Sometimes it’s the simple things that make a Christmas

Funny isn’t it how one particular scent can set off a string of memories that have snuggled quite comfortably somewhere in the deep recesses of the mind. You tug at the memory gently until bit by bit until it releases all of the minute details.

Mine is the smell of turkey, stuffing and Yorkshire pudding as dusk fell on a hot Highveld day in 1978. I was 12 years old at the time and like all children looking forward to Christmas the next day. My sister and I were lurking around the kitchen pinching bits of freshly carved turkey and stuffing from the platter whilst being swatted at by our father for sticking our fingers in the food before it was set on the table.

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Mum was huddled over the stove, stirring, spicing and checking the oven periodically to make sure the Yorkshires didn’t flop. Our Christmas Eve table groaned under the plates of food with my sister and I bickering over the Christmas crackers (which we had already surreptitiously peered into and swapped to what we wanted) when it happened.

A faint sound that grew in volume as it got nearer.  Mum and dad looked puzzled but my sister and I tore out into the night and there it was parked right outside our house……a lorry all lit up with Christmas lights carrying carol singers. Now, this might be run of the mill today but back then it was unheard of.

Mum and dad had caught up with us by this stage and for a brief moment in time our small family unit bathed in the glow of the Christmas lights from the lorry was enchanted by the carol singers and their Christmas carols.

I can’t remember how long the lorry was parked in front of our house but as it trundled off into the evening we all stood spellbound, caught up in that brief moment of time.

As we returned to finish off, our by now, cold meal laughing and joking around the Christmas table I realised I wanted this moment to last forever…..and it has.  For every Christmas, I get to tug it out and relive the moment again when I get a whiff of turkey, stuffing and Yorkshire pudding….and yes my sister and I 40 years later still peer into the bottom of the Christmas crackers, check out the contents and swop them around.

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