Season's greetings

I'm off today to spend the holiday season with my children and grandchildren. The presents are wrapped, the christmas cake, mince pies, pudding and ham all carefully stowed in the car and all that remains is for me to wish you all a very happy and peaceful Christmas and New Year. I'll leave you with one of my favourite Christmas songs from 1977, with the unlikely but very successful combination of Bing Crosby and David Bowie:

Recycled Christmas

I was looking through a box of old family photographs and found some pictures of infant school days. The top class of seven year olds always performed the nativity play. The costumes were carefully packed away each year and used again.

Here is the nativity play of December 1952, with me as the angel Gabriel:

 and here, five years later, is my little brother as Joseph:

Every year, someone's baby brother was brought in to play the part of the infant Jesus. I must say that these two look so similar that I am inclined to think they must have packed the 1952 babe away to recycle in 1957!

Here is a full cast picture but from which year?

The school closed many years ago and I suppose the costumes were disposed of along with the plasticine, the enamelled cups and the wooden slide that linger strongly in my memory. This afternoon three year old Millie will be a king in her kindergarten's nativity play.  Recycling in action!

There was a little girl who had a little curl

She was more than a week late in arriving but she is lovely and the first member of the family to be born with a fine head of hair! Welcome to Elizabeth Orla.