Y is for Yule

 

When Yule gets mentioned I can be pretty sure that we are not talking about Christmas 2025!  Yule is a nostalgic word, evoking well-dressed, jolly ladies and gentlemen shown on tins of Quality Street.  It's about an age of innocence when children thought themselves lucky if they got an orange and 6d in their stocking.  

I have a strong suspicion that it's nostalgia for a Christmas that never was.  

When I was a child in the fifties I remember my parents talking about the Christmas of their childhoods, Christmas before the Second World War and during that war.  And the theme was that we, as children, didn't have the pure, authentic Christmas which they had as children and it was far too centered on presents and glitter and excess.  In fact, they were making the same sort of remarks about Christmases past as I hear being said today as we oldies look back to our childhoods.  I'll add to the chorus by saying that the plastic tubs of Quality Street aren't as nice as the tins we used to have. 

In fact, I wonder how long saying, "It's not like the Christmases we had" has been as traditional at Christmas as mince pies!