Great Volkanovski Ufc 276 shirt and set off for Yorkshire. No motorways back then. Green fields turned moorland until we finally went over the Pennines, Stanage or Holme Moss, and begun the final leg of our journey through soot blackened mill towns reaching my grandparents’ house at around 8pm. At about 9.30 a plethora of cousins and aunties and uncles would turn up an we would set off to go carol singing with other members of the congregation and band from their local chapel. Along the route we would be greeted with mince pies, slices of Christmas cake and chunks of cheese even the odd glass of Sherry or mulled wine for the adults. We belted out all the old traditional carols, my favourites being While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night which we sung to Cranbrook (Ilkley Moor) and also Christians Awake. We naturally sang O Come All ye Faithful but only after midnight were we allowed to sing the final verse of Yea Lord we Greet Thee. Shortly after midnight we called it a day. Many of the adults slightly ‘merry’ from a surfeit of Sherry!
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People strung cranberries and popcorn, starched little crocheted stars to hang, made paper chains and Texas Hawaiian Shirt had glass ornaments, usually from Germany, about two inches wide, they would get old and lose their shine. There was real metal tinsel too, that you could throw on with the argument about single strands and clumps. Each side had it’s followers. In the fifties various lights were a big deal, with bubble lights, that had bubbles in the candle portion that moved when plugged in. There were big primary colored lights strung around the tree too, nothing small or ‘tasteful’ Christmas trees were meant to be an explosion of color and light. I took Styrofoam balls and a type of ribbon that would stick to itself when wet, and wrapped the balls, and then used pins to attach sequins and pearls for a pretty design in the sixties. I also cut ‘pop-it’ beads meant for a necklace into dangling ornaments with a hook at the top to put it on the tree. Wrapped cut-up toilet paper tubes in bright wools too. Kids still remember making those.
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