It is the twenty-fifth of January. This time last month was another 25th. It was Christmas Day. Yes, a distant memory already; we’ve been back in the real world quite long enough to have packed away all thoughts of Christmas with the baubles and the tinsel. When it comes to including Christmas here in A Corner of Cornwall I’m even later than last year, but I do want a record of it and it is just a month back after all. Not so very long ago. But be warned. And if you really can’t stomach the thought a brief foray back into festive realms I can’t blame you. I suggest you move along briskly.
This year we were again in Kent, with my sister and brother-in-law and their lovely family. Mum and Dad were with us and also Ellie, Steve and the boys. On Christmas Eve both my somewhat bigger boys and their partners were invited to join the throng. Sadly, Russ and Emma fell victim to the dreaded Aussie flu. We certainly missed them, but far better that they try to recover than drag themselves and the ghastly virus around the motorway.
With Tom and Amy and Ellie and family all arriving at almost the same time, numbers swelled. Wendy and Kevin had worked so hard and were still working hard when we arrived. But the welcome was as warm as ever and Christmas Eve became that magical time when the front door closes, all is well within, and the house is filled with bonhomie and happy voices, mince pies, carrots and sparkly reindeer food.
We had wondered how Ben and Evan would react. In a house they don’t know well and with lots of grownups about, Ben, in particular, may have felt overwhelmed. Not a bit of it. The boys settled easily and were a joy.
Family Christmases take on different forms according to the demographic of the party. A Christmas with young children is a different thing entirely to one with only adults and though it doesn’t seem that long ago that Jim, Al and Sophie looked like this…
… the ‘boys’ now look like this…
So it has been a while since there were young children around with Wendy and Kevin and Mum & Dad. Aged 4 and 7, Evan and Ben were the ideal ages to infuse what was already a beautiful Christmas home with an additional sprinkling of wonder and magic.
Everyone enjoyed sharing the boys’ delight as they solemnly set out the goodies for Father Christmas and his reindeer on Christmas Eve. Everyone enjoyed the boys’ amazement on Christmas morning when they first saw the mountain of presents heaped around the tree. It’s probably a good thing that Jim, Al and Sophie hadn’t grown up quite enough to be able to resist helping with distributing the parcels. Without their help we may still be waiting now for the deliveries to be finished.
Christmas Day and Boxing Day passed in an unhurried haze of good food and drink (though that may be disputed by the cooks), some of which was worked off by a leisurely walk in Leeds Castle on Boxing Day.
There were plenty of laughs and conversation, some requisite traditional games, much Lego building and the occasional Cornish gin and tonic.
But the highlight for me was first thing on Christmas morning. For my lovely brother-in-law, Kevin, the highlight of Christmas is Christmas Eve. For me it is always first thing on Christmas morning. Stocking time – and with the prospect of the whole glorious day stretching out ahead. And that moment captured the essence of this year’s Christmas, which for me was all about the very old and the very young.
The boys loved opening their stockings – sometimes the simplest surprises are the best. After which they sat with Mum & Dad to ‘help’ them investigate their own stockings. Evan helped Mum. This involved him opening more or less everything himself, and announcing what each thing was as he unwrapped it.
And Ben sat with Dad. He took a rather different approach. He carefully investigated each parcel: “this one feels heavy”; “this one is soft”…
The joy and surprise on Dad’s face, aged eighty-five, is no different to the joy on Evan’s face, aged seven-and-two-thirds. Christmas is for everyone: the very old and the very young.
Watching Mum & Dad with their great-grandsons was a privilege. A four-generational Christmas is a privilege altogether.
And then it was over. As is my whistle-stop revisit. But the memories remain bright, crystallised by this brief account. My thanks once again, to Wendy and Kevin, to Alex, James and Sophie, for all their hard work and for sharing their home with us once more.
It took us almost 8 hours to get home. The cats had to stay another night at the cattery. (Which gives me an excuse to include a festive shot of them both.)
It will have taken Wendy and family much longer to put their house to rights once we had all gone. For me at least, it was worth all the effort from everyone involved.
Christmas means many things to different people. Not everyone is as fortunate as I am; I am only too aware of it. Perhaps that’s part of what makes me value these Christmases as I do. But now it really is time for me to move along. In fact, already this year we’ve had a delightful few days away and we’re currently in the throes of a kitchen refit. 2018 has started with a bang.
2017 wasn’t the best of years. But it ended with some gentle, loving family memories and some wonderful unconditional support from my beloved sister, who is indeed “the heart of Christmas” and the heart of our extended family. I can’t ask for anything more than that.
A Corner of Cornwall 
Wonderful family memories so beautifully expressed – thank you for allowing us to share in them with you 🙂
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Thank you for sharing this snapshot of your extended family. I enjoy seeing other peoples’ celebrations.
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Beautiful post. Four generations all together is quite something these days!
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Sounds like a lovely Christmas was had by all! Christmas stockings always contain the best presents – I’m sure there’s a moral in that somewhere… 😉
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Lovely post – you had a wonderful Christmas. And it’s a treat to relive it in these cold, wet and dismal days of January.
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Four generations together- a moment to be locked away in the memory box, Sandra, to be drawn out at low times.xxx
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A valuable record for all concerned
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This is a great post for summarizing the really important things about a family Christmas! Our worlds change so quickly and, before you know it, some of those people will be gone and the children will be teens and maybe there will be new babies, etc., etc. It’s important to capture and honor the moments of perfection so you never forget!
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Thanks, Kerry 🙂 You’ve summed it up perfectly!
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Thank you for sharing that with us, Sandra. 🙂
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How lovely to have all the generations together! I don’t think that is likely to happen with us, unfortunately!
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Indeed. I’m very aware that what we have is not the norm for many. Sadly …
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A lovely celebration, thank you for sharing it.
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What a lovely family get together on what is still the most special holiday of all. Long may your gatherings continue!
Best wishes for 2018 x
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Thank you, Helen 🙂
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I’m glad you shared this. What warm family memories you’ve recorded here!
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Sandra, as you can see, it only took you a month to write up & compose this lovely, lovely post, but it took me another few weeks to get around to reading it. You see, I only really read those writings when my inner being is ready for a ‘pause’ – I want to live through your post and then be able to comment too. And what a joy that visit was for me – Christmas as it used to be and hardly any longer is, sadly. With my family being very large and our two mothers very old, with various handicapping illnesses of the one and other we no longer can do that. We have to celebrate in restrained circles. So what we do now is getting together just the 4 children with their partners and my mother to have a long and leisurely meal together at the place of one of us. Never ‘chez nous’ as we’re living in France…. Then, all of the above celebrate several times with other parts of the families….. which meant this last one that I didn’t even see my son who lives in the mountains at the other end of Switzerland. I now will go by train to see him and his partner in April….. It’s a huge give-and-take, make-do and whatnot. But the best times were had when everybody was still young (enough) and strong and had boundless energy and we sat together, all up to 28 ppl, singing, making music, making much noise – so you’re right to make the best of it as long as possible and not to be sad once it will be ‘over’. Blessings to you and yours, K
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Thank you, Kiki. Yes, I totally understand the problems of large and spread families. It’s very rare for all of us to get together and my other sister, who lives in the north of Scotland, of course can almost never be with us. Had my younger son and his girlfriend not been poorly we would have all my branch of the family together with my parents and other sister for Christmas Eve. We didn’t quite manage it though! Once there are partners and children involved it becomes increasing complicated! I hope you enjoyed your Christmas, Kiki, and are looking forward to seeing your son in April. The weather will be better by then!
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I forgot to mention (again) that my offer of bringing you books from Cornish writers (or living in Cornwall) was quite serious. I would LOVE to know that somebody else loves them as much as I did. I would be happy to bring them to Devon on our hols and you could meet up with me and take them with you! (Free of course, they would go to a great home which is all I want for!). Let me know on my private mail address.
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Kiki, you’re so kind. I’m not sure that I have your email address, or how to exchange addresses privately. And I worry about you having to transport heavy books across the channel.
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Sandra, in my opinion (but I don’t know for sure) you should see my address on my comments?! Do you happen to have a Flickr account, if you can’t see my address here, because on https://www.flickr.com/photos/vol-au-vent/ you could send me a mail with your mail address and I could then give you mine!
And don’t worry about bringing the books. Every year our car is filled to the rafters with stuff we bring to our friends and/or take back another few hundreds of books to read during the next year….. When I offer something like that I MEAN IT – it’s nothing and I could meet another so far unknown friend 🙂
So no worries whatsoever – it would be my pleasure!
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