Ordinary Gweilo

It’s funny how Christmas means different things at different stages in your life. My son is now old enough to understand Christmas, and at the weekend we bought him a Christmas tree (in response to frequent requests over the last few days) and he had great fun decorating it. I realized that this is the first time that I have had a Christmas tree at home for a very long time!

For many years, as far as I was concerned, Christmas was not much more than an excuse for more drinking and less work, and the day itself was quite boring (though at least I did spend it with my family rather than on my own). Then when my brothers and my sister started having children it took on a new meaning, as I was able to enjoy the day with my nieces and nephews and share their excitement. Rather than feeling disappointed that my relatives had given me a book I didn’t really want, I could see how happy the children were with what they had been given.

Then I moved to Hong Kong, away from my family and discovered that life carried on very much as normal over the Christmas period. I was amazed to find that shops were open as normal. One year we even moved apartments on Boxing Day, something that would be impossible in the UK. No Christmas presents, and basically just another public holiday. Now, for me, things have changed again as my son is old enough to get excited about Christmas.

Last week we went to my son’s school nativity play, and it really was quite amazing how excited and happy he was to be taking part. He had one line to read, and one verse of one song to sing (along with a couple of other children), plus he joined in all the groups songs and seemed to know most of the words. The teachers must have worked very hard to get all the children to perform, and it was great fun (much though I anticipated that it might not be).

Of course it brings back strong memories of Christmas time when I was a child. I was brought up to believe in both Father Christmas (though my mother subsequently denied this) and the traditional nativity story. In fact, the whole Christmas period had a well-established pattern.

Before Christmas we made or bought presents for friends and relatives and wrapped them up. At school, there were special celebrations for a few days before Christmas, and a nativity play (when I was younger), and probably Christmas lunch.

Then a day or two before Christmas we would visit some of my father’s relatives and exchange presents, and I remember finding it utterly baffling that they opened their presents before Christmas day! Didn’t that ruin the excitement? On Christmas Eve, my mother would give us a board game to play in the hope that we would stop fighting with each other and give her some peace.

On Christmas Day we would wake up (very early) to find presents in a stocking at the end of the bed; have breakfast; get the main presents from my parents; go to church (with one toy); have traditional Christmas lunch with grandparents and family friends; watc the Queen on TV; get more presents; and eat Christmas tea (more turkey, but this time cold). Then something to watch on TV, and off to bed still feeling quite happy and excited.

Then on Boxing Day (or the day after) we would visit my uncle and his family and exchange more presents (my uncle usually gave “interesting” presents – sometimes inspired, sometimes baffling). If we were lucky, lunch might be goose or duck rather than the ubiquitous turkey.

Over the next few days we would finish off the turkey, play with (and probably break) the presents we received, and be forced to write ‘thank you’ letters. By this time, I think my mother was eagerly anticipating the day when we all went back to school and life returned to normal.

When we were all grown up, we started going away for Christmas. This was partially because it avoided arguments about where we should all go for Christmas, and partially because it was quite boring being at home. We went to the Lake District (in the North of England) a few times and had some good walks through the countryside and some good lunches in country pubs. The main problem was cooking Christmas lunch for 10-12 people in a strange house, and of course we had to buy everything we needed before all the shops closed for the Christmas break. I suppose that my last Christmas like that was nearly 10 years ago.

Obviously Christmas always meant cold weather, and spending a lot of time indoors, or possibly going for a walk but dressed up very warmly. White Christmases are actually quite rare in the UK (it’s more likely to snow in January or February if at all), but it is always cold, and you need heating on inside the house. In fact one of my most vivid memories is of it being too hot in most of the house, and too cold in some of the other rooms, making it difficult to escape from the festivities.

Then I came to Asia, and it was quite a shock to find that it could be pleasantly warm and that everything stayed open throughout Christmas. Now a holiday at Christmas time means Thailand or Malaysia, sitting on the beach or swimming in an outdoor pool, not a cold walk in the Lake District!