I
don't do presents at Christmas so a lot of people assume that means
I'm a bit of a Scrooge about the whole season.
But
they couldn't be more wrong.
Christmas
for me is all about time spent with family and friends I love to
pieces. I've been feeling pretty nostalgic this December and put my
tree up on the 1st when usually I put it up when I finish
teaching round about the 18th or 19th.
My
lovely friend Chantal and I had a mini tree decorating party. Just
her and me. The festivities involved:
- good food
- Christmasish music
- quite a bit of mulled wine
- and the inevitable set of lights which didn't work,
The
result was this shining example of a Christmas tree you see before
you.
It's
always a fake tree because being South African I don't know any other
kind.
My
strongest childhood memories are of lengthy journeys in our Hillman (later a bright yellow VW Beetle) to friends
and family on Christmas Day. Until we moved into our house in
Fleurhof when I was about 12, we lived in a tiny one bedroom council
flat so Christmas never came to us. We always went to it.
The
2 or 3 days before would see my mother preparing an assortment of
goodies. She always said that at Christmas and on birthdays one was
allowed all their favourite foods so that was what she cooked. This
made for an eclectic Christmas table as the dishes ranged from things
like Koeksisters to Prawn curry.
My
father served as entertainment on the journey to where ever it was we
were spending Christmas that year. This was for two reasons:
- he had an exceptional singing voice
- for many years the cars we owned did not have radios.
The
journey gave my mother and I the opportunity to put in a musical
request list: anything by Elvis, Johnny Mathis – A Child is Born,
Tom Jones – The Green Green Grass of Home, and many many more.
Some journeys lasted 2 hours so that involved a bit of
Padkos along the way too. That was mum's job but it was important
not to fill us up before the main Christmas fill up began when we got
to our destination. So we had mini meatballs or a Vetkoek with some
mince. For longer journeys she broke out the Samosas and chicken
drumsticks.
And
when we got to our destination there was the joy of hugging friends
or family, talking over each other, table setting, laughter, music,
eating, getting my first taste of Amarula, playing card games or
Scrabble, dancing Langarm if there was enough room and so much more.
Finally,
around 11pm we would start packing the car for the return journey.
Our hostess would hand over the obligatory Padkos even though we were
filled to the brim. Mum and dad would chat about the day and things
that had made us laugh or cry. I would fall asleep on the back seat
with a multitude of delicious food smells emanating from the foil wrapped leftovers.
I'm
sure some of these Christmases also had their fair share of family
conflict as often comes with the festive season. But I cannot
remember any of this.
And
that is testament to the effort made by my parents I'm sure.
Neither
one of them is with me in body any more but the Christmas spirit they
instilled in me is still going strong.
So to all my followers:
So to all my followers:
MAY THIS CHRISTMAS BE FULL OF JOY, LOVE, LAUGHTER AND HOPE FOR THE FUTURE.
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