Christmas / New Year Memories

Just after the war we used to have a goose for Christmas dinner. It was sent to us by Royal Mail, wrapped in brown paper, tied up in string, from family in Orkney. In latter years we had a cockerel; I never tasted a turkey until after I was married.

I didn't realise that pork pie breakfast on Christmas Day was so localised but we had that too! I probably developed my liking for mustard as a result of this.

I don't remember having pork pie for Christmas breakfast - I had chocolate and sweets! The other things I remember was firstly waking up and seeing my pillowcase at the bottom of the bed full of presents. I also remember our Christmas tree. It was an old, tatty effort but had lovely lights which fascinated me and have left me loving Christmas lights to this day. I also have one decoration left from those times which has pride of place today. The third thing was that the main television programmes had comedy or "feel good" episodes for the Christmas period, which left you smiling.

The Mighty Hood It was Xmas Eve and the scene was set the little boy (Tom) had just drank a cup of hot milk and settled down in his bed, his mother came in and gave him a kiss and a cuddle, wished him "nice dreams" and then switched off the lights and pulled his bedroom door to but not shut, it gave Tom a little security to see the light shining through the gap. The year was 1941. The boy had got into bed full of excitement he was waiting for his dad to come home He lay there for a while until he fell asleep he was awoken by someone coming up the stairs, he was somewhat apprehensive as he was not sure of the time, was it his dad or Santa? He snuggled down the covers in the hope he could not be seen, he heard the voice of his dad, he shot up in bed to see his dad sitting next to him on the edge of the bed, he was wearing a Naval uniform and over his shoulder was his kit bag as he placed the kit bag on the floor he reached forward to kiss and hug his son. The boy was so excited he started to weep with joy, as did his dad, they were so happy it was the best Christmas present they could have both wished for. I am home son he said it's been a long time, I have been on patrol in the North Atlantic we have been following a German Battleship, he began to tell his boy the story of the pursuit of this Battleship and how they had orders to sink this menace of the seas, it had to be sunk at all cost. This menace of the seas was ordered to sink any unarmed merchant ships they encounter but not to engage the Royal Navy at any cost this type of ship was called "surface commerce raider", the boy was enthralled by his dad's story, it was better than any comic. "Go on dad tell me more" the boy exclaimed. Well son he said after a few days we caught up with this giant of a ship, it was big and it had lots of guns. All our big guns were trained on this ship and we awaited for the order to fire. It was an agonising wait as we could not fire our guns until we were in range. It was about this time the boy began to smell cordite, the same smell you get when you fire a toy cap gun, the boy could not understand where the smell was coming from, it was not an unpleasant smell so he just ignored it. His dad continued to tell his son how the ship he was on took a direct hit, the shell that had been salvoed from the pocket battleship Bismarck penetrated the main deck and travelled down through the ship hitting one of the ship's magazines. Their was a huge explosion and I was blown into the cruel sea, I watched in horror as the ship split in two and began to sink, I was alone and very cold and all I could think of was you my son and my wife waiting at home for me, it kept me alive until I passed out from the cold and I don't remember any more, "I love you dad" Tom said you are my best Christmas present I could have wished for. I love you Tom but I am due back on my ship in the morning so I want you to look after your mum for me, you will be the man of the house. "No dad, don't go I don't want you to go" said Tom "please stay its Christmas and I want you to stay" "sorry Tom I have to rejoin my ship and my ship mates" at this his dad stood up, he leaned over and kissed Tom "be a good boy for your mum" he walked out of his room waving good bye closed the door and he was gone, Tom started to cry and soon he had cried himself to sleep. Tom awoke early Christmas morning, he ran into his mother's room full of excitement, "Mummy mummy I am so excited, Daddy was here last night, he told me how he survived his ship being blown up. He did not have long to talk to me, he had to return to his ship, "I am so happy" he said, Tom then ran down stairs to unwrap his presents that had been left under the Christmas tree by Father Christmas. His mother was somewhat puzzled by Tom's behaviour, she got dressed and went downstairs to enjoy the spectacle, her son enjoying the joys of Christmas she was very happy and totally forgot the words Tom had uttered about him seeing his Dad, she knew the real story about what had happened to Tom's father several months before the ship he was in was sunk with the loss of all but a few who survived, Tom's dad was not among the survivors she had kept the secret from Tom, not knowing how to tell him what had happened, Tom must have been dreaming. Tom and his mother were very happy but was this the time to tell Tom the real story she plucked up the courage to tell Tom later after Christmas dinner, all the presents were opened and Tom began to play with his new toys, Tom had saved a few pennies and bought his Mother a small bottle of perfume which she adored and shed a tear as she unwrapped it. Just then she noticed another parcel wrapped in brown paper, it was pushed under the Christmas tree, it had no name on it so both Tom and his Mum were somewhat bemused, "where did it come from and who was it for?" after a short while Tom's mum decided that the parcel must be intended for Tom, Tom reached under the tree to recover the parcel, once the parcel was in Tom's hand the strange smell returned, the smell of cordite "what is that smell his Mother asked" Tom replied" I don't know where the smell came from but when Dad was talking to me last night that smell was there, it's a nice smell". He began to unwrap the parcel, it was a wooden matchstick model of a battleship, the ship was well made, it had lead ballast to keep it upright and it was built with detail, "wow "said his mum, its so good, can I see it?" She asked, Tom passed the model to his mum, as she took hold of the model the room went cold, the hairs stud up on the back of her neck as she read the inscription on the bottom of the model, it read "To my Son Tom" "HMS Hood." The colour drained from his mum's face as the model slipped from her fingers and dropped on the floor and split in two just as the Real Hood had done during the battle after being hit by a shell fired from the Bismark. With tears in her eyes she started to tell Tom of what really happened to his Father and the meeting with his dad last night was a dream. Tom found it hard to understand how it could have been a dream, he spoke to me and told me how he had survived and then the cold truth dawned on Tom, his dad said to Tom he could not stay because he had to get back to his ship and his ship mates, if the Hood had sunk why was he returning to his ship? He knew then that the ship was at the bottom of the North Atlantic and that is where his ship mates were. But the smell? It had been snowing in the night and the ground was covered with snow. Tom remarked that if someone had delivered the parcel they would have left foot prints, they both looked at each other and then they both ran to the front door, they both swallowed hard as Tom opened the door they looked down and saw footprints in the snow, the footprints were walking away from the door only, they ran out and followed them hoping to catch up with whoever had delivered the parcel but as they began to follow, the footprints disappeared Tom and his mum returned to the house even more puzzled, and to make matters even more puzzling, the model ship had gone, no sign of it anywhere. What's going on? They both sat down with puzzled faces, no matter how they tried to explain the goings on it did not make sense. Tom's mum started to prepare the dinner, the Rabbit had to be gutted and skinned ready for the cooking pot. They then settled down to wait for their guests, Tom's uncle and aunt, his dad's brother and wife. They arrived and exchanged pleasantries and presents Tom's mother began to tell the story that had transpired, when Tom's mum got to the part explaining about the Matchstick ship Tom's brother stopped her in her tracks, "stop, repeat the part of the story about the matchstick ship," he exclaimed with some excitement in his voice, "I need to go home and get a copy of the local newspaper from some days earlier. The uncle returned sometime later branding a copy of the local Newspaper, he was a little out of breath from running and could hardly talk, after he had composed himself he laid the newspaper on the table and thumbed through until he had found the page he was looking for. He called Tom and his mum over to see the page showing a photo, "take a look at this, is that anything like the model ship you mentioned?" "Yes yes, Tom's mother shouted it is, that's the same model ship that they had seen that very morning, but how and why is it in the paper?" Although Tim's uncle had read the story before, it did not mean much to him at the time, they all sat down and he began to read out the news item that accompanied the picture. From all accounts an American Destroyer was on patrol in the vicinity very close to the area where the battle took place, they encountered wreckage floating on the surface, items and crew's belongings from the ill-fated Battleship, and among the items that were found was the model wooden Battleship, the model was in a wooden locker box which was afloat and barely any water had penetrated into the box. After the items had been checked they were sent back to England. Some of the items were identified and sent to relatives but some items could not be associated with individual members of the crew so these items would be returned to the Sea. The area where the Hood was sunk was declared a war grave and the Navy decided to return the items to the crew of the HMS Hood. The items to be returned were put aboard a destroyer and a time was set to coincide with a predetermined time in the UK. The time was set at midnight on Christmas Eve (about the same time Tom's Dad visited Tom) the items were ceremonially dispersed over the water, the model split in two as it hit the water and took several hours to sink as it was made of wood. The above is total fiction and the characters do not resemble anyone living or deceased. The story was intended as a salute to the many men who lost they lives during the battle of the Atlantic. The first line of a poem that my Dad used to recite many years ago, love to have it completed. One day in May, guns in full sway, all ships to the aid of the Hood. Down in the deep all sailors asleep? That's all I know. This short ghost story was written by Colin Walton. 10/1/2015

CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS About a week before Christmas. My boss had just taken the young bull to drink at the trough in the farm yard, his father and I cleaned out the pen and gave him bedding and food, as he brought him back to the pen, when our friend Edgar walked into the yard wearing a red Santa hat, said to my 'boss' can I borrow a ladder I want to put up some christmas decorations on my house. The farm had a number of ladders of different sizes in a lean to shed in the Dutch barn enclosure, so the boss said okay, we walked out the yard and Edgars pony and trap stood outside, both adorned with tinsel, holly and bells etc, the trap was loaded with more decorations. We passed through the gate into the dutch barn area, and the first thing Edgar saw was the big dutch barn ladder and walked towards it, I passed glances with my boss (surely he's not thinking that's the one). This ladder stood about fifteen feet tall was only used around the dutch barn, it was like a telegraph pole split down the middle with rungs added, needed two men to move it. As we shut the gate behind us one of our ponies stuck it's head over the gate. But Edgar was at the foot of the ladder and before we could yell he was struggling to pull it on to his shoulder, it came upright and then the weight was to much for him and it came crashing down towards us we dived for cover in the lean to barn where the carts were stored, the end of the ladder hit the guttering above us, a piece flew off and hit the sheep dog, who ran off yelping, the end hit the ground with a mighty crash spun Edgar half round, the other end then bounced off his shoulder crashed the wire netting surround of the turkey pen, the pony took fright, which frightened Edgars pony who went off down the farm track at fair clip. Edgar raced through the gate after it, leaving the gate open, the turkeys and geese now released and upset went for the open gate, the dog with it's yelping had upset some calves, which also made for the open gate and so did we, trying to shut it and it was big mix-up, and Edgar was ambling down the track after his pony and trap, the decorations trailing behind the trap. We had about three hundred yards of tinsel, bits of holly and Christmas decorations along the farm track. Happy Christmas everyone. Kaga.

Radford kid - I believe the radio gave a running battle as it happened, given a few hours after the Hood went down, we needed something good to happen and the chase was on, this wasn't just news this was a thriller we needed to win, and we were all glued to the radio, this was more important than the Graf Spee episode. At that time I believe it encouraged a lot of young men to join the navy than the other services.

Amongst the memories of many happy family Christmases with very little available, 1940's and 50's, another abiding memory for me is, as a teenager, say 14 years old and upwards, Christmas could be a boring time, with little to do. Most of the friends that one played out in the street or over fields were in their own homes with their own families. I remember 1 year, about 17/18 years old, me and a friend walking miles to find a pub open. Clearly it all changed and returned to normal when a female companion was on the scene. One good memory, in the 50's City being at home on Christmas Day with a 1100 kick off.

Our family have a Christmas memory that we always laugh about years later. We were all sitting round the table to eat our Christmas dinner. It was a circular teak drop leaf table (oh, never again!) with just a couple of clips to keep the drop-leaf up. Husband was sitting on the drop-leaf side, lovely dinner in front of him, and as he cut down on something with his knife, the drop-leaf section fell down and his dinner slid towards his lap. Fortunately he just managed to save it, but the little chipolata sausage with bacon round it fell on the floor. Quick as a flash, our little dog shot in, pinched the sausage, and fled. We just had to see the funny side of it, but was I glad to get rid of that damn table!

Christmas 2016 . . . is coming Christmas village Christmas sleigh ride

Santa Claus tour starts tonight

Chosen for the cover of her nursery's Nativity programme

Old photos of Christmas shopping - Coventry Telegraph

Great photos MR, 1962, I was sure to be amongst all those shoppers, hubby was at home minding our new baby and there was I living it up in Dolcis. !

I'm sure I would have been there too, Dreamtime. Memories of being dragged around the shops by my mother (and sometimes father too) in the early 60s. After that it would have been studiously avoided, usually by being at Highfield Road. Those photos do remind us of a time when the city centre was busy and vibrant, back in the days when we actually celebrated Christmas. A few things of note from them: On Picture No.4 that is certainly no VW Beetle, it is an Isetta bubble car. I can't imagine they were much use for towing with its 300cc single cylinder engine. On Picture No.7, on the stall to the right, appears to be a display of peppers. I never remember seeing them anywhere when I was a child so I'm surprised they seem to have been popular at that time. As for Picture No.9, good grief! A middle aged man snogging a 15-year-old girl under the mistletoe in what looked rather more than a seasonal peck on the cheek. I would think that it would be sufficient to see him arrested now! It just looks a bit creepy and uncomfortable.

Something a little different. Christmas 1946 I attended a carol service in Jerusalem, to get to it we had to travel 40 miles there, 40 miles back, in a ten ton truck over a mountainous terrain, at least the padre was pleased.