Christmas was one of the happiest times of the year for our family during the 1950s. A multitude of 1950s kids will tell you the same. It was not just cutting down a Christmas (pine) tree in the nearby bush, dragging it home, decorating it, hanging streamers all around the lounge room and putting out a plate of Christmas cake and a bottle of beer for Santa (next morning there were just crumbs where the Christmas cake had been). It was not just the expectation of presents, the waking up at the crack of dawn, dragging half-asleep parents to the filled pillow slips hanging over the backs of a line of six chairs, and the family gathering around Christmas dinner. Looking back, it was as much the story of the first Christmas and celebrating that great Church feast at Christmas Mass early on Christmas morning. Continue reading Christmas culture – Is it just a fairytale?