Apologising for Christmas?? - Page 3

Gordon Booth · 02-09-2011, 15:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by garinda

There'd perhaps be no need for any apology, if they'd have had the Jeremy Kyle show in Judaea.

Mary could have taken a D.N.A. test, to find the identity of her baby-father.

We'd save on postage today, if this matter had been resolved earlier.

Oh, ye of little faith!

mobertol · 02-09-2011, 15:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric

Lumps of coal

That brings back memories. My great aunt Jane ... she was the oldest of my great aunts, older than dirt

... used to arrive at my grandad's place at Christmas with a lump of coal, some salt wrapped up in a twist of paper, and a loaf of fresh bread. I assume, though someone better informed about Christmas traditions in Lancashire may correct me, that these were symbolic gifts. And every year all I got from her was snot rags

She was from Oswaldtwistle ... go figure

Poor you -did you not even get a tangerine? Here in Italy they say that if you receive a gift of Handkerchiefs it will bring you tears!

Eric · 02-09-2011, 15:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

Those sound like 'first footing gifts'.......taken by the 'first foot' at New year.
Though tradition states that it is unlucky for a woman or a red headed male to bring the New year into your house.
Coal signifies that you would have warmth for the home for the coming year, salt - money, and bread to signify food for the family.

Ok ... but where do the snot rags fit in

Gordon Booth · 02-09-2011, 15:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric

Ok ... but where do the snot rags fit in

She could at least have bought you a jumper, you could still have used the sleeve.

Eric · 02-09-2011, 15:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by mobertol

Poor you -did you not even get a tangerine? Here in Italy they say that if you receive a gift of Handkerchiefs it will bring you tears!

Not too long after the war ... that would be the second one

... times were hard, and I remember getting an apple and and orange, a new penny, and a sugar pig. And apart from a small cap pistol, that was it. I guess we are wandering here ... but, still, it's about Christmas. And sugar pigs, if anyone can remember them.

Gordon Booth · 02-09-2011, 15:30

An apple, an orange AND a sugar pig? AND a small cap pistol! You were spoilt.
My first banana was a Christmas present( and no new penny).I was licking the skin for hours before they showed me how to open it.

garinda · 02-09-2011, 15:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by mobertol

Poor you -did you not even get a tangerine? Here in Italy they say that if you receive a gift of Handkerchiefs it will bring you tears!

We took some tea towels, tartany and lucky heathery in design, picked up last minute at Edinburgh airport, for a friend's Nonna, who we were having tea with the next afternoon in Milan.

She didn't exactly go overboard when we presented them to her. In fact she had a face like thunder.

Perhaps she thought they were big Scottish hankies.

Makes sense now.

Eric · 02-09-2011, 15:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gordon Booth

An apple, an orange AND a sugar pig? AND a small cap pistol! You were spoilt.
My first banana was a Christmas present( and no new penny).I was licking the skin for hours before they showed me how to open it.

I sense a Monty Python sketch brewing

Oh, and I hope no muslims are offended by the referrence to "sugar pigs".

And I hope that the fruit was organically grown. I hope none take offence at the "penny" and its evoking of capitalist greed.

And the toy pistol! How could my parents have been so politically incorrect

Gordon Booth · 02-09-2011, 15:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric

I sense a Monty Python sketch brewing

And I hope that the fruit was organically grown.

Actually it tasted of DDT.I wasn't impressed with the flavour till they opened it and by then I was too ill to eat it.

Eric · 02-09-2011, 17:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gordon Booth

Actually it tasted of DDT.I wasn't impressed with the flavour till they opened it and by then I was too ill to eat it.

Did the same thing with my first banana too ... I bit into it and almost did the technicolor yawn all over the table

Margaret Pilkington · 02-09-2011, 20:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric

Ok ... but where do the snot rags fit in

They must've been your Christmas present....you poor thing!

Margaret Pilkington · 02-09-2011, 20:10

I remember sugar pigs and sugar mice....and yes this is all becoming very pythonesque........I've nearly P'd myself laughing at it.(only nearly...you are going to have to try a bit harder boys with the tales of a poor christmas)
We were so poor, all I got was a hole in my stocking. My dad told me that santa left lots of presents, but they all fell through the hole and broke.

Eric · 02-09-2011, 20:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

They must've been your Christmas present....you poor thing!

S'not funny

I don't believe I actually typed that

I love the phrase "snot rags"

And I love being able to say it without getting a back-hander from my mom

By the way, folks over there don't use them any more, do they? I apologise profoundly to all those workers who lost their jobs because people would rather wipe their noses on disposable kleenex, than on soggy snot rags

Margaret Pilkington · 02-09-2011, 20:34

Oh, Eric.....you've gone all sensible.......I was looking forward to more of the pythonesque.
Kleenex are far more hygienic though. I can remember my grandma boiling up hankies on the gas stove...in a pan. My Grandad had been on the beer and was a bit intoxicated.
He came in and helped himself to some of the 'soup' that was boiling away(hankies) and a chunk of buttered bread......he told my grandma that the soup was 'short o' summat' and suggested she chucked another onion in.
I don't think she ever told him that he had had 'hankie broth'.

Eric · 02-09-2011, 21:15

One Christmas Eve we did a midnight flit, with my dad telling me that Santa's gift this year was a new house