Christmas in the early twenties was spent at Rosemorran, Gulval and very pleasant they were, although more or less they followed the same pattern. We kept poultry so many were killed iand sold for Christmas. Therefore the holidays for us started with killing and plucking a large number of poultry, there being no refrigeration in those days the butchers would not accept them before 23rd December at the earliest, this meant working well into the night especially for mother who did all the ‘dressing’ , and she was so very fussy.
Xmas Eve with the work completed Bill and I would be off on our motorbikes, while Father would go down to the Inn at Gulval, right opposite the Church where there would certainly be plenty of Carol singing. He had a fine tenor voice and enjoyed this very much. Incidentally Bill could sing quite well in those days and was a member of Gulval and Newlyn Male Voice Choirs.
By now Mother would have had a bath and would be baking saffron cakes with lots of buns, because one of the main ports of call for the Gulval Carol Choir was our house where they would have a hot saffron bun or sandwich, a little ‘tot’ or a cup of tea.
By now the three males would probably have reached home and after a ‘night cap’ off to bed. But not Mother, she would now be preparing Xmas dinner and having an occasional nap in the old arm chair in front of the fire, she preferred doing this, it was almost a ritual, as it was that we, the men, would wash up after lunch on Christmas day.
We weren’t that lazy really, you see, the system was Mother, who never milked a cow, would do all the household duties, attend to the cream and butter and sometimes feed the poultry, while Father and Bill would do all the outside tasks which I would share when I was home in the evenings at at weekends.