The Magic of Christmas

Stuartb it must be Christmas already, or you must have had the Christmas sprit come early making such a long post by your standards, nearly long enough to win poster of the week

I have always loved Christmas day and have stuck to the exact routine all my life, it was the way things were done when I was very little and I believe it’s the best way. Mind you as you would expect the generous Carol just loves giving presents and I watch as a mum, dad and two children struggled back out of our house with seven or eight very large bags full of presents that Carol and apparently I bought for them,

The problem is I married into a very large family and you can’t get into our spare room here, as Carol has it full of bags and bags of presents. At 5pm on Christmas day I carry so often in one hand the gifts I received, trying to work out as I climb the stairs how so many bagfuls went out of the house that must have cost me a fair bit and in return I have my little pile

I never ask Carol just how much we do spend on Christmas presents, she loves giving and it makes her so happy, I can never put a price on that, I’m just so grateful that she is here and therefore every Christmas is always going to be that bit more special than the last one.

Six years and only three weeks before Christmas she had an operation to remove a lump from her breast, two weeks before she learns the area was sadly not clear of cancer cells and they want her back in hospital on the Monday to remove the whole breast.

“NO”, she says I’ll come in after Christmas, “WHY” I ask, “because I have not got everyone’s presents yet” she replies. I called a time out with the consultant and took Carol outside. It was the only time I was ever hard on her, I had to make her see the importance of having the operation as soon as possible.

It was the only time we have driven home from the hospital with Carol not speaking to me, but it was a price I was prepared to pay, as the correct decision had been made and she was going in on the Monday. We spend Christmas day at her sisters house, Carol was unable to do very much due to the surgery she had just had and that was the only Christmas that did not run the way all my others have.

As a child it seemed normal for the men to go into a pub in Newton Abbot, while the mother stayed home and cooked the turkey etc, I believe the pubs shut one hour early on Christmas day( not all day pubs back then) so the men were not late home for the Christmas dinner.

The dinner would be some time after 1pm and when it was finished, (after you had also had some Christmas pudding and found your sixpence hidden in it) the dad and the children washed up all the dishes. This had to be completed by 3pm, as the family had to be all sat down together for the queen’s speech.

But what about the presents I hear you cry, well up until that point you had not opened one single present, just the stocking that was on your bed when you got up and that only had a few small things and an orange in it.
So the queen finished her speech and that was my signal to get over by the Christmas tree, I would then pick up one present and read who it was for and who it was from, I then passed it over and it was opened, showed around to everyone, before I got the next present from around the tree.

This would take nearly all afternoon and by the time it was done and the mess all cleared up, it was 6pm and time for tea, well cold turkey, crisps etc. While I would never go out to a pub on Christmas day, the rest of the day is still much the same now as when I was a child. We still open the presents after our Christmas dinner and yes it’s Dave who still reads the labels and then hands them out.

I think my mother did it this way because it meant everyone would know who bought what and for whom, its better than asking your children who bought you that and then discover they do not have a clue, as they just ripped off the paper and did not bother to read the label. So looking forward to another Christmas with Carol by my side