WHEN SANTA SKIPPED OUT ON THE BOYS' BRIGADE...

Memories, memories.  When I was a kid, I was a member of the Boys' Brigade for a time, who met in the hall of the church across the road from where I then lived.  One year, we were shown a catalogue from which we could order various Christmas goodies, and I chose a chocolate Advent calendar with an illo of Santa on it.  There was something about that picture that appealed to me, and I eagerly awaited its arrival.

Imagine my disappointment then, when I received a different one to what I'd been expecting and paid for.  "They must have been out of them, so they've sent another!" was all the female Brigade leader said by way of explanation.  However, I never quite forgot that Santa, and many years later (at least 20 I'd say, perhaps more), I saw a pack of three plastic hanging Santas, identical to the one on the Advent calendar from so long before.  (I think I obtained them from another mail order catalogue, but it could've been from a local shop.)

That's one of them illustrating the top of this post and, as I said, it's a dead-ringer for the undelivered one from my childhood.  I've also got a much smaller one, a cake decoration, which I acquired too many years ago for me to recall exactly when (though it was after the larger ones).  Every Christmas, when I'm hanging them out, a mere glance transports me back to that church hall (demolished around 22 years ago) and I'm once again a ten year old boy with practically my whole life ahead of me.

To borrow (and tweak) some lines of verse from the poem, HALCYON DAYS...

                                       "Remembering with poignant joy,

                                        the happy lad I was at ten -

                                        And wishing I could be that boy,

                                        if only for one day again."

Do you have any recollections of Christmases past which you'd like to share with your fellow Criv-ites?  If so, the comments section awaits.

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On reflection, I think it was actually a group called the Cubs that I was a member of when this occurred.  My time in the Boys' Brigade was from a different period, held in the hall of another school than the one I attended through the week.