Christmas Past and Present
23 December 2008

This time of year always sees me counting my Blessings and thanking God for the year that has past and the year which is yet to come.

I am very grateful to be celebrating Christmas with my husband, children, grandchildren and my parents-in-law. I am also filled with nostalgia, I long to share the company of my parents once again and I am thankful for all the wonderful Christmases we were able to share whilst I was growing up.

I am also thankful for my wonderful warm and creative blogging friends. My life is brighter for having you all in it and I truly appreciate every one of you. It is a continuing delight to me that we can reach out to each other across the world and bond together in friendship despite our different nationalities, politics, religions, cultures and ages! Amazing!

My Christmas gift to you all is an extract from my father's autobiography reproduced here in his own words - how he would tell the story to me when I was a little girl. I posted this extract several years ago and even though some of you may have previously read it I hope that you will still find it enjoyable. With the credit crunch in our midst, I think it is as relevant today as it has ever been.


Christmas 1935

"My childhood and schooldays were very hard and as the saying goes, only the fittest survived. By 1935 my mother had given birth to eight children, one a little boy, had died at three months old. I was the second child and by that time had six sisters, we lived in a small village in Lancashire.

Many years ago in the days of the Industrial Revolution and when the cotton mills were working full time the area we lived in was known as the Golden Valley. In 1935 the mills were closed, some even demolished and 60% of the people in the area were unemployed and existing from the Means Test. My father’s allowance was £2 4s 8d for man, wife and seven children.

You could guarantee that every three weeks the Means Test Man (as we used to call him) would be knocking at the door. My father was very strict, all the children would be called into the house and we all had to sit on the stone flags in rotation to our ages against the wall. The interrogation would then commence,


“Name?
Age?
Date of Birth?
Have you been working?
Have you tried to get work?
Is there anything you can sell?”


The only furniture we possessed was one table, four wooden chairs, an old fashioned dresser, a sofa and two double beds. It was a two bedroomed house, my parents and baby slept in one bedroom the remaining six slept in the other bedroom; three at the top of the bed and three at the bottom. The little furniture we did possess was at least owned by my father. It was a common sight to see large furniture vans collecting furniture from people’s homes that had fallen behind with their payments on hire purchase agreements.

I remember one such incident happening to one of our neighbours. My father was standing talking with his mates on the corner of the street which was a common place to stand talking with local men. I was playing football with my pals in the same area. Suddenly a man came running up to my father crying and swearing, he shouted, “They're taking my bloody furniture back! Also the bed my sick wife is laid in!” Off the men set to his aid and the battle commenced.

It was normal procedure to have four big strong men with the van, two stacking the furniture into the van, the other two carrying it from the house. My father and another man jumped into the back of the van. I heard my father shout, “No you bloody don’t!”

Three more men ran into the house and the fight got well on the way. All the furniture was taken back into the house and the van drove away. Women and children shouted rude words at the van as it went passed. Victory! So we thought.

Half an hour later the van returned with three policemen, all the furniture was reloaded including the beds. I heard my father talking with the police sergeant and I heard the sergeant say, “I know it is not right but the law is the law and there is nothing I can do about it.”

I also heard the police sergeant say to the driver before he drove off, "Don’t you ever call me out for anything like this again!” No police charge was made and the neighbours started collecting odds and ends (as we say in Lancashire) for the house.

As children my father always told us there was no such person as Father Christmas he always said, "The most important thing at Christmas is a good table!" We never received any presents. He also used to say, “My door is open to anyone on Christmas Eve.” One year his words came true, my mother gave birth to a baby girl and I then had seven sisters!

No rent or bills were paid during Christmas week and strangely enough this was accepted by the creditors. Deliveries still continued from the shops and gradually the debt was paid.

In the winter months we had to be in bed by six o’clock but we were permitted to stay up until 8 o’clock on Christmas Eve. All the food was prepared and arranged on the table; cold ham, tinned salmon, cheese, pickled onions, tomatoes, cakes, biscuits, jelly and custard. This to us was a banquet! After we had eaten we would entertain ourselves by singing carols.

We would awake on Christmas morning to find our stockings filled with an apple, orange and some nuts. We would feel like millionaires!"


Merry Christmas to You and Yours! May you always live in peace and have a good table today, tomorrow and throughout the years to come!

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Posted by Miladysa at 2:24 PM 31 Comments

Catch Up
17 December 2008

















C - Christmas is only a week away! We managed to put our tree up last weekend but I'm way behind with everything else!

A - Another RoYds Review over at the Web Fiction Guide - Thank you Sora!

T - Twelve for Christmas Dinner! Remember last year when I was moaning that my older children were branching out and organising their own Christmas festivities? Well this year it's all back to Mum's less one who is visiting his outlaws. Of course I am over the moon but it's a pity I gave away my large dining table earlier this year in the belief that the eldest three would be doing their own thing from now on.

C - Computer Woes - Looks like the end for old faithful and hello to Windows Vista :(

H - Happy Birthday to Sir H and Lady D (my eldest daughter) who both celebrate their birthdays on the Winter Solstice - December 21st! Sir H and I celebrated his birthday last weekend when we went to watch a faux Meatloaf and Cher. This weekend I'm out with Lady D and the girls celebrating her Big 30!!! I'm beginning to feel like a grown up!

























U - Up to Something! There's something happening over at RoYds in the next week or so. I'm not going to tell you what IT is just yet but I will tell you that I can hardly contain my excitement! I'm way over due with a new chapter - I promise to post one soon.

P - Poor Mr Sparks has been a bit under the weather the last couple of days but he's perking up a bit and is back to hogging the fire.

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Posted by Miladysa at 9:04 PM 32 Comments

Fatal System Error
13 December 2008

Just to let you all know that I am MIA because my computer died :(

Sir H is going to perform an autopsy on it this weekend and I hope to be back soon and catch up with all your blogs.

Have fun while I'm gone :D

M x

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Posted by Miladysa at 12:09 PM 17 Comments

Golden View
6 December 2008





















Would you believe that this is the location pictured here and here and mentioned in Ochre Burn?

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Posted by Miladysa at 3:55 PM 24 Comments

Snow ~ Through A Window
3 December 2008

~ From the car ~


The landscape where we live












































The Moors



































































~ Looking Out ~


through a bedroom window






















from the conservatory towards the Dell























a neighbour at the garden breakfast bar





















The promised snow eventually arrived. According to the news reports the most severe weather in the UK yesterday was experienced here in East Lancashire. More snow is predicted for tonight and tomorrow - at least eight inches.

Brrr!

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Posted by Miladysa at 12:08 PM 37 Comments