Here we are at Saturday and this Saturday I have extracts from the book Christmas in the Colonies.

So identified is England with Christmas and Christmas with England that it seems as though they were made for each other. The Englishman in Australia hails its recurrence with feelings particularly his own.

It reminds him of olden times, never to be recalled and of pleasant scenes, never perhaps to be revisited and of old familiar faces that have passed away for ever, years may have rolled by but still when Christmas Day comes around the sense of separation from native soil and from friends and companions of early days, returns to the heart with scarcely diminished force.

Of Englishmen it has been truly said that dinner unlocks the heart and with equal truth the same may be said of the majority of Australians. We delight in keeping up the sacred festival of Christmas, not only in decorating houses and churches and repeating the message of peace and good will first hymned by the angelic host at Bethlehem.

We kept up the mystery of Christmas gifts as thoroughly as we sing our Christmas carols and we have transferred as a national heritage the home “bill of fare” for merry Christmas as the proper cheer for Christmas.

What though we garland our family portraits with ferns in place of laurels and replaced holly berries with scarlet geraniums, we nevertheless send our plum pudding to the table in a blaze. Even though the sun was shedding his hot rays over the parched grass or well-watered flowerbeds, instead of struggling through dense clouds to light up the snow laden landscape of Old England.

Well here we are at another Friday and another coldish day here in my part of the world. Today we are looking at decorating our homes and churches for Christmas.

Well way back when it was common place to decorate houses and churches with evergreens such as rosemary, bay, mistletoe, holly and ivy, you get the picture. Houses would have leafy stuff around ledges and shelves. Well that is what it was like back in the old countries.

In the colonies it was different, for starters it was hot and some of those plants were not common place, so things like gum leaf saplings, and branches of wattle. The gum leaf saplings were dragged in and spliced through verandah posts and tied along railings to decorate homes and shops.

Towards the end of the 19^th century interest in decorations started to take off again influenced by the women’s journals of the day with instructions on how to fashion wreathes, create bon bons , paper chains and such.

I remember making paper chains with my mum as a child when we had little money for bought decorations.

Of course the Christmas table had a vase of Christmas bush, and it was possible to buy artificial evergreens which could be threaded into chains.

Of course the Christmas Tree added the final touch, Christmas trees were an old German custom, which spread to England when Prince Albert had them in the royal palaces. Here settlers happily used almost any species including she-oaks, gum, wattles and even a small olive tree said to be the earliest recorded Christmas Tree in South Australia.

Parents would often decorate trees as a surprised for their children often with paper stars, miniature toys and other ornaments. The large trees had a lot of ornaments on them with large gifts unwrapped for all to see placed under the tree.

If the tree was a small one it would be placed on a table surrounded by unwrapped gifts, and small presents hung from their branches.

Ok let us move on to Christmas presents, something we all pretty much take for granted you get a present or presents on Christmas Day. However until the mid 1800’s this wasn’t the case and yes sentiment and charity played a part it was mostly due to commercial interest and the need to make money that it came about.

It was around the 1840’s that the idea of a Christmas present had spread to the colonies, naturally local retailers took to the idea like house to fire, filling showrooms with all sorts of gifts for the buying public to purchase.

When the gold rush hit and people had more money stores would stock more elaborate and expensive gifts for their customers to buy.

It didn’t take long before children became the focus of the festive season with toy bazaars and shilling shops where children were made happy at the cost of one shilling each, they opened in every city more or less.

Pretty much everything was imported from England and Europe, with the exception of some wooden toys. The types of toys sold were drums, spinning tops, rubber balls, buckets and spades, cricket bats and china tea sets. So pretty much the same type of cheap toys people can buy now days. I wonder how long they lasted before they broke.

Middle class families encouraged their children to take gifts to the less fortunate such as those in hospitals, orphanages and those stricken by poverty. The Sydney Mail stated in 1885 that it is a very sacred and Christian duty to the sick and that Christmas comes but once a year. Yeah I can l see that happening today.

By the 1890’s home made Christmas presents were very popular and were strongly promoted in women’s journals who printed detailed instructions for suitable “knick knacks”. So it was common for the women and children to spend time creating the daintiest little gifts out of all sorts of odds and ends.

Ok let’s talk about Christmas Cards, they were a Victorian idea coming from sentimental feels about children’s Christmas coloured drawings.

The first Christmas cards came about around the 1870’s I don’t know for sure I am not that old. The first cards most like would have been chromolithographed cards, with designs featuring Santa Claus, Christmas Bells, or Narrative scenes of snow clad festivities.

However, by the mid to late 1870’s people wanted more appropriate cards for overseas mail. This challenged was taken up by the other side of the world with foreign companies producing cards of Australian character, however they bore little resemblance to the country.

In the early 1880’s this started to change when a fella named John Sands of Sydney had a competition in which designs thoroughly Aussie would be considered for a prize 50 pounds. He received 700 entries from armatures and professionals with all works being placed on display attracting long queues.

In 1881 or 1882 the first Australian designed cards rolled of the presses These cards featured things like kangaroos, koalas and emus, as well as indigenous flowers and foliage.

This custom brought undeniable social benefits by strengthening family ties and friendships.

Ok let’s talk about what Christmas dinner was like back in the late 1800’s. As those first Australians were from Britain more or less it isn’t surprising that our idea of a Christmas feast involved the type of food from there.

Now of course for many Christmas Dinner or what most of us now call Christmas Lunch was made up of whatever they could find with money being short or absent.

That said many still had money and some a lot of it and they would rush the stores after the imported goods had arrived from the far corners of the globe. It was during the mid 1800’s that the sale of Christmas foods and beverages swelled a bloody lot, with shopkeepers furiously competing for trade. Their shelves were stocked with ever more tempting delicacies and some would offer special services to customers in isolated areas.

Family and bachelor packets containing that need for the season were prepared for immediate delivery, with the festive thirst being taken care of in the form of champagne, wines and spirits and even in some cases French cocktails.

The food consisted of things like ham, turkey veggies, mince pies, plum pudding and such. Of course the preparations for the meal would begin in early December with the housewife and their staff and often the children all chipping in to help. The Christmas pudding took time to prepare, cook and then be stored ready for the day.

It was around the mid 1800’s that shopkeepers made an attempt to do up or “dress” their windows for Christmas, with an example set by Messrs, Soloman & Nephews of Henry Street in Fremantle whose windows were splendidly lit and decorated with green Christmas Trees, toys, plums, currants and candied peel as well as other Christmas delicacies.

Until the 1870, most people would chose to have their Christmas meal beside a popular watering hole or under a leafy tree of some sort. However, this fell out of favour and was replaced by the English style Christmas Lunch.

Hello everyone since Christmas is so close and getting closer this week’ I will be posting a few things out of the above book called: Christmas in the Colonies by Maisy Stapleton & Patricia McDonald.

While Christmas in Australia is intensely traditional and also intensely Australian. As Christmas comes at the end of the year it is a time of climax followed by rest and relaxation.

During the early days of Australia this festive season held little importance to the early settlers, many missing the old ways and the cold and snow of the season.

It was around the 1830’s that with the growing amount of immigrants and the feeling that this country wasn’t doing it quiet so hard that the traditional celebration of the season kicked in.

Then came the Victorian customs of a Christmas Tree and Christmas presents that quickly caught on here in Australia. It was the English tradition of decorating ones house using native plants and such.

Up at 4.40am had to pee and felt awake so got up. I turned the air con off and opened the front and back sliding doors, the breeze feels good and a tad cool.

Kathy and Summer arrived around 9.30am and left after an hour or so, Summer wanted to see Tasha.

Not long after that Kelli and her girls arrived, she left the girls with Jonathon while she went out shopping.

Jonathon brought the girls down to see me and Tim and he had a chat with Tim about his job.

Then Sandy arrived to pick up the 2 minute noodles Jess said she could have.

It hasn’t been as hot today but it did get hot.

Had a better nights sleep, the last few nights I have had some strange and upsetting dreams about Tim, in them he was a right asshole and treated me like shit. That is not what Tim is like he loved me and treats me well doesn’t swear at me or call me stupid like he did in the dreams.

Sam brought down his washing to toss in the dryer so he can have something to wear to school.

Sue called in to see me just before Tim left for his doctors appointment she had a cry as she misses seeing her grandchildren.

It has got very hot again around 26 degrees and it didn’t help that I was in the bedroom sorting out Christmas presents with sweat dripping off me.

The woman in unit 5 walked down to Tasha’s complaining about the dog and she slapped Tasha across the face. The woman pushed Tasha into her house where a punch up took place with Tasha beating on the woman who pulled Tasha’s hair. Tasha ended up with a bleeding ear when her hair got caught in an earring.

Tasha called the cops, who after talking to people asked Tasha if she wanted to press charges Tasha said she did.

Tasha has security cameras and the start of the fight is on camera, it shows the woman approaching Tasha, Tasha told her to go away she didn’t want to deal with her and the woman slapped Tasha’s face.

BLAIN’S 18TH BIRTHDAY

A cool morning but suppose to be another pretty hot day they say around 25 degrees. I thought about turning the air con on when it got to 26 but Tim said not yet so I didn’t turn it on and I managed to cope.

Tasha had a visit from the ranger about the dog she has in her back yard, this is not her dog. He was told the dog was neglected it isn’t it does have an infected ear but Tasha has been treating it with the same stuff the ranger recommended, so all was good he didn’t fine her or anything. Of course we know who made the report the woman from yesterday who Tasha beat up. I have heard the lady now has a bruised faced.

Saw Kelli she locked herself out of her house and came to get Jonathon’s key so she could get in. I gave her a gift from Mrs Claus for Thea.

A new day I have a doctors appointment this morning and I hope I am able to go Coles after the appointment depends on Tasha’s mood.

Appointment went well and I did manage to go to Coles and do a little shopping. He is pleased with my progress and has reduced the strength of one medication.

I contacted Snapfish about my missing order and they gave me the name of the actual printing company saying I would need to contact them which I have done via Email. I hope they reply.

Tim had rehab and I turned the air con on when he left for his appointment.

In for another stinking hot day, up at 4.45am.

Gave Sam’s driver a Christmas Card and a $5 scatchie, Sam that that was really nice of me, but it is what Mum taught me to do.

I managed to sort our more Christmas presents it made my back pain flare up standing on my feet for so long.

I don’t have anything for Kathy or Jessica. Haven’t heard from the printing company about the parcel that went to the wrong to the address.

Tim said that tomorrow he will take me to the library and then to the reject shop.

Up early this morning at 4.35am I had a rough night took me ages to fully settle down due to my feet moving so much. Going to be hot but not stinking hot hopefully.

Tim went into work to arrange more time off, I went with him so I could go to the library then we went to the Reject shop (a large cheap shop)only bought a few things but it was good to go out.

It has warmed up but the breeze blowing through the house is nice.

When we got home we found the postie had been and we now had a parcel to collect at the post office. I have asked Tim to get me more stamps while there and he wrote down what I wanted.

Awake and up by 4.30am after a good nights sleep, I have to wear ¾ length pants as I don’t have any clean or dry shorts, Tim did a load of washing and hung it on the clothes hoists, he will take them outside when he gets up.

Tim got the postage stamps but mucked up the order I asked for 2 overseas card only stamps, he got 1 of them. Mostly though he got what I wanted.

A hot lazy day, too hot to do anything I had the house shut up and the air con going.

Here we are at Thursday again, hang on it is Friday I am a day late this week anyway I am sitting here drenched in sweat yet again like the fourth time this morning but that has nothing to do with this post.

Couldn’t find anything about Christmas in Australia in the late 1800’s so we have just another post from my information book.

One of the biggest and most time consuming tasks in that era was the washing of clothes, it was also the hardest of physical tasks a servant would have to do.

If they were lucky the home may have had one of the new-fangled washing machines, which ran on water power. Some even had gas fired hot water on tap.

Generally speaking though things went like this bed linen, tablecloths, and other such white things, had to be boiled in a wood fired copper. This meant that the poor servant girl had to stirred the clothes with a cooper-stick, can you imagine how hot it would have been hanging over a hot steamy copper in summer as well as winter but may not have felt as bad in the colder months.

She had to then remove these extremely heavy items into a trough or bowl for rinsing and starching as well as lifting them and putting through some kind of mangle or wringer. After that was done she then had to hang the washing out on a line to dry.

Once dried the washing would have to be ironed not with the type we use now days but an old flat iron that was heated on the coals of the stove or they may have had a box-iron which had red-hot coals contained in the iron, these were the most common types used.

It would have not been an easy task to judge how hot an iron was and it wasn’t uncommon for either the servant or the daughter of the servant to burn themselves. If something was scorched the servants wages may have been docked.

Well we are half way through the school or working week meaning it is Wednesday and the day for some Aussie slang.

What else did you get for Christmas: A derisive retort to someone showing off

Chrissie: Christmas of course well since around the 1960’s

A Christmas Hold: Now some will tell you it means to have a tight hold on ones testicles thus meaning to have a hand full of nuts. Others will say it means to simply have a good hold on something.

Pressie: Which of course means gift or present

Hey hey it’s creature day and as I sit here I have been thinking what other animal is associated with Christmas and the turkey popped into my head.

The reason of course is that many eat turkey on Christmas Day, growing up my Nan always served turkey at Christmas Lunch not that I real like it to me it is often a bit dry.

The turkey is a large bird native to North America. There are two extant turkey species: the wild turkey of eastern and central North America and another type turkey of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico.

So since turkeys are not found here down under the turkey we have is of course frozen and what is more popular is the turkey roll. My mum felt there was less wastage with the roll over the bird.

Wild turkeys can fly, sleep in trees and change colour their gender is determined by their poo.

Turkeys can live for up to 10 years but not if they are destined for the table.

I find turkey goes best with gravy, ham, pork and roast veggies like spuds and carrots, sweet potato and pumpkin, just saying you may disagree.