Soon be Christmas!

I have just sent my Christmas cards to Australia and Sri Lanka so Christmas preparations are under way (or should it be under weigh). I have seen a good many Christmases. One I particularly remember was when I was about six. Life was hard for our family between the wars and money very short.
Two or three days before Christmas there was a knock at the door. I heard my mother say "Come in out of the cold" and into the room came a Girl Guide Captain, who we came to know later as Miss Christina Fleming . She came in with her sister, Robin, and six Girl Guides each one bearing a gift. They had brought tins of fruit, chocolate, biscuits, corned beef, tea, sugar and a Christmas pudding. Such largesse!
Some kind person had given our name to these two ladies who were the daughters of the Reverend Archibald Fleming. He was the minister of a fashionable Church in Pont St, Knightsbridge. The Guide Company was distributing gifts to the less well off. I reckon we qualified!!
What a lovely surprise! How kind they were and what a wonderful Christmas we had!

Snow

As someone once said "If this week was a fish I'd throw it back". The mother and father of all snowfalls descended on Sussex on Wednesday night. The coastal towns rarely see so much snow. No trains from Brighton - only one bus has gone along our normally busy road and few people are out. I am in hibernation as I am none too steady on my feet and am afraid of falling. I don't want the neighbours to speculate whether I've had a glass too many!

Our patchwork Christmas dinner has been cancelled. My very nice help couldn't come as the school her children go to has been closed. And to cap it all my laptop came over all peculiar and wouldn't start. I have been suffering withdrawal symptoms. Mike came to the rescue so here I am.

I can't ever remember my schools being closed because of bad weather. Living in the centre of London I do remember it snowing but not deep snow. In the thirties I walked over Lambeth Bridge along the Embankment to Vauxhall Bridge to school and back four times a day. No school dinners! Lunchtime was from 12 till 2p.m. If it was raining hard I might be given a penny to go halfway on the tram. ( I usually walked and illicitly bought an orange or some sweets).

No wonder my husband once described me as a tough old bird.

The Cake

I should really have started baking for Christmas some days ago. Stir Up Sunday, the last before Advent, was traditionally the day for making the Christmas pudding and cake,. The name comes from the collect for that day which begins "Stir up, we beseech Thee O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people" All our family took a turn at stirring the mixture!

My mother-in-law, a staunch Presbyterian, was renowned at her church for her baking skills. Her Christmas cake and mince pies were altogether out of this world. On the day of the church fete she really came into her own. Her fruit cake was legendary and won first prize so often that she wondered whether she should keep competing. Her cherry buns were a joy to behold (and to eat). In fact, I still use her bun recipe and it is a black mark for this Grandma if there are no buns when the grandchildren come to call.

On one famous occasion the domestic science teacher from the local Grammar school produced a large, beautifully iced cake. I must say it was much more professionally decorated than any of the other offerings. However it was not for sale, it was to be first prize in the raffle. It was a splendid affair in peach coloured icing decorated with green leaves and red roses. Shells edged the top and bottom and it was altogether a work of art.

Imagine my surprise when I found I had the winning ticket. Mother-in-law said "You won't have to make a cake this year". So I didn't. At teatime on Christmas Day. although everyone was stuffed to the gills with turkey and Christmas pudding, not to speak of dates, nuts and chocolates, nevertheless I thought I would produce my wonderful prize. What a disappointment!! The icing was so hard it nearly broke the knife and when we finally got to the cake it was as dry as desert sand and fell into crumbs as I tried to cut it. Never judge a sausage by its skin. From that day on I have made my own Christmas cakes.

Advice to a Young Man on Matrimony

Sorry folks, the first verse disappeared. Here it is----

My family say it's time I left the nest.
My mother's tired of polishing my shoes.
She says to me "It's time you took a wife"
I quite agree with you I say, "But whose?"

Advice to a Young Man on Matrimony

To continue ------

I'm told that honest men will marry soon
But wise men do not marry, soon or late.
Should I look for a widow who is rich?
Or will young love in a cottage be my fate?

So much advice is given now to me.
When will the best time to get married be?
Marry in Lent, in time you will repent.
Advice I know that's surely kindly meant.
Marry in May and you will rue the day.
The song says love will find a way.

All I desire is a pretty, intelligent girl.O
One who is not too short, nor yet too tall.
The answer that I get from all my friends is
"Don't we all, don't we all".


Sorry about the hiccup. This laptop has a mind of its own!!!

Headlines & Slogans

Journalists love puns. Here are some headlines I saw in a Folkestone paper --

"Missing baby found in Sandwich." "

A smuggler caught-- "Man held in cigarette case."

A family called King and another called Queen in trouble -- "King and Queen in court"

Seen on a dustcart "Satisfaction guaranteed or your rubbish back"
Seen on a handyman's van in Hove "Rent a Hubby".
In the shop window of a laundry "Does your wife wash herself?"
The pen is mightier than the sword (and much easier to write with).
Middle age is when your broad mind and your narrow waist change places.
Old age is a case of mind over matter. If you don't mind it doesn't matter.
Youth is wasted on the young!!

Anniversary

On this day in 1942 Ernest Thirkettle and I were married at Emanuel Church, West Dulwich, London. Church bells had been silent since the beginning of the war, only to be rung if enemy parachutists were seen. But on this day, because after a series of setbacks, we had finally captured El Alamein in the North African campaign permission was given for church bells to sound a peal of rejoicing. So the bells rang out joyfully on our wedding day.