Yes, it really is Christmas 2008

One aspect of reflecting on what has happened during the past year is that one tends to think of other times and other years. I guess my family was like most families in the immediate post war years when we all were grateful simply to have peace and the end of rationing.

Thousands of migrants flocked to Australia, as one kid told me at school because it was” the place most far from Europe and the bombs”. These New Australians as they were called then added some colour to our communities and brought new customs and some very interesting ideas about food.

But what most brought was the love of family and the capacity like us to enjoy simple celebrations. There were no “decorator Xmas trees”, just a bit off a pine tree or cypress that Pop had trimmed back so it was not a bush fire hazard. We made the decorations from coloured paper and that wonder product Clag.

We painted gumnuts and leaves to hang on our tree and one fantastic year Gran made toffee crab apples to put on the tree. Trouble was the ants loved them as much as we did. I remember Christmas in a house that my parents were still building. We had roof, external walls, a floor,  no internal lining and curtains made of surplus parachutes to provide privacy in the bathroom. No indoor toilet though because there was no sewage connection.

That first year in the house we had a roast chicken for Christmas lunch, and Gran had made a big pudding with coins interred inside for diners to find a ‘lucky threepence’. Gran carefully served out this monster pudding so everyone got a coin. But tragedy struck when my younger sister swallowed her” threepenny” and was distraught. Now the adults knew that in time the coin would appear, but when you are just turned three years old you do not have the same confidence.

Well in time the coin did appear but there was no going to the outhouse by my sister till it did appear. We got presents, special clothes made by Mum and my Gran, a billy cart made by my uncle, a wooden box for my private stuff made by my other uncle and wonder of all a rubber ball that had a face painted on it and when you squeezed it a bright red tongue popped out of the mouth.  Another wonderful piece of technology as well was the camphor boat; we had hours of fun with the boat putt putting up and down the bath.

After lunch the kids went outside to play with the billy cart and the adults, at least the males, went for a nap while the women washed up. No hot water service, just lots of kettles of boiling water. We thought that we were very well off and had no thought that we should have any more. It was fun to watch the adults square dancing on Boxing Day and if they were short a person for the set to be asked to join in and learn the dance as well.

We were very well off as we had a gramophone that would take 3 ½  inch long play vinyl discs that would play for a total of  seven minutes each. Jim Vickers Willis was the local hero square dance caller, he was from Melbourne and Mum got all his records as they were called. Lots of great fun with family parties; obesity was not a problem in those days as having fun meant heavy exercise.

Barbeques were a regular party just as they are these days. Recently while at the butcher, buying bones and ox heart for Lina the canine receptionist, I spotted a half sheep hanging in the back of the shop.  The butcher was amazed when I asked him for a fore quarter of lamb. I wanted to roast it; this was my absolute favourite roast as a child because it had lots of bones.

Well I reckon it was 40 plus years since I had a forequarter roast and it was a real treat. I did it just as Gran did all that time ago and it was surprising just how modern she was. Forequarters have lots of chops as part of the cut, so a good butcher cuts through the bones for you to make it easy to carve. In the spaces between the chops you tuck sprigs of rosemary and cloves of garlic, sprinkle lots of salt and pepper and a splash of olive oil.  Put it on a rack in the roasting tin over a couple of cups of water.

Then roast slowly at medium oven for at least one and a half hours or two if it is a really big piece. So the result was for $17 we had one very fine roast dinner that would have served 6 people if they had turned up, but they didn’t so we enjoyed another three meals of cold lamb salad and sandwiches. A bargain.

So if you are contemplating a barbeque for Australia Day or just thinking of having a few friends around anyway try a forequarter or two in your kettle barbeque. One other way Gran had with this cut was to baste if with a mixture of fresh squeezed orange juice with the zest and mix that with orange marmalade and lots of chopped mint. You must not use bottled orange juice it tastes absolutely awful used this way. If she was feeling in a really good party mood and she often was, dry sherry was added to the basting mixture.

Gran used to roast heaps of veggies whenever she had the oven going; her view was if you light the oven, fill every shelf with something. That way you get full value for the money you spend on the fuel. So there were often scones or pies in the oven along with the roast meat and trays of veggies. We loved cold roast veggies in salads with homegrown tomatoes and chopped white onions.  We had never heard of Balsamic vinegar or Extra Virgin olive oil. Our family was considered very odd that we ate garlic and used olive oil for anything other than warming in a spoon to pour in your ear for earache.

But then Gran would threaten to paint kerosene on the back of your throat with a crow’s feather if you complained of a sore throat. Needless to say we endeavoured to keep very healthy and did wear our camphor block purses around our necks for the winter. That was believed to preserve us from getting cold or flu or more frightening diphtheria.

All of the best Christmases I remember were simple family get togethers, and then as more affluent times came somehow things became more materialistic. Present buying was a chore; the more elegant and fancy Christmas menu grew to be a burden on whoever was the host that year and more family squabbles erupted at Christmas. Maybe they did when I was small and I did not realise that, but things did seem much more fun then.

So this is what happens when you start to ponder on the past. I hope you have fond and pleasant memories of Christmases past and perhaps in these tough times maybe we should all walk a more simple path and be thankful for good friends and family, good health and a peaceful country to call our home.

All the fancy electronic gadgets will never replace a hug and kiss, and they do not need batteries either. Family games and dancing, a picnic at the favourite swimming hole, listening to my elders talk about the past and tell the family funny stories, looking at family photos, being patient with Uncle George who always gave a big sloppy kiss with his smelly tobacco stained moustache.

We were so thrilled when a local war veteran who had lost his leg and managed on very primitive crutches gave us two shillings for Christmas lollies. We were taught that he was a very special person who must always be treated with respect.  I can tell you in 1949 two shillings was a very respectable sum of money for a little kid and a great deal of time was spent on deciding what to spend this bounty on.

Maybe a White Knight or a ChooChoo bar, some jelly babies or maybe the quickly devoured delight of ice cream. Most homes did not have a refrigerator in those days. Films from the USA taught Australian homemakers what a boon a fridge would be and along with a washing machine these were the appliances that many working class families just dreamed about.

Today we have so much and yet we have so little in many ways when we see the desolation of young people drinking to get drunk, trying to find joy and happiness at the bottom of a bottle. Perhaps tough times will bring a new realisation of what really is of value and what is simply passing dross.

As always I wish you all the joy you wish yourselves and that we all arrive in the new year to a better outlook for prosperity. But if the new year does seem to promise more pain, then we know we are strong enough to cope and that it is simply a time that will pass.

So until 2009,

All our very best to you and yours,

Jen , Rose and Lina the canine receptionist