I was born in the 40s, 1945 to be exact, and my earliest Christmas that I remember would have been in the late 40s. We couldn’t put our Christmas tree up until the 22nd of December (I only remember the date because it was my birthday). Our tree was an artificial one about 3ft tall and nothing like what you have today, just branches with loads of gaps between them. We would clip on the end of each branch’s small candles, and I don’t mean ornamental these were real candles. On Christmas Eve we would light them, my Mum used to lift me up so I could light them with a match, I thought it was magical, afterwards we would sit round the fire, my Mum and my Grandma on her rocking chair and me on the floor, the only light coming from the fire and the candles. We used to do toast over the fire and if we were lucky, we had chestnuts to roast. I remember the popping noise when they fell in the fire and exploded! I wrote with the help of Mum my letter to Father Christmas and placed it on the mantleplace, when I went into the kitchen it always disappeared, my Mum and Grandma told me it had somehow flown up the chimney to Father Christmas!
I always put my stocking up for Father Christmas on the fireplace before I went to bed, and I remember waking up on Christmas morning to the feel of crinkly paper on my toes. I opened my stocking in bed on my own then I used to run into my Mum’s room to show her what I’d got. When we went downstairs my Grandma was already up poking the fire up to make it warm for us. There were some presents on the sideboard for me, my Mum, and my Grandma and I couldn’t wait to open them, we didn’t have a lot of money and I used to get about six or seven presents at most and nothing was expensive but that didn’t matter I was just so happy to have something. After breakfast I used to go outside to meet my friends, we all lived in the same street, so it was easy for us all to meet up and play.
When I was old enough, I went with my Mum to the Christmas Eve service at our Church – the first time I had ever been out so late, I think I was about 8 or 9 years old, it was exciting seeing the nativity for the first time and meeting my friends. I carried out this tradition for many years until these last few years when my health let me down and I changed to a Christmas Day service. On Christmas Day all our family used to visit for Christmas dinner, 12 of us round the table. After dinner the children went into the front room to play while the grownups stayed in the living room, there were 6 children and we all had to entertain the grownups, either singing, dancing or reciting a poem. My cousin and I were so similar we used to swap our clothes and stand with our backs to the grown-ups for them to guess who was who, we did sometimes confuse them!
As a child, the Christmas story had a big impact on me when I first went to the Christmas Eve service and saw the baby Jesus placed in the manger, it made the stories I had learned about more real. As I grew up, I became more involved at church and got confirmed, I was able to receive communion which was very special and a time to thank God for everything he did for me. It was when I prepared for communion that I started to talk to God, not just praying but having a conversation with Him, which I still do now. It’s still a very important and private time for me with God. The older I’ve got the more my faith has deepened, and I realise how much I need God and how I want to know more about Him, hence the ForMission course I am studying now!