Christmas Memories

Sometimes we just have too much on our plate.

Caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season, we let the true meaning of Christmas slip into the background until a sudden jolt brings us to our senses. The commercial aspect of this holiday has jaded us in modern times. It didn't happen this year, last year, or in the past five years. It crept in surreptitiously many, many years ago, gradually pervading society around the mid-1950's I would say.

In England, and most of Europe, the years following WWII were lean and Christmas continued to be somewhat sparse when it came to decoration and gifting. Those were the years of my childhood, and what a wonderful childhood it was!

The little tree, always a live one as there was no such thing as faux anything back then, was picked out a couple of days before the 25th. and carried home on the local bus as my parents never could afford to own a car. It stood proudly on a table decorated with our handmade ornaments and real candles which were only lit briefly under close supervision! Long, brightly colored 'paper chains' which we made by gluing strips together, hung from the hanging light fixture to each corner of the living room, and sprays of holly with brilliant red berries, picked from the nearby hedgerows, were tucked behind the oval mirror over the fireplace and pictures around the walls. And that was about it! Any extra money was spent on good food for the Christmas Day dinner, a couple of boxes of good chocolates, and a few bottles of cheer to welcome any and all who stopped by for some Christmas spirit.

Of course my Mother always made the Christmas Cake. It was baked in mid-November and 'fed' with a little brandy or rum over several weeks until it was time to roll on the thick layer of almond paste followed by the white icing forked up to set like drifts of snow. By Christmas Eve it was decorated. Tiny bottle brush fir trees, a snowman, a sled holding Father Christmas, and a sprig of holly, transformed it into a scene representing the white Winter wonderland which we all hoped for at Christmas.........but which usually didn't happen in our mild South coast climate. Yes, the English fruitcake baked by one's Mum, was always fabulous!

I hope your childhood Christmas memories, swirling like snowflakes through the mind at this special season, are happy ones, and that this year you will have fun sharing them with your family and friends.

Sometimes, perhaps always, simple things are best.

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All images taken recently at SuzAnna's Antiques, Raleigh, NC.