OrganiSed Chaos

I miss the Christmas’s of my childhood.

In those days, it was a simpler affair.

Presents were generally hand made, there were no huge amounts of money spent as there are today, and Christmas was celebrated as opposed to being seen as an excuse to spend as much possible on the biggest present you could lay your hands on.

Xbox, PS2, I Pods, mobile phones, DVD players, none were even thought of let alone given as presents. Any gift received or given was probably worth all of {in those days} a couple of pounds, other than whatever “big” present Santa had decided on for you. Then it may have been the scandalous amount of perhaps 5 pounds!

Christmas was to spend with family and friends. It was all family too, not just those in your immediate vicinity, but uncles, aunties, cousins and grandparents, from miles and miles away. In our house, that meant, some years, up to 25 or 30 people for Christmas day. My Mum came from a family of 5 children who all believed in large families! Organised chaos admittedly, but it was a lot of fun. Cousins everywhere, boys and girls, running all over the place, anticipation about what Santa would bring, giggling as we tried to nod off to sleep, but excitement making it difficult. We had sleeping bags and mattresses all over the floor to make one giant dorm because there were no thoughts of “inappropriate” conduct. It was just fun. Innocence prevailed, not suspicion.

Street parties were standard on Christmas Eve. Everybody outside, us playing, parents talking, having a cold beer, cooking a barbie. Then a barbie was a barbie, not the stainless steel 8 gas plus wok burner types you see today. These were a dozen bricks, a steel plate and some sticks found under the local gum tree to burn. Snags and chops in a folded over piece of bread with tomato sauce, not 87 different types of kebabs, or marinated steak with corn in foil. A REAL barbie!

Neighbours would come for breakfast and to exchange home made preserves or hand crafted items for the house, maybe a doily or pot holder, a hand sewn embroidered mat for a table, or perhaps a plant for the garden that had been struck from the cutting of one you had admired. If you were really lucky you’d receive a pudding that had been made from a family recipe that could be 100 years old, handed down from generation to generation, and the best thing you could ever wish to eat. These were in high demand let me add! To receive one of these gave you bragging rights almost until the following Christmas with the other neighbours!! These days you would be lucky to KNOW your neighbour let alone exchange gifts such as these.

While the adults were inside drinking tea on Christmas morning, we kids were outside in the street comparing presents with the other neighbourhood kids. Riding a new bike, racing around on new roller skates {unencumbered by knee, elbow and leg pads or helmets, they were for sissies!!!} Trying to master the required movement to make a hula hoop work properly was hysterical! Squirting each other with the cheap plastic water pistols found in the stockings that held all sorts of little wonders. There were hoots of laughter, much running and yelling with the odd bout of tears as someone fell, but there was always a bigger kid to pick them up, dry their tears and dispense advise on how to do whatever was being attempted when the fall happened. There was a camaraderie that is sadly lacking these days. I can count on one hand how many kids you see outside on Christmas morning these days.

Lunch was huge I’ll admit. A full meal with turkey, chicken, stuffing, ham, lamb and/or beef, miles of vegies, and gallons of gravy all over the lot! Much of the food came from your own, neighbours and families garden. The red meat pretty much the only thing you needed to buy, poultry was kept in your yard and fattened, much of the rest was part of your gift, or simply handed to you over the back fence because there was a surplus in that particular garden. Not for us was expensive, frozen food, it was all fresh, chemical free and tasted wonderful. Compared to the norm these days, it was fine fare indeed.

Call me old, call me silly, but those WERE the days. Political correctness had not been thought of, people didn’t have to put themselves in the poor house to provide a wonderful family day that was appreciated by all and remembered for many years to come. Kids were happy to be given any present at all regardless of size, value or supposed popularity. It didn’t matter if it wasn’t the latest gadget on the market, or the newest game around. Not so these days. If it doesn’t have a brand name, or isn’t worth an arm and a leg, noone seems to want it. My response is go without then!

It’s funny you know. I always thought the only people that longed for the past were old, but I don’t feel old and this year, for some reason, more than any other Christmas I remember, I long for the past. For the days when the meaning of Christmas was not only remembered, but EGADS, actually spoken of! When the word Christmas was not something to be concerned about offending people with.

I would like nothing more than for the values many of us hold dear to be fashionable again.

I’m not holding my breath waiting for it to happen though.

I find that particularly sad.