大象传媒

Mum (who was in her early twenties) and I lived with my grandparents during the war years when Dad was in the Army; so the household consisted of we four, Mum's three younger unmarried sisters, and a female evacuee, i.e. eight people, and nine when Dad was on leave. It was a very happy home full of fun, laughter and popular music of the time - from the radio, records, or played on the piano.

One Christmas, probably 1944 or 1945 (when I was aged 5 or 6), I can remember a lot of RAF men being invited, because they couldn't get to their own homes on leave. They knew my aunts through the YWCA and YMCA organizations in Oxford. Well, they stayed and stayed, we played party games, and sang carols and songs around the piano, and I was allowed to stay up really late. When Granny eventually asked the chaps when they had to be back in camp they said they had next day off too! So they all slept on the floor in the downstairs rooms, and it was the most wonderful Christmas I have ever spent! My Grandparents just seemed to cope with everything; there seemed to be plenty of food to go round, and our house-guests really appreciated a proper family Christmas. I wonder if any of them can remember this?

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