Traditions, nothing stays the same. Should it?

welbeck, As mentioned above my father was in the army and we lived in the Far East for much of the 1950s. We had staff. An Amah who did the housework and a cook, when living in a flat, and a gardener who came in half a day a week when we lived in a house.

You didn't have to be rich, I doubt, at the time there was an army family of any rank serving in the far East that didn't have at least one servant. It is different now.

When in the UK my mother had a cleaner 2 mornings a week, and often not even that. Just after the war both my grandmothers and my mother had the same cleaner. She came to our house two mornings, to my paternal grandparents, who still had children at home, for 2 days and my widowed grandmother one day. She was almost part of the family and my grandparents included her in family parties.

I grew up in Fiji where my father was a mining engineer, we had a Fijian housegirl who did all the housework and the cooking. We had a gardener too. We were neither rich nor poor it’s just how it was in many poorer countries. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong but I suppose we created employment.

welbeck

was it a colonial setting, or military. the old empire ?
how else could you have servants yet not be rich ?

My friend grew up in India and they had servants; not many, but a cook, a maid or two, a gardener.
She found it rather hard at first when she was married and came to the UK and had to 'do' for herself.
She is Indian, not British btw.

It wasn't just the British who had servants.

Look how young professional families these days have domestic help. My immediate neigh,have a gardener several days a week and a cleaner, and used to have someone who looked after the children after school.

Traditions are adapted through generations.
What I did as a child, what we did for our children and now I have told my children that as they now have their own children make your own Traditions to suit your family.
They love what we did with them as youngsters especially at Christmas time which is a joy to hear.
They both have continue our family Traditions in a similar way, but added their own personal family twist.

I suppose the same could be said of some of the long running threads. Some of the original or long time posters like them to stay as they are whereas others think that they are enriched by new people coming and going with a different take on things. Evolving just like life.

JaneJudge

part of the party food is sliced cucumber and sliced onion in vinegar served in a glass dish on the table

OMG That brings back memories of childhood but normal tea with bread and butter not at Christmas.

Yes Welbeck, India in the 50s……we were not rich but certainly not poor .

To go to your OP Laura our family traditions evolve, particularly at Christmas and we’re all for it. Last year, with the restrictions stopped the children and GC’s staying from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day. This year DD and GC’s will leave after lunch, DS has formed his own family unit, we will meet and exchange gifts before the day. I’ll still make stuffing for all to my dear Dad’s recipe. My DD helps out at a homeless centre over Christmas, her new tradition.
We still have the family ‘whistle’ used to gather wandering people when out, the GC’s still roll painted hard boiled eggs down a hill at Easter, so some things carry on.
I’m all for new blood and new ideas, enjoying some of the old and memories of those past.

When I was a granny for the first time, I made an Advent calendar from a kit for my granddaughter. When her sister was born, I did the same. When we stayed for Christmas with my daughter and her family, the calendars were already in use, and I was surprised and delighted when my eldest granddaughter recently told me she would be using the same calendar this year for her own little daughter. As a rule, I think children of all ages enjoy customs. In our own home, we always do "first foot" for New Year.