My Christmas Memories
Do you like the atmosphere which Christmas brings along? Here on our island, most main streets of every town and village are nicely decorated with colored lights; shop windows are painted with Christmas symbols such as hollies, snowmen, robins and snowflakes; several people decorate their windows or balconies with flickering lights, Christmas trees and Baby Jesus. In several streets, Christmas songs are played all day long. Of course this does not compare in the least with big foreign cities but the important factor is that here, at least for most of us, Christmas is still a spiritual feast and has Jesus at the center.
I love the special friendly atmosphere that all this creates. Most people who feel the Christmas warmth in their heart and relate it to the true meaning of Christmas which is Christ, feel that something which makes them happy. This can be seen when people greet and wish each other a “Happy Christmas”. These weeks and days before Christmas, build a climax and prepare us for this heartwarming feast.
In today’s story I wish to take a look back at how I lived these Christmases from my childhood to the present time.
Do you like the atmosphere which Christmas brings along? Here on our island, most main streets of every town and village are nicely decorated with colored lights; shop windows are painted with Christmas symbols such as hollies, snowmen, robins and snowflakes; several people decorate their windows or balconies with flickering lights, Christmas trees and Baby Jesus. In several streets, Christmas songs are played all day long. Of course this does not compare in the least with big foreign cities but the important factor is that here, at least for most of us, Christmas is still a spiritual feast and has Jesus at the center.
I love the special friendly atmosphere that all this creates. Most people who feel the Christmas warmth in their heart and relate it to the true meaning of Christmas which is Christ, feel that something which makes them happy. This can be seen when people greet and wish each other a “Happy Christmas”. These weeks and days before Christmas, build a climax and prepare us for this heartwarming feast.
In today’s story I wish to take a look back at how I lived these Christmases from my childhood to the present time.
Long, long ago when I was still a small child my brothers and I, as many other children used to attend catechism lessons in what we call ‘il-M.U.S.E.U.M.’ which was and still is a society founded by a pious priest named Dun Gorg Preca who was made a Saint some years ago………..the only Maltese Saint (if I am not mistaken). In this society, dedicated lay men and women teach children of all ages about our Christian faith. When I was at that age, this priest was an old man and several times he would come to talk to us. He really talked in a way that showed his great faith. May I also say that he lived in my town and once, while I was walking in front of his house he called me and asked me if I would run an errand for him. I accepted of course. I had to take some written papers to a nearby press to be printed. I remember that I returned to his house to tell him that I did what he told me; he gave me a nice big orange for doing him this small favor.
In this society, every year on Christmas eve we would have a procession carrying Baby Jesus in a manger. All the children wanted to carry the manger for at least a hundred meters or so. Some of us held lanterns and we all sang Christmas carols as we walked through the streets in our town. Once in the church, we would listen to one of us who would narrate the story of the nativity of Jesus and its meaning (of course the boy doing this, was chosen by one of the ‘teachers’ who would teach him the short sermon from weeks before).
At the end they would give everyone a small crib and then they would hold a lottery and the winner would win a big nice crib. Once I won that big crib and I was soooo happy! At home I put it in a prominent place. My father fixed some small hidden lights and all the family would say the rosary in front of it during Christmas time. Often I would spend a long time looking at it. There was the cave where Jesus was born with the small statuettes which we call ‘pasturi’. There were small houses, a windmill, a river with a small bridge over it, some palm trees and a well. This was when I was about seven or eight. When I was about twelve I began to build a big crib every year myself. Every year it would be bigger and better.
At home we also celebrated Christmas traditionally. We would go to the mid-night mass and when we go back home, we would put baby Jesus in the manger. Then we would all sit at table and mother would give us a small bowl of ‘imbuljuta’ which is a sort of soup but instead of vegetables it was made of boiled chestnuts in a chocolate drink. Then our parents would give us presents and we would go to sleep holding the present close to us in bed.
Now let’s jump to when I was a teacher in a primary school. At Christmas the head of the school used to organize a Christmas concert. Some teachers would prepare several items to present for the concert. One teacher would prepare his or her pupils to sing popular songs. Another teacher would usually form a choir and have it sing several nice Christmas carols. There was also the usual pageant of the nativity. But believe me, all the school, children and teachers included waited for my plays. Every Christmas while I used to teach in a primary school, I would write a very funny play and I would teach it to the pupils in my class. I would make all the props and paint all the scenery with the help of my pupils. My plays would always be the last item in the concert. Everyone would laugh his heart out and the school hall would seem to explode with laughter. This would be the prelude to the class Christmas party. I used to buy all the refreshments……. drinks, cakes and sweets. Then I used to distribute the presents to all my class students who in return always reciprocated with nice gifts which I really appreciated.
After the party we usually had a very special football game where some of the teachers, both men and women played against the school team. As I used to coach the school team I played with the boys. It was always a very comic game especially when some of the female teachers didn’t even succeed to hit the ball when trying to kick it. It almost always ended with a big win for the boys and all the spectators shouted their heads off with every goal.
Later in the evening all the teachers with their partners would meet in a restaurant or a hotel to have lunch to celebrate Christmas and also the coming Christmas holidays.
When I was posted in a secondary school fifteen years before I retired, I was not that involved with the Christmas activities at school because I was perhaps getting old and left the merry making to the younger teachers. Besides, in the secondary school I did not feel much at home as much as I did when I was in the primary school.
At the end they would give everyone a small crib and then they would hold a lottery and the winner would win a big nice crib. Once I won that big crib and I was soooo happy! At home I put it in a prominent place. My father fixed some small hidden lights and all the family would say the rosary in front of it during Christmas time. Often I would spend a long time looking at it. There was the cave where Jesus was born with the small statuettes which we call ‘pasturi’. There were small houses, a windmill, a river with a small bridge over it, some palm trees and a well. This was when I was about seven or eight. When I was about twelve I began to build a big crib every year myself. Every year it would be bigger and better.
At home we also celebrated Christmas traditionally. We would go to the mid-night mass and when we go back home, we would put baby Jesus in the manger. Then we would all sit at table and mother would give us a small bowl of ‘imbuljuta’ which is a sort of soup but instead of vegetables it was made of boiled chestnuts in a chocolate drink. Then our parents would give us presents and we would go to sleep holding the present close to us in bed.
Now let’s jump to when I was a teacher in a primary school. At Christmas the head of the school used to organize a Christmas concert. Some teachers would prepare several items to present for the concert. One teacher would prepare his or her pupils to sing popular songs. Another teacher would usually form a choir and have it sing several nice Christmas carols. There was also the usual pageant of the nativity. But believe me, all the school, children and teachers included waited for my plays. Every Christmas while I used to teach in a primary school, I would write a very funny play and I would teach it to the pupils in my class. I would make all the props and paint all the scenery with the help of my pupils. My plays would always be the last item in the concert. Everyone would laugh his heart out and the school hall would seem to explode with laughter. This would be the prelude to the class Christmas party. I used to buy all the refreshments……. drinks, cakes and sweets. Then I used to distribute the presents to all my class students who in return always reciprocated with nice gifts which I really appreciated.
After the party we usually had a very special football game where some of the teachers, both men and women played against the school team. As I used to coach the school team I played with the boys. It was always a very comic game especially when some of the female teachers didn’t even succeed to hit the ball when trying to kick it. It almost always ended with a big win for the boys and all the spectators shouted their heads off with every goal.
Later in the evening all the teachers with their partners would meet in a restaurant or a hotel to have lunch to celebrate Christmas and also the coming Christmas holidays.
When I was posted in a secondary school fifteen years before I retired, I was not that involved with the Christmas activities at school because I was perhaps getting old and left the merry making to the younger teachers. Besides, in the secondary school I did not feel much at home as much as I did when I was in the primary school.
But what I wish to mention is that in that particular secondary school, every Christmas the arts and craft teachers organized an exhibition of different types of cribs. We were three such teachers and the exhibition was so successful that pupils from other schools on the island came over to our school to see it. In the exhibition there were two types of cribs, those traditional and others which were original. One cannot help wandering how with a little guidance from the teachers, the students created a large number of cribs made from various material including…..plastic bottles, sack cloth, seashells, glass, sand and much more. I used to teach arts and craft to my youngest son and he made a very original crib which you can see in the photo. He used sea shells, pebbles and sand to make it……..and the star on top of the crib is a real star fish. These exhibitions were really of a very high standard.
Now may I focus on how we celebrated Christmas in my family since we were married? I have a particular photo which I cannot upload here because it is a slide (in the past I used to take many slide photos or transparencies and then see them using a projector). This slide shot was taken few months after we were married. We moved in the new house in mid December. We were not settled yet. We didn’t have a Christmas tree and we had found this leafless tree…..a straight main stalk about six feet high with some branches. We put it in a pail full of soil. Then we cut some stripes of colored paper and hanged them on the branches. Poor as it was, it made a very nice Christmas atmosphere for our first Christmas together.
Now may I focus on how we celebrated Christmas in my family since we were married? I have a particular photo which I cannot upload here because it is a slide (in the past I used to take many slide photos or transparencies and then see them using a projector). This slide shot was taken few months after we were married. We moved in the new house in mid December. We were not settled yet. We didn’t have a Christmas tree and we had found this leafless tree…..a straight main stalk about six feet high with some branches. We put it in a pail full of soil. Then we cut some stripes of colored paper and hanged them on the branches. Poor as it was, it made a very nice Christmas atmosphere for our first Christmas together.
When we had our first born it was a special Christmas because a baby gives more sense to this feast which is the celebration of the birth of baby Jesus. Our fourth son was born on the 14th December and that Christmas was also a very special one because my wife returned home with the new baby just three days before Christmas and to us this was a very big Christmas present. When this son was four or five years old (and here we are talking about twenty eight years ago), he asked me persistently to make a big crib for him. Till that year we did not have a crib at home although we had and still have a nice baby Jesus. So off we went to my workshop and together we made the nicest crib that I had ever made. In fact some years later my son entered his crib in a local competition and it came first. When our son got married he took his crib with him. Again, it took several years to find the time to make another crib but at last I made one which we still have and which in these days we take out of its cupboard and put it where everybody who comes in our home can see it. In my opinion, it is even better than the one I just mentioned.
The last crib I made which we still have.
1. The crib
2. Close up of the cave with baby Jesus
3. & 4. Details of parts of the crib
1. The crib
2. Close up of the cave with baby Jesus
3. & 4. Details of parts of the crib
Now five out of our six children are married and although they celebrate Christmas in their own way, they all make it a point to come to us for the Christmas dinner which my wife prepares with love for all our children and their families. But before we sit at table (or should I say tables because for this occasion I arrange a sort of a big U shaped table) we give and receive presents from one another. Then we eat the traditional turkey and as a desert we have a big slice of the Christmas cake or pudding which my wife makes.
Of course we are all thankful to God having such a united family and pray that we will be able to hold this yearly get together for more years to come.
Please watch today's special videos for the occasion in Gallery 4. Excellent work by Alfred and Jasmine. Proset!
Quote of the day:
Prayer is not a "spare wheel" that you pull out when in trouble, but it is a "steering wheel" that directs the right path throughout.
Please note:
May I please inform you that owing to the Christmas and the New Year's activities I will be having a three week break. Please pardon me but I truly feel that I need to relax not from the blog as such but from other uncontrollable stress. Hopefully things will have a turn for the better and I will be posting by Saturday 12th of January 2013, hopefully!
May I wish to each and everyone of my readers a very Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year from deep in my heart.
May God bless you all and give you peace, love happiness and health. I love you all. Please pray for us.
Leonardo
Of course we are all thankful to God having such a united family and pray that we will be able to hold this yearly get together for more years to come.
Please watch today's special videos for the occasion in Gallery 4. Excellent work by Alfred and Jasmine. Proset!
Quote of the day:
Prayer is not a "spare wheel" that you pull out when in trouble, but it is a "steering wheel" that directs the right path throughout.
Please note:
May I please inform you that owing to the Christmas and the New Year's activities I will be having a three week break. Please pardon me but I truly feel that I need to relax not from the blog as such but from other uncontrollable stress. Hopefully things will have a turn for the better and I will be posting by Saturday 12th of January 2013, hopefully!
May I wish to each and everyone of my readers a very Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year from deep in my heart.
May God bless you all and give you peace, love happiness and health. I love you all. Please pray for us.
Leonardo