.......... AND SO IT BEGINS

You will be pleased to know { or not ! } that I have started my Christmas preparations, even though we are not sure what sort of Christmas we are going to have. We usually go and choose our Christmas tree every year but, this year I have ordered one from Croft and Cole ..... fresh cut and delivered to my door in mid December.

I have also started buying presents. I have quite a lot to buy ..... our children, their partners, grandchildren, sister, brothers -in-law, neices, nephews, the neices and nephews children, cousins, cousins children etc. etc

Christmas has always been a wonderful time for our family. As a child, our parents made it so magical even though we weren't rolling in money. We always had a real tree and, I can remember my mum dragging it back from the shops ! We would all be part of decorating it ..... often with a few arguments ! That moment when the lights were turned on for the first time was fairylike and so magical. Then there would be a trip up to London to see Father Christmas and Uncle Holly at Selfridges ..... do you remember Uncle Holly ? ..... and, eating hot chestnuts bought from the man on Oxford Street and having a knickerbokerglory at Lyons Corner House and, if we were lucky, seeing a show at The London Palladium.

Apart from his day job, my Dad played in a band at weekends. He used to take an empty gin and whiskey bottle with him and, when people offered to buy him a drink, would gradually fill the bottles up, ready for Christmas !!!!! ..... and then there was Christmas itself. Going to bed on Christmas Eve and leaving a flat pillow case at the end of the bed to wake up on Christmas morning to see that pillow case overflowing with things and bulging at the sides ..... nothing was very expensive but they were all amazing to us. Board games, books, paints and paintbrushes for me, gold chocolate coins, a chocolate tool kit that tasted soapy but who cared .... eating chocolate at 6.00 a.m was brilliant. And then, after breakfast, our aunts and uncles and cousins would come round and there would be more presents .....  a leather netball, Jacko roller skates, more games, something from an old aunt that was a bit boring ..... we would open that one first !! 

The above photograph, taken in the mid 1950's,  is my Dad being Father Christmas at his works Christmas party !!! That's me on the end on the right with the red face, wearing my delightful bolero, knitted by my Mum ! My sister is on the left, also wearing her delightful bolero ! The Father Christmas outfit leaves a lot to be desired ! Looked as if it had been well-used and pretty moth-eaten but, we didn't care. I think we knew it was our Dad and were told not to say anything ! Our Dad loved to take photographs. We have hundreds of those tiny black and white ones when we were on holiday but, there aren't any of Christmas. There are some movies but I can't find any stills ! Maybe he was too busy, playing in the band and getting his bottles filled up or drinking too much of the gin on Christmas Day ?!! { actually, he looks as if he's had a couple of gins in the photo .... he looks a bit dishevelled !! }

I hope that we made the same memories for our children and that our grandchildren find it all just as magical. 

Well, there are just a few memories of my Christmasses .... what are your special Christmas memories ?

 

XXXX

image 1: via vogue portugal, image 2: via pinterest, image 3: via me