Paphos People

Christmas Past

Being a post war ‘baby boomer’ child born into a time when rationing was still in force meant that any luxuries like meat, butter, biscuits, sweets and especially chocolate were only available in small quantities on coupons. I can remember my mother cutting a mars bar into about ten pieces. We had a piece each day and when they ran out that was it until the sweet shop had another consignment.
The queues that formed outside shops that had rationed goods were long and full of bad tempered people all anxious that they got their share before the items ran out.
American forces that were stationed in England had all their food flown in from home and they lived a comparative life of luxury. This led to a ‘black market’ system between the servicemen and the ‘spivs’ for luxury items. A lot of people became very rich in that period but they were not popular with ordinary people. After the war was over they were shunned by honest people who had tried to obey the rules.
When things improved, people’s attitudes had changed and most of them kept the frugal lifestyle which they had developed during the war years.
Christmas was a time of excitement when my brother and I were small we woke on Christmas morning to find a stocking on the bottom of the bed. This really was just an ordinary sock filled with nick-knacks, an orange, a couple of walnuts, a small bar of chocolate, an apple, maybe a pencil and that was about it really.
After breakfast we all opened our presents my Dad had one year when every present was shaving related, shaving soap, after shave, new fangled foam in a spray can, razor blades, he was pretty fed up by the time he had unwrapped them all. My mum got perfume, a new purse, a pack of dusters and a powder compact. Then it came to us boys, bars of chocolate, sweets, and a special present from Mum and Dad – a dinky toy! These were die cast models of current cars and lorries treasured possessions for at least a week until the novelty wore off.
Christmas dinner was eaten at lunchtime, and was usually a large fresh chicken, there were no supermarkets or frozen chickens in those days in fact we didn’t have a refrigerator until the late fifties, so food had to be eaten quickly while it was still fresh.
That was the kind of simple Christmas we were used to in the early fifties.
The day after Boxing Day everybody returned to work as normal no parties. If Christmas Day was on a Saturday, Boxing Day on Sunday, then it was back to work on Monday. A week later people waited up until midnight and toasted the New Year in with a glass of sherry. The BBC which normally closed down at ten thirty showed a Scottish ‘HOGMANY’ program with lots of dancing and celebrating but that finished at about twelve thirty. Back to work on New Year's Day.
Those were the days of Christmas past simple, affordable, family orientated happy times.

Compare that to the present day two week celebration, where the whole world seems to take an extended break from everything. Holidays abroad in the sun seems to be the norm, the kids have to have the latest on line gaming system, Parties all over the place, if the festival falls on a weekend, you get two extra days off work for Christmas, the same for New Year.
So after two weeks of celebrations, credit cards maxed out, thoroughly exhausted you gladly go back to work, relieved that Christmas passed!