Grenda Walton

February to April 2018 I lost two sisters. Today Myra's ashes arrived. I am going to have a tea party as soon as the memorial garden is done and I will scatter her ashes. A lot of people knew Myra on her many visits to Dallas and she of course loved Dallas. Dorothy only came once. I feel so lost especially about losing Myra and we were very close. I am the only one left in the family now.

Christmas waves a magic wand over the world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.
Norman Vincent Peale

Christmas Day

We awoke on Christmas morning before the staff came to wake us. At the end of our bed were stockings full of nuts, dates, and an orange and an apple. Opening the stockings and emptying the contents on the bed, we all started counting the nuts. Like little squirrels, we hid the nuts under the mattress for later. Someone shouted, “You had better not eat the fruit before breakfast or the Matron will get mad!”
Lots of excitement and giggling went on. We were so happy. After we had dressed in our Sunday best, we all had breakfast and then lined up in pairs, crocodile fashion, to walk to church. Even on this cold morning, I did not mind the three mile walk to church. It was going to be a good day.
Arriving at the church, my first thoughts were on the carols that we would sing. As soon as I was settled in the pew, I immediately looked at the hymn board to see which numbers were posted. I quickly grabbed the hymn book and marked the pages. Today, their choices were very good.
St. Mary’s Church usually had such a wonderful Christmas service with lots of carols for this special day. The Elders had decorated the altar with a manger, Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus. Standing off to the side were the Three Kings and the Three Wise Men.
All the pews had been highly polished and had holly with bright red berries draped over the ends. The red velvet kneelers seemed to have been cleaned. You could smell the scent of the pine cones. A small Christmas tree stood tall in the entry way. Mr. Vaughan, the organist, was playing Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring. I did love that music.

Jesu, joy of man’s desiring,
Holy wisdom, love most bright;
Drawn by Thee, our souls aspiring
Soar to uncreated light.

Just looking around the church seeing everyone in their best coats and hats was a great sight. The church had the most lovely stained glass windows, and the sun rays cast coloured beams of sunlight onto the pews.
Vicar Thompson started the service and talked about the baby Jesus and never once preached fire and brimstone. He also told us that he was leaving the parish, and the new vicar would arrive the following week. His name was Hubert Wilkinson. We liked Vicar Thompson and felt sad that he was leaving.
After we had sung many carols, the Elders with the brass collection plates moved from pew to pew for each of us to place in our tithes. Every time money was put in the plates there was a clank from the pennies hitting the brass plates. Most people put in little white envelopes. The service was lovely, and with full hearts, we sang our Christmas carols. My favorites were: Away in a Manger, O! Come All Ye Faithful, and We, Three Kings.
As we lined up for our walk back to the orphanage, Vicar Thompson who was standing at the exit shook hands with everyone and wished them a Happy Christmas. We also said goodbye to him and wished him well.
After church we returned to the orphanage. We did not have any duties to do that day and just played in the playroom since it was too cold and rainy to play outside. Strong winds and rain pounded on the windows. The sky had turned black as a storm was closing in on us. We had just missed the downpour by minutes, thank goodness. Miss Blackburn entered the room, and we all gathered around her asking tons of questions. We really liked Miss Blackburn.
“What are we having for Christmas Dinner?” Sally asked.
“What would you like?” Miss Blackburn replied.
We all started shouting at once.
“One answer at a time please,” Miss Blackburn said.
“Chicken and roast potatoes,” someone called out.
“Trifle and thick cream,” another girl shouted.
“Miss Blackburn, why do we have Christmas Crackers?” I asked.
“Oh! Would you like to hear how this tradition started?” She responded.
“Yes! Yes! Yes!” we all screamed.
“Alright, be very quiet and I will start,” she said.
We all sat there in complete silence looking up at her and waiting for the story to begin. She cleared her throat and began.
Crackers were invented in 1850 by a London confectioner named Tom Smith while sitting in front of his log fire. His attention was focused on the crackling sparks and cracks emanating from the flames when suddenly he thought what an added attraction it would be if his sweets and toys could be revealed with a “crack” when their fancy wrappings were pulled in half. Crackers are short cardboard tubes with a small thin fire cracker running down the center and protruding from each end. Then, they are wrapped in colorful paper and have a small Christmas decoration glued on the center of the cracker. The ends are twisted tightly, and a small ribbon is tied around to hold them in place. Traditionally, one cracker is placed next to each plate on the Christmas dinner table. When the crackers are pulled, with a loud crack out comes a colourful party hat, toy, gift, or festive joke. The tissue-paper party hats look like crowns, and it is assumed these symbolized the crowns worn by the Three Kings.
We thanked Miss Blackburn for telling us the story and just then the dinner bell sounded. We all lined up at the door to march into the dining room. The tables had been set by the House Girls and were beautifully decorated. The paper garlands that we had made a few days before out of red, green, and white crepe paper were placed around the pictures on the wall. There were Christmas crackers and party favors on every table for our Christmas lunch. Bunches of holly were pinned around the room, along with mistletoe. I wondered who was going to kiss us!
Matron Weir came in looking festive in her red cardigan. We all sat in complete silence waiting for her to speak.
“A Happy Christmas to you all,” she said.
“Happy Christmas, Matron,” we all chimed.
We began with a prayer blessing the food.
“For what we are about to receive may the Lord make us truly thankful. Amen.”
Grabbing the crackers with the person on our left, we would both pull an end. Bang! Out would come a hat and a trinket. We then put on our colourful hats, read the silly joke, and played with the little trinkets.
Lena shouted, “Thank you, Tom Smith, for the crackers,” and we all laughed.
For Christmas lunch, we had roast chicken with Yorkshire pudding together with peas, carrots and turnips mashed together, and wonderful gravy that was poured into the well of the Yorkshire pudding. For dessert, we had trifle followed by the traditional Christmas pudding on which a small amount of brandy had been poured. Matron lit the match and blue and red flames shot up. This only lasted a second or two, but it was nice to see. We ate the pudding with care because hidden inside were little sixpenny pieces wrapped in grease-proof paper. Not everyone got a sixpence, but the children who did shouted out,
“I found one.”
We were stuffed, but as Matron would say,
“We had had sufficient.”
After Christmas lunch, we were told to line up on the staff stairs and have our group photo taken by the Christmas tree. It took ages for us to gather on the stairs in our age groups. We had to put on our best smiles, but at least today, they were real. Flash! Flash! The bulbs from the camera went off leaving a burning smell.
“All say Happy Christmas,” the photographer called out.
“Happy Christmas,” we chorused. Before we had time to leave the stairs, I heard a loud “Ho! Ho ! Ho!” I quickly looked around, and there was Father Christmas in his red-hooded cape. He had a long, white beard and was carrying a large red bag full of presents. We were so excited and waited eagerly for our names to be called so that we could receive our gifts.
Father Christmas called out our names loudly and gave us each a small trinket from the bag and a wonderful hug. Then, a staff member handed him the main presents with our names on them. The presents were all piled high behind Father Christmas in another big red sack.
Mr. Bland from the Romney Hotel on the waterfront was Father Christmas, otherwise known as my wonderful friend. I did not know that he was Father Christmas for many years. He always smiled and gave each child a hug. He told me I had lovely blue eyes.
Although, I never received a teddy bear or a beloved Golly (a type of doll) for Christmas, I was always happy with the books I received. Enid Blyton was my favorite author. I think I read every book she wrote starting with the “Famous Five” series about friends Julian, Dick, Anne, George, and Timmy, the dog. I could not wait to get the next one. I just wished that I was one of the children in the story, having great adventures instead of being here at the orphanage.
Matron called out for us to be quiet and said, “Children, Mr. Ashton has a gift for you.”
She turned to Mr. Ashton for him to give us our gift. We lined up to receive the present, a shiny new sixpence. Mr. Ashton was our gardener, and he always handed out sixpences each Christmas to all the children. The gift of sixpence was given in one hand and taken away in the other. A staff member would hold out her hand at the end of the line, and we would deposit the shiny sixpence in a large purse. This money was put in our account, and we used it for buying our ration of three ounces of sweets each week. We always thanked Mr. Ashton.
I'm not certain who originated the tradition of Christmas entertainment at the orphanage, but we always did little skits and sang songs for the current Matron and staff and any visitors. Mr. Bland suddenly appeared from nowhere to join in the fun. We started off by singing the same carols that we had sung at the hotels.
Some of the girls sang solo, and then we did some skits. One involved three of us getting on our hands and knees, pretending (although we did have a lot of experience in this work) to scrub the floor while we sang:

We are three perfect ladies; we go out to char;
Nice clean respectable women we are.
We ain't got no husband; we don't want them now,
We've only ourselves to keep any old how.
Working and slaving 'til morning to night,
Oh! What a life for a lady.
My husband said it is time to retire,
Where mine has got too I’d best not inquire.
But I bet mine is roasting his toes by the fire.
Oh! What a life for a lady.

Everyone laughed at the antics. Yes! Christmas was always a very special day. I lay in my bed listening to the pitter patter of the rain on the window. Pulling the blankets over me, I cuddled up in my warm bed feeling happy. I thanked God for the wonderful day, but couldn’t help wondering what Auntie Elsie and Father were doing this Christmas Day.

From: The House on The Hill-Lake District Revisited by Grenda Walton.