Yesterday was Christmas Day and present were four generations of the family. When I was little there was a tradition set and although it has changed slightly it is still there in many ways.
We had to go to a Christmas Mass, I remember Dad coming to Church with us early in the morning, while Mum stayed home to cook a Christmas lunch, later we would all go to Midnight Mass leaving Christmas Day free. This is one Tradition that has died, we do not go to Mass or even Church any more, mainly because I cannot understand the reasoning behind it all, I believe I live a good life and have taught my children strong morals, and teat everyone the way I would want to be treated.
However, when I was a kid, we would wake up on Christmas Morning, very early, and go out to find our santa sacks filled with bits and pieces and a main present. After Mass, (before the midnight ones started) we would come home and have a huge Chistmas Lunch, this always consisted of chicken roast, followed by plum pudding. The plum pudding would be studded with thrupeny pieces (3 pence), before decimal money came in when then would be swapped for 5cent peices (you could not put the new money in the puddings?)
After lunch we would have to wash dishes. This was always a drag, who wants to work on Christmas Day and wash roast dishes of all things. But after this chore we would all gather in the lounge room and Dad would hand out the presents from under the tree.
Christmas shopping of course was all part of this. Mum would take us all into Coles in Bridge Street. Back then there were no shelves, and help yourself then go to the register, back then there were rows of counters with ladies and girls behind them and everything was laid out on the counters. We would pick out something we wanted and pay for it as we went. I am not sure when this changed but I remember finding the ideal gifts for each of my grandparents, parents and siblings. Then I would take them home and wrap them to go under the tree for the afternoon Chistmas ritual.
Dad's method, now changed, was to read out the card on a gift, give it to the recipient and that would be unwrapped and everyone would get to see what it was. Then the next gift would be handed out with the same ritual. It would take the whole afternoon, and happened every year for almost 40 years for me.
Then Dad passed away. That first Chistmas was awful, I fronted it with dread, and it was not until the the day that we all sat around the tree and said, who is going to be Santa? Bianca was 7 at the time and not to be left sitting she took the job as no one else wanted to try and replace Grandpa.
That was when it changed, she simply read out the names and handed out the gifts. I found this a bit frustrating, as I did not always get to see my gifts opened nor see what everyone was given, but now there are too many and it would take all day.
Over the years we all grew up and met partners or left town as families can do. For some time Mum would have a tea on Christmas Eve so we could then go to our in laws for Chistmas Day. We would only have Dinner, so this gave us the chance to have our own family time, then go to see Mum and Dad before going to the Reynen's for Dinner Christmas night.
Now we have all the family come for breakfast, they then go to thier other families (in-laws) for lunch then we would all meet for Dinner, either with the Reynen's or, when my mother-in-law goes to her son in Queensland every second year, we would be at home.
This year Kevin arrived unexpectantly a couple of days before Christmas to join us for Christmas. It was good to see him after a number of years and we also had Mum there, (she is now in low dependency care) and also another brother Andrew along with all my children and their partners and my 6 grandchildren and a step granddaughter. In all 21 members of the Family. Once again the Tree was surrounded in piles of gifts and we feasted on a breakfast of baked ham and cheese on Croissants, Pancakes and capacinos.
After the giving of gifts some went off to other families while we had 9 stay for lunch of pork and chicken, roast potatoes and pumkin, orange honey mint carrots, zuccini and bean bunches. this was washed down with the traditional fruit punch. We had ginger breads and fruit cake for snaking on in the afternoon. For tea we had sea food, garlic prawns, pickled calamari, home made pork and prawn dimsims, and rice balls, then chocolate ripple cake and mango cheesecake. We all had to get together the next day to try and finish off the food.
In all it was a great day, with all being very tired and pretty much physical wipe outs on boxing day.
