a book as a present.
The food at Christmas was really good. At lunch, with the huge turkey, we had little sausages called chipolatas, then there were roast potatoes, mashed potatoes, Brussel sprouts, parsnips, bread sauce, and the most fabulous gravy. After that came the dessert, Christmas pudding with brandy butter. The pudding had silver coins hidden in it. Then, to finish, we had mince pies. Slight digression......A couple of days ago, I went into the British shop in Gig Harbor and the very nice lady in there asked if she could find something for me. So I said " I need some bangers". She replied "Would you like chipolatas or proper bangers?" I don't think I have heard the word chipolata in over 40 years. This is what set me me thinking about Christmas as a kid. End of digression.
All the family, uncles, aunts, cousins, etc. came for lunch at Grandma and Grandpa's house. In the years after Grandpa died, Christmas lunch sometimes revolved around the other family houses. After lunch. one crew did the washing up, while the other crew went for a walk. At 3pm, we all had to listen to the King's speech. This speech was given every year and, since the death of the King, the Queen has carried on the tradition. The only change has been that nowadays the speech is given on television as well as radio. The speech always began .... "Today...................................the Queen and I........." After the speech, all the family presents would be given out. As a side note here, I should point out that Grandpa was the eternal Patriarch. He thought he ruled everything and everyone. When he carved the turkey, you would have thought he was feeding the five thousand with the ceremony he put into it. He wasn't just present when the presents were given out, he presided over the occasion. He wasn't shy about pointing out which of us had behaved well or not during the year. Each of us knew where we stood in the level of possible annointment. I could write many blogs about Grandpa and his weird beliefs and strange behavior. One thing that I do remember does give a slightly twisted insight into his lofty attitude. In their house, there was only one bathroom, large though the house was. In the bathroom was a huge toilet, I've never seen one so big. It had a massive solid mahogany seat about two inches thick. I remember, when I sat on it, there was still room to play a hand of cards on either side. The toilet did not have a tank behind it, that was somewhere up in heaven. The handle to flush the toilet hung on a chain which, maybe eight feet above floor level became a thick wire which went up through an unadorned hole in the ceiling and on to who knows where. When you pulled the handle, nothing happened initially and then there was an enormous clap of thunder and about forty gallons of water cascaded through the toilet. When I heard this the first time, I was terrified. But then, I got an insight into where the wire could have gone to. This must be Grandpa's direct connection with the Almighty. I was always certain that he had one somewhere.
Next came tea, with all kinds of sandwiches, cakes, fruit, etc. However, at Grandma's house, rules were applied to what we ate at tea. Before we could eat a sandwich, we had to eat at least one slice of plain bread and butter. Before we could eat a cake, we had to eat two sandwiches. These were usually cucumber or watercress with the crusts cut off and each slice cut into four diagonally. Very dainty. Grandma also always served canned pears with the sandwiches. It was probably the done thing to do. Another strange ritual was that she served pickled ginger at the same time. I love ginger at any time but I could not see rhyme or reason for serving it at tea.
After tea at Grandma's house, we played games unless you managed to escape this phase of the proceedings. I could never make out why they made even teenagers succumb to games which must have been invented for pre-natal exercise.
Then came even more food. It was now suppertime. We had, of course, cold turkey carved by Grandpa with dexterous grandeur. It was accompanied by ham, carved by Uncle Bert, and there were salads with salad cream ( no salad dressing in those days), potato salad and various pickles and relishes. This was all followed by all kinds of creamy desserts and jellies and the Queen of all desserts, English trifle with loads of sherry. The trifle was the highlight of the whole day for me.
To finish the day off, all the adults played rummy for money. When each of us became teenagers, we were sometimes allowed to play. But, we had better not win a game!!
When it came time to go home, while the war was on, we often had to walk the three miles home in the extreme darkness caused by the black out. There were no cars and no petrol, and the busses stopped around 10PM, so walk it was. We all fell into every hole possible on the way, but , it was fun to us kids. Despite the walk home, it had been a fabulous day and we really looked forward to it all year. Christmas will always remain in my mind as a time for children in addition to its religious connotation. I'm sure there are many people in this world who feel the same way.
With this thought in mind, let me digress for another minute. What is the mentality behind the movement to ban the use of the expression "Merry Christmas" and replace it with "Happy Holiday"? It seems to me that this achieves nothing except potentially alienating millions of people in the world besides showing the ignorance of those who promote this idea. The fact that Christmas is a time for children is accepted worlwide to the extent that it does not need to be stated. Don't these people know this? And, don't they also know that a holiday is what happens when the family goes to the beach in the summer? I think the real problem is that these people have become totally engulfed in politics in their self centered frame of mind and they force themselves to believe that anything with a religious connotation must be packaged in a politically correct manner regardless of what this packaging does to the original intent. End of second digression.
The family that met at Christmas and various other times throughout the year was actually my mother's side of the family. They all lived within 20 miles of one another and were very gregarious by nature. Seventeen of us sat down to lunch at Christmas. There was the Patriarch and his Lady. Grandma was the sweetest soul who ever walked the face of this earth. She lived to be 103. I could write a whole blog about her. They had two sons and two daughters. Uncle Bert did not marry until quite late in life. The other three children married and had eight grandchildren between them. I am number four in the pecking order of the grandkids. Six of the grandchildren are still living. Numbers three and six have unfortunately both passed away in the last year.
Digression number three. I do not mention my father's side of the family in this story. His family had become somewhat depleted in both world wars and were more scattered across the country, and thus came together less often. There is a strange difference in the two sides of the family. Each side has a good sense of humour (yes, I have put the "u" in because I am talking about Brits!). But the sense of humour of each side is entirely different from the other. My father's family mostly have an outrageous sense of humour, whereas my mother's side have a more reserved and more directed equivalent. I am not going to explain this as it would probably "urinate off" too many family members. My sister and I tend to lean toward my father's side in the respect of humour. It has become a habit over the years to describe some of us as "being a real Smith" which defines the sense of humour. Here endeth the third digression.
Getting back to Christmas, it is amazing to compare what I remember about Christmas as a kid with what we have today. The difference is enormous. There are so many more presents today, presumably because there is more money around and our values have also changed. For the better????? Who knows? The food is equally plentiful today, but there were more different types of food served when we were kids. I don't remember the adults drinking wine in those days. Grandpa would probably not have approved. Yet, he kept a barrel of hard cider in the cellar and had a glass with every meal.
Nowadays, the children seem to ask for what they want for Christmas and, in many cases, they get it. As a child, nobody ever asked us what we wanted for Christmas but, if you asked for something, that seemed to be an absolute cast iron guarantee that you would not receive it. I remember year after year wanting an HO gauge train set for Christmas and, year after year, I never got one. My father did allow us to choose the book we wanted. During the war years, a book called "Aircraft of the Fighting Powers" was published every December and I always received it. I still have all seven volumes in near mint condition. My sister used to get the "Bookano" series books I believe.
The kids today receive Lego sets and they put them together very well and soon, they take them apart again and that's the last you see of them. By comparison, we got model airplane kits, either flying or non flying. They were generally harder to put together and tended to stay in one piece, until they crashed. The girls still get their dolls, which seem to be much more refined these days.
I suppose I have now rambled long enough on this subject. But, I must admit, I have enjoyed reminiscing about Christmas as we used to know it. Has it got better or worse? Neither, its just a bit different, a big bit.
