santa and sleigh

When we were young in the 30s we did not get all the toys, clothes and food that children have now.  I can remember the only Christmas decorations we had the paper chains my Dad used to hang up on the ceiling from each corner of the room to the centre light.  We didn’t have a Christmas tree.

The food was rationed then, so my mother would try to save a little each week coming up to Christmas so we could have some extra food then.  We had Christmas cake and pudding.  That was a real bit deal, making them: we would have to help mix them.  When we went to visit our relations, we always got a slice of cake and pudding and a glass of lemonade.

We always had the radio on playing Christmas songs.

We would hand up our stockings on Christmas Eve – I got a spinning top, an orange, an apple and a bag of sweets.  That was it.  Another year, I got a doll, an orange, an apple and sweets.

On Christmas day my Mam would always wear her best dress, and she always wore a new apron.  She seemed to look prettier on Christmas day.  Dad always wore his snow white starched collar shirt with cufflinks and tie.

After Christmas dinner, we would play games, often games of cards – I loved Snap! – or Ludo or some board games.  Vera Lynch would be singing “We’ll meet again”.

When we came into the 50s, we got a record player.  That was something else!  The Christmas lights were turned on in the West End in London for the first time.  There were mock trees, tinsels and baubbles.  At parties, we were playing Spin the bottle.  At that stage, I was getting pressies like a make-up compact for face powder.  We had to wash dishes by hand, went to church a lot, and had to cover our heads when we went to Mass.