Christmas Past - Quinn & Rex Di Noci Pages 6

programmes at the door? Were you bold and stood at the front, narrating the Nativity or were you singing the solo of ‘Once in Royal David City’?

The turkey was in the oven on Christmas Eve, and when presented 14 hours later you could break a milk tooth on it, but I loved it as it was the only dinner in a year that we, as a family of three sat down to together, and I have those photos - not a selfie of course! So, I disliked sprouts with a passion and most veg, and the thought of the stodge on Boxing Day when it was mashed up, fried and served with chutney and cold turkey On approaching my teens, I got to spend Christmas with my mum. I was dropped off Christmas Eve. We had a real Christmas tree, and it took up a quarter of the room in a small flat. On Christmas morning the turkey was cooking in the oven. It was a different world, which included going to the football on Boxing Day, a different Christmas experience. In my early teens as a choir boy, it was a busy time over Christmas with midnight mass and an early start on Christmas Day.

I remember being out on a new bike - the Tomahawk - a step down from the Chopper, with a straight handlebar and 3 gears, then to the Raleigh Arena racing bike, eventually sold to go towards my first car. Playing football in a new kit on Boxing Day was also a must if it hadn’t snowed.

When did that childhood stop? Well, the photos when they became Polaroids and with no negatives, many memories were not saved. Something I didn’t have as a child was a bedtime story and whilst I knew the Nativity story, ‘Twas the night before Christmas’ was not something I had any knowledge of as a child.

Christmas present

Sharing my first Christmas with Charlotte was the first of 26, and whilst so much has changed around the routines. The Christmas we’ll have this year isn’t that different to what we set out to do back then. It has just constantly evolved around some much-loved traditions. Going to see the Nutcracker ballet in London on Christmas Eve was a start of something new. Buying that really big ‘real’ Christmas tree and decorating it together, having a real fire in our home, roasting real chestnuts and having that smell of a Christmas turkey on a Christmas morning – these are all very much a part of our Christmas activities, which would suggest it’s quite traditional in many ways.

The routines of visiting relatives for Christmas lunch, having relatives come to our home for Christmas lunch are still there, but 2020 changed a lot of that. I was allowed to see my nan on Christmas Day, in my mask, gown and gloves. I took her a Christmas dinner and we had a glass of wine. The plan for Boxing Day was cold meats with bubble squeak (Stodge up!). Unfortunately, it didn’t happen as I called on Boxing Day morning and was told Nan was locked down again, no visitors and they were preparing a lunch. I dropped her stodge at the door.

At 96 then, this Christmas I really hope to be there again on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. I absolutely love sprouts and every vegetable there is. We haven’t seen the Nutcracker in a

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