Christmas is the season for lending

Most years I try to make a charitable donation at Christmas. This year I’ve done something a little different. I’ve made a small loan to help a group of Kenyans obtain low-cost seeds and training that will move them beyond subsistence farming. When the loan is repaid I will be able to redirect it to help others.

I made the loan via the Genealogists for Families team on Kiva. Kiva is a not-for-profit lending platform aimed at alleviating poverty. The Genealogists for Families team was started by Judy Webster because “we care about families (past, present and future)”. You can read more about the team here.

Please join us!

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories 2010 - Christmas Cards - December 4

Each year my family would send and receive a modest number of Christmas cards. The cards that we received would be displayed on whatever surface was available, usually starting with the top of the television. Now there's something I will have to explain to my children! Yes, once upon a time, back in the olden days, televisions were housed in wooden boxes that could be used as a surface for decorative items.

Along with the Christmas cards we would receive a few photocopied family newsletters packed with information about their activities for the year. We would hear about academic or sporting successes, career successes or failures, medical procedures, new relationships and breakups. We would wonder how widely they were distributing this sometimes very personal information!

There's something else I should add to my list of things to ask Dad about - do we have a stash of those old Christmas newsletters our relatives used to send? Genealogically, they're a treasure trove.

This post is part of the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories, hosted by Geneabloggers. 

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories 2010 - Christmas Foods - December 2

In last year's advent calendar, I wrote about eating a traditional (cold climate) Christmas lunch in the midst of an Australian summer.

That completely inappropriate hot roast lunch is still a big part of what Christmas is about for me, but there is one other food that was a regular feature whenever we had a large gathering of family - Christmas and other occasions. It was my Mum's pavlova.

Any Australian or New Zealander would be very familiar with the pavlova. It's a dessert with a meringue base, topped with cream and garnished with fruit.

My Mum made her pavlovas from scratch, not from a premix "Egg". Usually she would make two. One, I thought of as the adults' pavlova. The fruit topping made it almost a health food, so far as I was concerned. The other was the kids' pavlova. Instead of fruit, my mother topped the kids pav with a smashed up Peppermint crisp.

I have my mother's recipe, but I've never made it. I really should try to some day. I think I'd like to inherit her reputation as the pavlova queen!


This post is part of the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories, hosted by Geneabloggers. 

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories 2010 - Christmas Tree - December 1

The Christmas tree that dominates my childhood memories was tall and bushy. Although it was an artificial metallic one, it was beautiful. The silvery tinsel branches shimmered and the baubles stood out like jewels. I didn't understand it when one year my mother said that the tree's time had come, we needed something new.

Before I sat down to write this post, I dug out a few pictures of that lovely tree. 

Sadly, the photographic evidence does not do my memory justice. The tree is smaller than I recall. Not tiny, but small enough that it is almost obscured in the photos by a child standing in front of it. The silvery tinsel is duller than my memory would have it. The branches.. well, they look like they could put a running child's eye out. The baubles, although there, are not quite as plentiful as I imagined.

Looking at those old photos of myself and my siblings (who wouldn't appreciate me posting picures of them here) there is something else that strikes me about the picture of us sitting around that tree...

It's the joy, shining from our faces.

The photographic evidence confirms it - that tree was beautiful!


This post is part of the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories, hosted by Geneabloggers. 

Advent Calender - December 6 - Santa Claus

Growing up, we received gifts from Father Christmas. It was never Santa Claus until we made the move from Melbourne to Canberra. I don't know if the change in terminology is a Victoria/New South Wales thing, or if the name more commonly used just changed over time. Either way, it was a visit from Father Christmas that I looked forward to.

Most years I looked forward to the presents entirely too much. Not only my own presents, everyone's presents! I just loved that we were all getting something. I still love seeing nicely wrapped gifts under a tree, even if I know that none of them are for me.

One of my earliest Christmas memories is tip-toeing out from my room in the night, to the living room where Father Christmas left his gifts. I remember standing there and looking at the shapes, trying to imagine what could be hidden under the wrapping paper, but not touching anything. Going back to sleep seemed impossible. It was a long night!

When morning finally came the excitement was too much to bear... my stomach was churning... I unwrapped my toys with a bucket by my side, and I used it. From that point on the entire family would get up at whatever time I awoke (typically 2-4am) on Christmas day and we would all unwrap our gifts, then go back to bed. I insisted that everyone had to get up, it was no fun if we weren't all opening presents together!

I don't remember if this was before or after I found out "the truth". Finding out wasn't a big deal for me. I had my suspicions and one year asked my father about it. His response... "Do you really think I would spend that much money on toys for you?". Faced with the competing concepts of a large red-suited man who flew around the entire world in a night, somehow getting in and out of houses and depositing presents without being seen OR my Dad buying lots of toys, what was I to believe? That kept me believing in Father Christmas for at least another year.

Speaking of Father Christmas, here he is.

I recently posted one of my efforts at fixing up my family photos. I wasn't entirely happy with the result. Inspired by a comment from John Patten, I tried again. I'm almost happy with it now. Almost! As I look at it now, I can see half a dozen things that I could have done better, but I think I'm on the right track.

Joining in the Geneabloggers Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories fun
 

Advent Calendar - December 2 - Holiday foods

In Australia, Christmas is in summer. It's hot. So, most years we have a summer version of traditional Christmas foods. The turkey is just one of several cold sliced meats on offer, and instead of roasted vegetables we have a salad. Sometimes we may have had a barbeque.

Those are not the Christmas foods I most strongly remember.

Some years, we wanted Christmas to be extra special. Perhaps because we had relatives staying, or perhaps just because. Whatever the reason, what could be more special than a traditional Christmas lunch with your family?

Picture this... temperatures in the high 30s (that would be the 90s in Fahrenheit) and there we are eating a big roast turkey lunch complete with stuffing, roast vegetables and gravy (don't forget the cranberry sauce!) then finishing off with plum pudding with custard, served hot. All very filling and warming, and completely inappropriate to the climate! The Christmas carols playing are full of sleighs and snow. I'm sure we even had some snowflake decorations on our Christmas tree.

Eating a big, hot meal in the middle of the day in summer is absurd. Ridiculous even! I'm sure that newcomers to Australia would sigh and say that Christmas just doesn't feel the same. To me, though, the absurdity of a hot meal on a hot day isn't ridiculous - it's part of the magic of Christmas!

Joining in the Geneabloggers Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories fun