I don’t know about you but I love Christmas time. I love everything about Christmas from watching one of my favourite Christmas movies, Love Actually, to listening to all the Christmas carols and songs to do with Christmas. I love giving Christmas presents to people. I love the Christmas foods associated with Christmas. I love getting together with family and celebrating Christmas.

Growing up, my family would go to my grandparents house on my Dad’s side of the family and have tea (or dinner) with the whole family gathered there from my grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles and cousins. It was a fun time.

Granpa would cook a barbecue outside and granma, with the help of her daughters, my aunty’s, would get everything else to eat ready for our meal. Then once it was already prepared and cooked, we’d sit outside on the grass or on chairs and eat. Being in Australia, Christmas is during our Summer, so we are able to do that.

After the main meal, consisting of chicken, ham, turkey, roast carrots, roast potatoes, beans and peas, there would be Christmas pudding with custard and/or ice cream. Granpa would put sixpences in the pudding for us kids to find and then he’d exchange for our current currency we have now. (As a side note, Australia was using the imperial currency of pounds, shillings and pence until 14 February 1966 when it went to the currency we use now). After tea was eaten, we kids got a bottle of Coke each, not a plastic bottle with a screw top either but a glass bottle with a top you needed a bottle cap remover for (one of my uncle and aunty’s lived a few doors down from my grandparents house and there metal fence came in handy for removing the caps from the bottle as well). Before tea, my cousins and I would go for a walk to one of the many playgrounds around my grandparents house and spend time there playing on the equipment. It was always a great time.

When my grandparents became too old to have all the family over and do much of the preparation and cooking for Christmas tea, my Aunty and uncle who lived a few doors down took over and the family tradition continued. I also remember all of us cousins being in one of my cousins bedrooms and singing along to songs playing on her record player. We still know all the words to the Band Aid songs “Do they know it’s Christmas” and “Happy Christmas/War is over” among many others we used to sing along to. We can also sing any Abba song going as well.

As the years have passed, my grandparents have both now gone, as have my parents and so have other family members. Several of my cousins have gotten married or met that someone special and have families of their own now but the tradition still lives on.

Now, there’s 3 of my cousins, they have houses big enough to host the whole family on Christmas Day and their families, who share having all the family over for Christmas lunch these days. The whole family still comes together and now my second cousins are a part of it all. The tradition is still going strong.

I hope that my second cousins keep the tradition going as they get older, just like the older generations in the family have kept it going. For all these years.

One Christmas my second cousins thought they could out sing their parents, second cousins, aunts and uncles. They soon learned that we could still out sing them, especially when Happy Christmas/War is over started playing.

Whatever Christmas means to you, may you be able to celebrate the season with your loved ones. Make memories, cherish those gathered together around the table, enjoy making the meals that will be shared. Remember those who are no longer sitting at the table. Be blessed.

Merry Christmas to you all who are reading this and thank you.

Christmas blessings to you all

Until next time

Kaye