Christmas memories..

Back in the 50/60s companies /business etc sent Xmas gifts. I can remember the smell of apples (crate of) and the accompanying whole wheel of Stilton cheese that arrived at Xmas for a few years.
Yes the cheese was eaten, but a whole cheese?
We had at the time a coke fired heating system.
Mum getting fed up with the smell of the cheese put the remains in the coke fire.
The whole village had smelly black smoke to contend with. A few knocked on the door to see if the house was OK, not on fire.
Mum was mortified, Dad not amused.
The apples faired better.
I'll never forget that smell.

My grandad worked as a tailor in Savile Row and he would get his turkey from Soho Market.

He would hang a meat hook on the mantlepiece and suspend the turkey from a string in front of the fire from about 4 o'clock in the morning, basting it from a tin on the hearth every half hour until lunch at 1 o'clock.

Nobody ever got food poisoning!

Lexisgranny we used to live by a bakery and I remember going with my father to take our huge turkey to be cooked, you put your name on a matchstick and stuck it in the bird
I would go back later for us to collect it warm and cooked to perfection, my tray was to have some before going to bed

There was lots of families in our neighbourhood when I was a child and our family knew everyone by name. We would watch out of window on Christmas Day and see who had been gifted a new bike, roller skates, dolls prams, scooters, pogo sticks........you name it, they were out in all weathers showing off their shiny new presents! Oh, what joy it was to see.

Happy Christmas everyone! Have the best day possible

Us and cousins pinching raw sausage meat and eating it!! When mum and aunty making stuffing! Did we all die? Nope!

My most poignant Christmas Day memory was when I was 26 years old. My father had died very suddenly earlier that year.
My husband , myself and our two small children were spending Christmas Day with my Mum. I had hardly ever seen her cry in my whole life but I watched her in the kitchen stirring the gravy while tears poured silently down her face. I vowed that next year would be different and that she would never have to be in that position again.
What did I learn? Be careful what you wish for. Five months later my mother had a heart attack and died.

That’s so sad kwest ?

Living with my granny who bred chickens Christmas eve was her plucking and preparing the chickens and people knocking on the door to buy for Xmas Dinner. The house smelt awful.
As a teenager I lived with my mum who was very poor. My sisters were crying when I walked home from work as we had no money for a Xmas tree. So I walked to the jewellery shop, sold a ring an ex boyfriend had given me and bought a small tree. Sisters and I made paper lanterns with crayons to decorate it and were delighted.

Sazz1 ♥️