One hundred years of one house in Chorlton ....... part 157 ..... old traditions …. new customs ..... and a challenge to Brexit

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.*

Nougat, and Roccocò napoletani , 2025

I have no idea how Joe and Mary Ann celebrated Christmas, but given that they moved in soon after the start of the Great War when certain foods were becoming scare, and prices were rising I suspect “all the trimmings” were in short supply.

By contrast the rising prosperity after the Second World War will have seen an increasing abundance of nice things for the table, although I am guessing what they ate will have been reflected by the fact that they were born in the last two decades of the nineteenth century and that moulded their tastes.

In the same way when we came to celebrate Christmas in the house in the mid 1970s, the traditional festive dinner and the extra bits like boxes of Quality Street and preserved fruits rubbed up against pasta, and curry.

So always a blend of the new and the old.

And that hasn’t changed.  This year Rosa brought over a variety of Italian sweets including Roccocò napoletani  which are Neapolitan Christmas biscuits.

They are made with mixed spices, nuts and candied fruits, and are rather crunchy on the outside but soft and chewy on the inside. 

They are traditionally made starting on December 8, on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, and enjoyed throughout the holiday season, ending with Epiphany on January 6. 

These days post Brexit her cache of Italian food is far more modest, while one year an entire suitcase was given over to oranges, heaps of nougat, nuts, cooked meats and even a chicken, not to mention packets of coffee.

More nougat and Ptasie mleczko, 2025

And not to be out done our Julia came from Warsaw with a packet of Ptasie mleczko which my Wikipedia tells me translates into “bird's milk which is a confectionery originating in Poland and is a small, chocolate-covered bar with a soft marshmallow-like interior.

E. Wedel is one of the most recognized chocolate confectioneries in Poland, having exclusive rights for the name Ptasie mleczko. Its owner created the original "bird's milk" in 1936”. 

So that is it.  Other brands of “interesting foods will be available" in other people’s homes.

And extending out beyond Christmas, I am consrtantly attracted to the food served up by Jewish friends during Hanukkah.

Location; Beech Road

Pictures; special treats from Naples and Warsaw, 2025 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*The Story of a House, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2025/12/one-hundred-years-of-one-house-in_12.html

** Ptasie Mleczko, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptasie_mleczko

One hundred years of one house in Chorlton ....... part 155 ..... is it Christmas yet?

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.*

The tree, 2023

I have often wondered when Joe and Mary Ann put up their Christmas tree.

Of course, given that they didn’t have children the magic of Christmas may have been less magical.

Still, I would like to think they did order one up and on a chosen day set it up in the front room.

But just when is lost in time.  Judging by the number of people trudging up Beech Road with one under their arm, or on their shoulder last Saturday, the date November 22nd seems to be a popular choice.

When I was growing up it would be in mid-December, while in this house when the lads were small I tended to go for the first Saturday after the start of the Christmas holidays, an event which variously involved all or some of us going down to Adams in the precinct and mulling over the best one to go for.

It had to be real and tall enough to reach the ceiling and usually was too tall, and after a couple of disastrous choices I left it to Tony from the shop to decide which to sell us.

All of which leaves the question of when it should go up.  I sought advice and found a multitude of suggestions from early, to mid or late November, to early, mid to latish December.

I suppose for many it will be when the trees first appear in the shops or when the first Christmas adverts bounce across the TV screen.

Historically the start of the Advent Festivities seems an appropriate time, which was also tempered in the past by the practical consideration of ensuring that the pine needles stayed on the branches for Christmas Day.

Traditional decorations

There will be many who have memories of brushing against the tree and watching an avalanche of needles fall to the ground.

Today most trees seem to have been treated to avoid that disaster, which solves one problem but leaves that anxious fear that if you leave it too late, all the best have gone.

But still curious I went looking for when the Victorians traditionally got theirs and while I found out about Prince Albert, the German tradition, Charles Dickens, and how to decorate the tree, a date was missing.

Which I suppose means that even during the mid-19th century onwards the choice of a date was down to practicalities and family tradition.

Bringing it down is more certain, that traditionally is on twelfth night, although I know some who whip the tree down directly after Boxing Day or on the Sunday before the kids go back to school.

The family selection, 1984-2024

As for decorations, we over the years have acquired plenty, and the decision is less what to use, but what not to use.

And that entails adding ones handed down from parents and even grandparents, to ones made or bought by the kids.

Likewise every few years a new set of lights are purchased, freeing up the older ones to be hung across the house.

But at least we do not follow that tradition of candles.  And yes, when I was growing up in the 1950s we still decorated the tree with coloured candles which sat in a green cup attached to the branches with a small metal grip and were lit.

Happily sometime in that decade we got a set of coloured lights shaped like longish light bulbs which lasted into the 1990s.

To which were added those favourites of the period …. the paper lanterns, and the paper chains which first had to be assembled by licking the gummed edges and adding each to the chain.

Christmas Eve, 2022

But fashion as ever marches with Christmas, and so those paper chains, the lines of gaudy tinsel and bright coloured lights have vanished.

They have been replaced by delicate white lights which illuminate the assortment of past decorations un themed but full of happy memories.

And when ever our tree goes up this year, that will be when Christmas has arrived.

Location; Beech Road

Pictures; Christmas tree, 2023, and Christmas Eve, 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, Christmas decorations; from the collection of Catherin Obi

*The Story of a House, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2025/08/one-hundred-years-of-one-house-in.html