Christmas Parties

I can remember Christmas parties at our house as children. A small council house on the outskirts of London. I was young and, unfortunately, didn't appreciate the fun everyone was having. Now I can look back and laugh.

We had my grandparents and their brothers and sisters, uncles and aunties, cousins, come for Christmas dinner. Later on, everyone would be sitting around the edge of the lounge room; the fire roaring in the grate and Christmas tree, duly decorated and with fairy lights glowing, in the corner of the quite small room. My eldest sister would get them playing a game called "Stations".

She would go around the room giving everyone the name of a London station, eg. Kings Cross, Victoria, Trafalgar Square, Waterloo and so on. Then she would stand in the middle and call two stations. Those two stations had to swap chairs without letting her get into one of them. Well, some of these people were not only elderly but slightly overweight, so for them to haul themselves out of a low chair and race across the room was no easy task.

I was very young but have clear memories of my nana, her brother and my mum laughing until they cried. I can still see their red faces with tears running down their cheeks. Such happy days.