Christmas 2020 will be 'different' for many of us.
But what about other Christmases - ones where things went wrong, were different or just best forgotten. Or your best Christmas Day ever.
My strangest Christmas Day was 1973. OH and I had been invited to spend Christmas with OH's oldest brother and family, who I had never met. The family lived in the Bahamas. Two weeks of sunshine and white sandy beaches - who would refuse. It was quite a hard decision because it meant leaving my widowed mum on her own, although she was invited by various family and friends. She said she'd be ok, just her and the dog.
So it was all set - we'd fly out on the 20th, and be back two weeks later. But it was the time of the oil crisis, and a week before the Government announced a load of measures to conserve supplies of oil, fuel etc. Our flight was cancelled! We were offered one alternative - a flight from Heathrow on Christmas Day! We lived in the north, so travelled down the previous day, OH, me and our DS1 who was 18 months old. We stayed in a weird hotel - faded grandeur is how I'd describe it. Everybody else in the hotel seemed to be on their own. It seemed simultaneously sad and a bit creepy.
Heathrow was deserted (like in the current lockdowns, but so unexpected). There were two flights in the day - ours going west and one going east. The cabin staff apologised for the lack of decorations - the cleaners had taken them down thinking they were finished with. But they served a decent Christmas dinner. That was Dinner Number 1. We had a stopover for a couple of hours in Bermuda, then back on the plane for Dinner Number 2. We landed in Nassau to be greeted by BIL and family, and my SIL's first words to me were "We've saved Christmas Dinner till you got here, it's all ready." OH and I had to cover up our groans!
But what about other Christmases - ones where things went wrong, were different or just best forgotten. Or your best Christmas Day ever.
My strangest Christmas Day was 1973. OH and I had been invited to spend Christmas with OH's oldest brother and family, who I had never met. The family lived in the Bahamas. Two weeks of sunshine and white sandy beaches - who would refuse. It was quite a hard decision because it meant leaving my widowed mum on her own, although she was invited by various family and friends. She said she'd be ok, just her and the dog.
So it was all set - we'd fly out on the 20th, and be back two weeks later. But it was the time of the oil crisis, and a week before the Government announced a load of measures to conserve supplies of oil, fuel etc. Our flight was cancelled! We were offered one alternative - a flight from Heathrow on Christmas Day! We lived in the north, so travelled down the previous day, OH, me and our DS1 who was 18 months old. We stayed in a weird hotel - faded grandeur is how I'd describe it. Everybody else in the hotel seemed to be on their own. It seemed simultaneously sad and a bit creepy.
Heathrow was deserted (like in the current lockdowns, but so unexpected). There were two flights in the day - ours going west and one going east. The cabin staff apologised for the lack of decorations - the cleaners had taken them down thinking they were finished with. But they served a decent Christmas dinner. That was Dinner Number 1. We had a stopover for a couple of hours in Bermuda, then back on the plane for Dinner Number 2. We landed in Nassau to be greeted by BIL and family, and my SIL's first words to me were "We've saved Christmas Dinner till you got here, it's all ready." OH and I had to cover up our groans!
Comment