Bill’s Christmas Blog

Afternoon

I’ve a true tale to tell told me by the Coalman. His sacks were heavy as tin and his
eyes as black as sloes. One Christmas he says to a customer as he trudges up the path,
‘Where do you want this coal?’ and this old man he says, ‘Betterway you pour they
out in front of the fire, when we’m all sitting round Christmas time we just throw in a
few coals, freezing cold and wet out, don’t want to go out to the coal shed.’ So the
Coalman he pours a huge pile of coal out on the floor in the corner of their sitting
room. Course their coal was dry as a boot, fire as hot as hellfire, lovely warm
Christmas they had.’

A few things round this area Christmas time. One was to bring in a holly branch for
decorating, or dig up a holly tree and bring im in to decorate with cotton wool snow-–
none of they fir trees or fairy lights. Now they grow spruce down Lodge Hill, but
folks always made do with a bit of Cornish holly. Another is come midnight on
Christmas Eve in the stables down St. Germans, the animals all get down on their knees.
Same as the animals knelt in the stable Bethlehem. I’ve never seen them mind,
St Germans is a bit far to walk on Christmas Eve

Happy Christmas, later on