Posted 3:19 PM by Paul
Mother Christmas

Heather has it all under control. Presents are wrapped and the kids have just gone to bed after the traditional reading of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and The Night Before Christmas. in front of a roaring fire. Emily was most concerned that we should damp down the coals before we went to bed, otherwise Santa might have trouble getting down the chimney. Heather was born in London but her parents are Canadian and so she has a whole North American take on the festive season.

Our Christmases in the North of England involved waking up around 4.30 a.m. to find pillow cases stuffed with presents at the foot of our beds. At the botton of these improvised Santa sacks we would always find an orange, a brand new shiney penny (for luck I suppose) and piles of chocolate which we would gorge on until we were sick. My elder bother Dave and I would then fall asleep until around 9.30 a.m. to be woken up by the sound of a full English breakfast sizzling in the pan and mum calling us . I was a regular church goer (Baptist) but I never went on Christmas Day because in our house Christmas was for Family not God. Breakfast would be followed by full traditional Christmas lunch at around 1.30 p.m. and then sandwiches and cakes watching TV around 6.00 p.m. Before bed we would have some mince pies. After opening presents, Christmas Day was partly an anti-climax until Boxing Day when family would come round for more food and drink and games. My dad worked for a few hours on the afternoon of December 26th as he had a part time job (in additon to his full time factory job) at a dog track so the festivities would start around 6.00 p.m.

One Christmas morning - I was 7 or 8 so it would be 1964 or 65 - I was beside myself with joy to find a brand new full size Lego building set in a sturdy wooden box at the foot of my bed. I couldn't believe it. It had been the object of my deepest desires for as long as I could remember. I would go into Redgates, the city centre toy shop, every Saturday and stare at it - knowing that my chances of owning it were slim as it cost £5 ($8), an impossibly huge amount of money. But that year I achieved my ambition and i was deliriously happy. I played with the Lego set until I was 13. Only years later did I work out that it cost close to what my mother took home in wages for a full week's work at a local factory.

Well, mum has gone now, never to cook us another breakfast or make us happy. Tonight I think of her with love and respect. I wonder if I will ever make a gesture that will amaze my daughters as much as that Lego set did for me way back when Harold Wilson was Prime Minister, LBJ was President, the Russians were winning the Space Race and the Beatles were top of the Hit Parade.