Quote: We were going to have Christmas 1925 at home. All the Aunts sent along wonderful food, dinner would be a banquet. Laurie and Joan (cousins) who were staying in the top flat were with me when I opened my gifts. I was six years old and Laurie was ten. Being a special occasion I was allowed to wear my hair loose instead of the long plaits I usually wore. I detested plaits, but I hated more the knots and tangles when my hair was brushed and combed. Laurie picked up the scissors from my little sewing set and waved them in the air and said, “Want a haircut?” “Oh yes please.” I replied, “I’d like short hair like Joan, it looks so pretty.” Joan’s hair was naturally curly; mine was as straight as hair could possibly be. Laurie started clipping away at my hair with the little pair of scissors; he had gone halfway around my head when the door opened and in walked Gran and Auntie Gert. Ice creams -A farthing cone Page 27/28
Even though it was Laurie who had cut my mother’s hair her Gran insisted that Mum was the guilty party and refused to let Auntie Gert tidy it as punishment. Gran was adamant that she could wait until her hair grew out. Having once again received the benefit of her grandmothers’ slipper, my mother said she could not enjoy her beautiful Christmas dinner. It wasn’t the slipper that upset her, she was used to that, it was the shame of bearing the punishment till her hair had grown back.
Later another Aunt, who wasn’t afraid of Gran came to the rescue and saved the day. Without Gran knowing she trimmed my mothers hair and rolled it in rags presenting her to Gran with lovely curls. My mother said and I quote, “I went to sleep happy that night, I was forgiven.”
I can’t help thinking that this is what Christmas is all about. We were pronounced guilty but God sent Jesus as a substitute not only to save us from our rightful punishment but to take that punishment for us and then to present us to his father guilt-free. That makes me ‘sleep happy’ too.
