Christmas

With Christmas now around the corner, it seems appropriate for me to write about it in more detail.
Christmas is still the magical time if the year, especially for children, but back at the time of my childhood it was far less commercialised. There was no internet shopping, well there were not even computers, or out of town shopping malls.

We were always very excited as Mum & Dad used to take us to Manchester and we could look at the Christmas lights and the department stores tableau window displays. The large stores had grottos where we would have to queue to sit on Father Christmas' knee and whisper to him what we would like him to give us.

We helped to decorate the house by making hand made coloured paper chains that we hung from the ceiling and glued balls of  cotton wool to the windows to make it look like snow. Sometimes we had rolls of coloured stretch crepe paper to hang up, you had to pull out the middle of the roll and twist it, we would hang these garlands and further decorate by putting tinsel, (lametta?), over it. NO health and safety in those days!
I remember that we always had a "real" tree and the fairy lights were rather large and depicted nursery rhyme scenes.

Many people in the '50's did not own a fridge and foods were not pre-wrapped so food had to be bought fresh to last over the Christmas period. I cannot really remember but I expect that large food orders were given to the local Co-op and Mr. Wilkinson. The turkey and meat Mum would have bought from the butchers in Rawtenstall.

On Christmas Eve we went to bed excited to see what presents would be left in our pillowcases. I always tried to stay awake to catch a glimpse of Father Christmas but when I awoke he had always delivered our presents. It was the most magical and exciting thing to happen. Christmas Day was probably quite structured and we put our best clothes on and got dressed up for the occasion. After lunch we sat around the radio and listened to the Queen's speech. Dad only ever bought alcohol for Christmas and this consisted of Cherry B's, Babyscham and sherry. Snacks included a box of dates, that no-one ate, but as it was Christmas it was tradition that they were bought! We usually had sweeties and a selection box in our presents.
 On Boxing Day we always went to the annual Pantomime in Blackburn - quite a trek by public transport.
As we got older we used to go and have Christmas Day with our grandparents. My Dad's brother and sister and their families would also be there, which meant 15 in total, however Granny managed to put on such a spread with such limited facilities is a marvel.

As soon after Christmas as possible we wrote Thank-you notes to those who had sent presents. This was never a "chore" but it was expected of us and I used to list things that I had been given. As I grew older there was always talcum powder and bath cubes, even a very tiny bottle of "Californian Poppy" perfume or mini manicure set. My, how times change. We were always grateful for what had been bought for us.