One hundred years of one house in Chorlton ....... part 140 ….. 46 Christmases on Beech Road

The continuing story of the house Joe and Mary Ann Scott lived in for over 50 years and the families that have lived here since.*

Christmas Eve, 2022

Now I have no idea how Joe and Mary Ann spent Christmas.

But I guess it involved a tree, a heap of those paper chain decorations, some presents, and a meal followed by that special Royal message.

Of course, they may not have tuned into the Christmas broadcasts, from King George V, George Vl and the late Queen but I suspect they did.

If so the first which was just 17 years after they moved into the house would have been in 1932 and listened to on the wireless, and so it would have been until the first TV broadcast in 1957, by which time I am confident they had a television.

Fast forward nineteen years and I was here in the company of Lois, Mike and John.  

It was my first Christmas in the house while the other three had been here since 1974.

We were all teachers but there was a distinct “student feel” to the way we celebrated the festival, not least because they all went home for the event, so our celebration was done a few days earlier, with the meal and presents and continued again a few days later with shared stories of the latest Morcombe and Wise show and the alcohol  excesses of Christmas Eve.

The tree with the lean, 2022

After which Christmas took on a new meaning as it became a festival shared with our kids, with home made decorations which mingled with the commercial ones, which still come out each year and cover the tree in an ad hoc set of physical memories.

We still put out stockings although our eldest is just short of 40 and the youngest a mere 27, but to these are added those for the grandchildren.

And like all Christmases the event has changed slightly with the years.  

So, 2022 was a buffet, with an absence of advent calendars.

But the short football game on the Rec was back after a break of two years, which is a tradition going back at least 25 years to when they were young and attracted friends who joined them.

Although with the passage of time the game has become shorter.

And for the first time in three years all the brothers and partners were together, triumphing over the Covid and immediate post covid Christmases.

Added to this the normal culinary extras from Italy were joined by a mix of Polish food and heap of other interesting starters.

The game circa 2014

That said the memories of Christmas Day in the garden are still vivid, and remnants of the decorations Tina used to replicate our front room and dining room still linger on the odd tree branch.

So, this year was almost back to normal, although like the Christmas card that misses the post, this was the second Christmas that the crackers never got pulled.

Last year they just got overlooked on the day and never made it to the table, and yesterday they were forgotten and remained in the study waiting for someone to bring them down.

The forgotten crackers

Leaving me to wonder about next year.

Location; Beech Road and Italy

 Pictures; Christmas Day past and present from the collections of Andrew Simpson and Balzano

 *The Story of a House, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20story%20of%20a%20house