Christmas Memories

 My first Christmas memory is from when I was around 4 years old, we were living in Sutton Coldfield at the time and I think that there must have been a special  Christmas service at a local church for John and Denise's school. I remember sitting in this old church with stained glass windows and listening to the Christmas Carol 'O Little Town of Bethlehem' being sung. We didn't attend a church at that time but this must have made an impression on me and this carol has always remained a favourite.

On Christmas Eve we would lay a pillowcase at the foot of our bed, it was always exciting, wondering when Father Christmas would come and I can remember sometimes waking to check whether the empty pillowcase was still on my bed or whether it was filled, I still have a plastic pillowcase with a picture of Father Christmas on it which I used. In the morning we would carry our filled pillowcases to the living room and open our presents under the Christmas tree. When we lived in Scotland we had a silver Christmas tree with fuchsia pink ribbons and coloured lights (very retro).

When I was about 8 my Mum began a new Christmas tradition, after our traditional Christmas dinner of turkey and roast potatoes etc. followed by a real Christmas plum pudding with hidden coins, which I think where put in the pudding to encourage the children to eat them, and the Christmas crackers with party hat and joke. A small self made snowman would be set on the table. This little snowman, which was a large jar covered in cotton wool with a removable head, sometimes Mum used a white balloon with a face drawn on, which would be popped when the meal was over. The snowman was filled with little presents for everyone, even though we had been spoilt rotten by Father Christmas this little present after dinner was always looked forward to by me, infact I still possess one of these presents, a little plastic clip purse.

I have carried on this tradition with my own children and grandchildren and even though it is sometimes difficult to find presents small enough to fit in the snowman's body it is still a much appreciated tradition. 

Underneath are some photos of my Christmas memories- my pillowcase and snowman gift and a film of Christmas 1972 when we were living in California.

Bicycles

 Living in the Netherlands I am blessed to be able to bike everywhere, mostly on bike paths and a nice flat terrain. Last week my bike had to go to the cycle repair shop to fix a flat tire and several other necessary repairs. On Thursday afternoon I always pick up my granddaughter Naema from school, as my bike was still at the repair shop I borrowed my daughter Esther's bike. My bike has back pedal brakes whilst Esther's bike has hand brakes, something that I took into consideration whilst biking down the hill from the dyke but when I suddenly had to stop at a junction I automatically tried to brake by peddling backwards before I remembered that the brakes where on the handlebars. Thankfully everything went well and I was able to stop in time, but it reminded me of one of the stories that my Nana told me about her childhood.

      My Nana, Violet Popplewell was born on the 12 December 1900, yesterday would have been her 120th birthday. Her father died when she was 2 years old and her mother eventually remarried a widower with five daughters. Violet went from being an only child to suddenly having five sisters, one of whom was the same age as her. They lived in the seaside town of Bridlington and her mother ran a small bed and breakfast located on Quay Road. Some of the stories that my Nana told me remind me of Louisa May Alcott's book 'Little Women' especially since the sister closest to Violet in age was called Joey, and she seems to have been just as vivacious and headstrong as the Joey in Little Women.

     The story that I was reminded of last week also involved bikes. The girls all owned a bicycle, which wouldn't have been so common in the early 1900's. I think that Violet and Joey where aged about 12 or 13 and together with a friend they decided to go for a bike ride in the countryside. Their friend had just received a new bicycle for her birthday and Joey desperately wanted to ride on that bike instead of her own. She kept on pestering her friend to swap bikes for a short while so that she could ride on the new bike. Eventually her friend gave in and swapped bikes with Joey. Everything went well until they began biking down a steep hill, Joey tried to brake to slow down her decent but discovered that the bike didn't have any brakes on the handlebars. Her friend had forgotten to inform her that her new bike had back pedal brakes, Joey and the bike ended up in the hedges. Luckily both where not badly damaged and everyone could laugh about it later.