The Christmas Gathering

The Christmas Gathering Then & Now

A party from last year

I went to a Christmas Party last weekend and it was a lovely festive occasion with good friends, wonderful food and we had a great time.

As I sat sipping on a very nice wine, chatting with friends and glanced around at the other guests, all mostly somewhere close to my age or getting there in the next ten years or so , I thought how parties and Christmas events had changed since I was young

I remember the parties at Christmas time when I was young .There would be lots of people mostly relatives of all different ages there. They would all be crowding into the fairly small room with a very hot open fire in the fireplace so it would be hot and noisy. The kids would gather under the table and play with what ever the toy which was popular. The grown ups would be noisy and loud and nearly always there were some who had drunk a bit too much. We kids would then laugh and giggle at the funny things they said.

The party would eventually lead to playing cards at the big table with kids and grown up all taking turns to play. Favorite games would be gin rummy or 5 card brag or trumps and the betting would be in pennies for the winner. I always thought card games were so boring at Christmas and would much prefer board games but my parents and aunts and uncles all seemed to enjoy the card games enormously.

Later on a dart board was introduced and the darts would fly through the Christmas trimmings and everyone had a great time.No one ever got hit by a dart and when I think about it , that wa a Christmas miracle.

Food would be simple fare; sausage rolls, mincepies and for the kids, jelly and custards and creamy cakes and of course lots of sweets.

It was an occasion to remember and I still do but Christmas gathering are certainly different these days.