Smudger Snippets
Created | Updated Nov 29, 2009
I suppose it's because I have so much time on my hands these days, that all these memories come flooding back to me.
Away for Christmas
Having turned fifty four on my last birthday it goes without
saying that I have not spent every Christmas at home with my family. It is a funny time of year, really, when you think about it, as it seems to change every year as we get older. I mean, when we were youngsters, Christmas meant something totally different as to when we were a lot older. As kids, for example, we used to get all excited about Santa and search the house, looking for our presents, or rattling the ones that were placed under the tree in the living room. The whole experience was a world away from everyday life and it isn't until we look back on it when we are older that we realise just how hard our parents had worked to make it special for us. It is a family thing and, of course, our family at that age was our parents and brothers or sisters, not forgetting Grannys and Granddads and aunts and uncles. In fact Christmas might be the only time we saw some of these other relations. Even so, it was still a special time of year for us kids when everybody was happy.
Then, as we get older, we have other people to think about than just family; we have our girlfriends and their families. At the time you never noticed it, but they were, in fact, taking the place of the older members of your own family that you had lost over the years, like your Grandparents, or older aunts and uncles and, somewhere along the line, Christmas lost that special innocence that it once had when we were kids. Around this time you find yourself having dinner in someone else's house and not at your parents' where it had been all those years. Everything is changing gradually. Every year is different. Then, all of a
sudden, you are wrapping your own kids' presents up to put under the tree and, for the life of you, you cannot remember where or what happened, but it has. You are now the Santa, filling the stockings with presents and fruit, just as your parents did, all those years ago. Suddenly you are a family man, a father and a husband.
This being the case, you want to make that time of year just as magical as it was for you when you were at that age; all excited and full of expectation. Trouble is, you might find yourself in the position when you cannot be there as you are working away or serving in the forces overseas somewhere. Wherever or whatever the reason, the simple fact is that you are not going to be there and nothing you can do or say is going to make a difference. I spent a few Christmasses away while serving in the Navy, and no matter how everyone tries to make the best of it, the fact is that it's not the same. They have this custom in the Navy where the officers serve the men with their Christmas dinner and, of course, there is always some drink on hand to kill the pain - but it's not the same really.
Looking back on it all now, I think one of the worst ever Christmasses I ever spent away from home was on an oil platform way out in the North Sea. It was bleak, to say the least, although they did their best by offering a choice of present to each of us, which was either a cigarette lighter (which we could not have until we were leaving the rig, for fire precautions) or an alarm clock, with the rig name engraved on it. The fact was, that we were there to work and we had to work on Christmas Day - mind you they did put on a fantastic dinner, which we all enjoyed. Of course, there was no alcohol of any kind to be had, not even on that day.
It was bitterly cold that day and the wind whistled throughout the entire rig, taking our breath away as we tried to carry on with our work. There was an atmosphere amongst us that you could tell we were trying to make the best of the day and, of course, there was always a comedian in the squad, who kept us laughing with his witty jokes. In fact, we all tried our best to mask the fact that our minds were on our families back home as most of us were all around the same age and had young families at home. But, at the end of day, that was why we were there - earning money to support them.
It could have been worse, however. I spent one Christmas working away from home, overseas, in a country that did not celebrate Christmas at all and, looking back over all the years, I can honestly say that was indeed the worst one ever, and the loneliest.
These days I am now a Granddad and it's a great sight to see that
innocent sparkle and excitement in the eyes of our Grand-kids when
they come in and rush over to all the presents under the tree. It's
good to know that the spirit of the season is still here.
