Jingle bells Jingle bells, yes folks its that time of year again one of the great dates in the Christian calendar, Today of course it has become verycommercial and materialistic and for the shops a financial Bonanza. I saw plum puddings and Christmas cakes on sale in early October this year.
Many of you will remember your mother working so hard at Christmas times past.

I well remember my own mother mixing ingredients for the pudding, pouring in brandy whiskey and stout, she would make every member of the family stir the pudding mix once for luck it would then hang in pudding cloth for 2-3 weeks to mature. The aroma was breathtaking as you walked in the hall door.

Then the paper chains, the holly and the tree were all put in place for the big day. Every year about two weeks before Christmas a large box would arrive from our Aunt Margaret in New Zealand, my dad would solemnly peel away the many layers of brown paper to reveal a big tin which was well sealed to keep this cake fresh on its long 5 weeks journey. In return, we would send our Aunt Sweepstake tickets as our gift. This ritual was repeated every year until our dear Aunt died in the mid 1950s.

On Christmas Eve, night my dad would set the side table with bottle of Powers Gold Label, Hennessy, bottles of wine, even a couple of Thwaites soda water siphons if Santa didn’t want to drink and drive! It looked splendid I will always remember this magical sight.

On Christmas night, our beloved cousins the Grace family would call over and we would always have a great party with Tom and Robert on piano and guitar. Too soon it was all over and time to go back to school or work. My sisters, who worked in Switzers, were very smart young ladies indeed and they always had some disposable income for the January sales, very wisely they would buy good woollen coats and lined leather boots for the very cold winters we had in the late 1940s. Believe me it really was much colder 50 years ago older readers of News Four will agree with me.

I well remember Christmas and the New Year both canals would freeze and ice over and I recall me and my school chums playing ice hockey on Portobello harbour with hurleys and a sealed shoe polish tin as a puck. As children of the 1940s there was no end to our powers of invention and improvisation.

Finally, may I wish everyone at NewsFour and all our readers a happy and safe Christmas.