大象传媒

At school I was called rails because my arms and legs were thin, but I had plenty of energy.

Our Christmas decorations got so tatty, little artificial Christmas trees which had hardly any green left on them, little broken candles which we put into little holders with clips on them. Glass baubles which were all broken, couldn鈥檛 be replaced. We made home made streamers. In 1944 when Christmas decorations had all but disappeared, my brother came home with bundles of silver strips - Just right for decorations. We made silver chains for the sitting and dining rooms and also gave some to my friend. We thought how fantastic the rooms looked, my brother told us that had fallen off the back of a lorry (we were surrounded by airfields). It wasn鈥檛 until after the war was over that we found out what these strips were really used for. We always had presents at Christmas, I don鈥檛 know how my mother go them. They were generally secondhand. I had a small maroon coloured cycle, it was probably third hand and I loved it. My brother taught me to ride it (no stabilizers) and I gave backies to my friends. It lasted years and then it was sold on.

I had a good Christmas in 1944 (I wrote in my 5 year diary sent to me by an American penfriend). I had been given 4 books, some hankies, a padded coat hanger, a pen and a face flannel. What would today鈥檚 children think of these gifts?

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