Me and My Brother in 1962
Christmas Eve invariably brings back happy memories of my childhood and adolescence. As a child, I remember Dad getting us a tall pine tree - there were hardly any artificial Christmas trees in those days - and all the family together would help to put it up and decorate it. In the evening, mum prepared a special dinner of various snacks which we all enjoyed by the fireplace while listening to Christmas carols, often singing along. At 10 o'clock, both my brother and I had to go to bed or else Santa wouldn't visit. Terrified at the thought, we both went to bed on time after making sure there was some milk and Mum's delicious Christmas cookies by the tree for Santa.
Then one rainy Christmas Eve, my five-year-old brother had a great idea: " How about waiting for Santa to come? It's raining and he might get wet. We can dry his boots and clothes by the ashes of the fireplace while he's enjoying the milk and cookies! " I was only eight but still believed in Santa... yet I had my doubts. " What if Santa doesn't visit? Mum and Dad said he'd never visit if we are awake!" "Yes, but Mum and Dad would be very proud of us when we explain that we just wanted Santa to leave us in dry clothes!" , my brother replied. That was the end of a dream. We hid behind the curtains only to find out that Santa was ...Mum and Dad! They didn't even drink the milk or eat the cookies!
As a teenager, I was weird! I sometimes loved Christmas and sometimes hated it! Yet on Christmas Eve, I'd always look forward to the pine tree, mum's cooking and the presents, of course. I was 14 years old when ....Santa brought me a typewriter!!! I used to type all my school work as well as my Diary entries. A few months later, on my birthday, my parents offered me a typing course. I never missed a lesson! To this day, I can type my posts without looking at the keyboard.
My most embarrassing Christmas Eve was in 1981. I was still a student in Geneva, Switzerland when I decided to invite a few friends over. I promised them all that I'd cook .... le canard à l'orange - a traditional French dish in which the duck is roasted and served with an orange sauce as well as with glazed chestnuts . Needless to say, I had no idea how to cook this and there was no Internet at the time. Alkis was just a student at the hotel school , then, but he saved my bacon ! He glazed the chestnuts and the carrots beautifully, roasted the duck in my mini oven stove and made me feel I was the queen of Swiss- French gastronomy! He also MADE a Christmas log for dessert! This Holiday Season , Alkis works on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day but I'm glad to spend these days with him at the hotel . Soon after the Holiday Season, we are going away on a short Winter holiday.
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