I love Christmas. I've always loved Christmas and I can't see that changing. There is nothing I don't like about Christmas.
Christmas Past
Christmases at home growing up were lovely, and maybe that's why I still love it. Both my dad and my brother worked in a department store (back of house), but in those days my dad received a turkey every year and my brother (because we already had a turkey) was given a hamper. We did well out of those! The excitement of Christmas morning was almost overwhelming for me. I couldn't wait. We'd begin the day with ham sandwiches for breakfast. When I say ham, I mean real ham off the bone, a ham that had been sitting in water, water changed, and then the boiling for hours on the stove. The smell wafting through the house that said Christmas!
My mum (and grandmother, who we lived with for most years until I was in my early twenties) would make Christmas pudding and we'd get a stir of that and make a wish, and yes, my mum put sixpences or 'thruppenny bits' in, so you had to be careful eating! Then there was a Christmas cake and mince pies, all homemade. We had a sack for presents and I handed them round like Father Christmas after breakfast. Then there was the waiting for the dinner. Turkey with homemade forcemeat stuffing (I still use that recipe today, slightly adapted), roast and boiled potatoes, carrots, parsnips and sprouts. By the time we made it through the Christmas pudding (my dad always poured brandy over it and set it alight) and mince pies, we were well and truly stuffed.
In the afternoons we moved into the front room (the gas fire blazing away) and my dad and I played Ludo at breakneck speed! Come tea time no one was hungry, but somehow we got through sandwiches, cake and maybe trifle (though that might have been a Boxing day thing -memory not so good). If there was any room for anything more there were After Eight Mints, crisps and nuts and to drink my mum loved her Snowballs (actually so did I). We watched TV, highlights being The Morecame & Wise Show.
I remember going to bed feeling so full I thought I'd burst!
There was one year when the turkey was too big for the fridge, and it had to sit in the greenhouse until we were ready to cook it. It was always a fresh turkey. It was a feat to get it into the oven!
My parents belonged to a choral society, so we always attended their Christmas concert - a highlight for me.
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| From a December walk |
Christmas Present
Some things about Christmas haven't changed. The major difference is that now I'm vegetarian (moving towards veganism) and we have a Quorn roast (hubby still has turkey in some form). The vegetables are about the same, though I have veggie pigs in blankets. I don't make Christmas cake anymore because no one wants to eat it, but I do make some form of cake. This year I'm aiming to make some individual Christmas cakes (an adapted fruit cake, but vegan) and I will put marzipan on some with a water icing and leave the rest as they are (catering for all needs). I do make mince pies, but we buy a Christmas pudding. My husband used to make a Christmas pudding, but we got fed up with all the steaming and the kitchen walls running with condensation. And we began our own tradition of having the Christmas pudding in the evening as everyone was so full after the dinner no one wanted it.
Up until the end of last year, I was involved in choir concerts at Christmas. This is the first time in sixteen years I've not been singing, but I have enjoyed listening to other choirs sing.
Sometimes I go to London to see the lights. When my kids were growing up they each had a sack for their presents. Later, I gave them out and then let my kids have the honour.
I began another ritual of going on a Boxing Day walk. It had to be local, though buses run, and one year walked part of Beverley Brook using the bus.
Christmas Future
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| Liberty in London 2025 |
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