Christmas gifts

John Reeve is prompted by memories of a previous Christmas to tell a seasonal story

They continued to play their hearts out… | Photo: Photo: Denis Dervisevic /flickr CC.

Perhaps, like many Friends of a certain age – seventy plus – I have been fortunate to spend Christmas with younger generations of my family. I remain very thankful for this blessing and the joy it brings. Inevitably, one reflects back upon one’s childhood – in my case a working-class one – and my experiences of Christmas in the austere times of the 1940s. I am bemused by the avalanche of presents that, with love, are being given to, and received by, the youngest members of the family. These include yet more electronic gadgetry that confuses me as to its purpose and manipulation, but which the youngsters seem to have an easy, familiar and ‘essential’ relationship with.

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