My Mum was a single mum ... our family comprised her, me and my younger sister. Mum, like many women of her pre-World War II generation, came from a family where the boys were educated and the girls left school for menial work as soon as they turned 15. My uncle was a highly trained school teacher, and all my aunties were all uneducated like my mum.
Hence, the only work she could get in Tamworth NSW in those days was as a cafe waitress. Obviously, such a menial job didn't pay much. We lived very basically, but with Mum's innate ability to manage her pittance of a wage, we never wanted for anything ... except luxuries.
It was Christmas 1956 which stands out in my mind as the best Christmas of my life. I was about to go up to high school and this was a major step ... Mum had to buy uniforms (extremely expensive) and all of the paraphernalia that went with starting senior school.
I didn't give a damn about the uniforms or the Globeite school port (case), or anything else necessary for a higher education ... my only desire was my very own pushbike!
But, Mum had drilled into both me and my sister that we should never expect what were considered "luxuries" in our lives, but to be happy with what we had, and got.
Mum was a very good seamstress/tailor and most of our Christmas presents came from her old, foot-pedalled Singer sewing machine.
Wendy (my sister) and I used to make a fuss over our hand-made clothes that Mum produced for Christmases and birthdays, but we looked on in awe and jealousy at the gifts that our friends from two-parent families got on gift-giving occasions.
A bike ... a bike ... my Kingdom for a bike! But I knew there was no way that Mum could afford such a luxury and I was committed to continuing my life on foot into high school.
Then came Christmas morning, December 25, 1956 ... I woke up at crack of dawn (as we always did on Christmas morn) expecting to see a pile of nicely wrapped new clothes on the end of my bed.
Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, they gradually focussed on something totally out of character and unexpected propped at the end of my bed.
Nah ... no way ... it couldn't be! But it was!!! It was a brand new, Malvern Star Coronation Edition 26 inch pushbike! Deep purple in colour, with Royal crowns as decoration, made by Malvern Star to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and probably the only one of its type of the limited edition in Tamworth!
I looked up from inspecting it with tears streaming down my face (very embarrassingly) to see my adored Mum standing there in the doorway with tears in her eyes too at my joy ... very unusual for her as she was one tough chick who frowned at displays of unnecessary affection such as crying.
I jumped up and hugged her for all she was worth!
I asked her how the hell she could afford such a luxury gift for me, and she told me that she had put it on lay-buy with the local bike dealer (who was an old schoolfriend of her's) since January, and paid it off a few shillings at a time throughout the year. What a woman!
Then, pride took over ... there was only one other person on Earth who mattered to me, and that was my Nana (my grandmother - Mum's Mum) ... she lived in West Tamworth, two miles away, but I just had to show here my new pride and joy.
So, with a quick kiss on Mum's cheek (a major show of affection between us), I jumped on my new steed and rode (I am sure) what was a record time between East and West Tamworth to Nana's house.
She, and a couple of my aunties who still lived at home with her, oohed and aahed over my new pride of possession, sufficiently to reinforce my new place in the world order - an owner of my own transportation device!
After a feed of Christmas biscuits, homemade by Nana, which I was forced to eat before leaving, I set off on a bit slower trip back home.
As I was pedalling down Philip Street (where Nana lived), I smelt this beautiful fragrance of something I've never yet identified ... definitely a bush of some sort that only blooms at Christmas, apparently.
I've only smelt it once again in my life, and that was driving into West Wyalong, NSW, many years later with my own wife and children in my car, going up to Tamworth for Christmas with an ageing Mum.
That fragrance has stayed with me for my 77 years on this planet, and will always remind me of the best Christmas of my life, when a woman who was a tower of strength, who raised two kids on her own with absolutely no help from our father, or anyone else, and who, through scrimping and saving, made for me the best Christmas of my life.
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tree which mum would buy from the Fruit Shop greengrocer in those days. Mum had no car and she couldn't drive so we would walk a few KMs home carrying this tree. I will never forget the smell of the pine . Mum would set it up in an old metal bucket which she would fill with sand. She would lovingly wrap Christmas paper around the old metal bucket. Our tree was set up in our small hot lounge. Decorations were limited but my brother and I I would make paper decorations as kids did in those days. There was always a small Nativity at the bottom of the tree and a Star at the top. Mum had bought some lights and every year one or two would no longer work. The excitement of Christmas day was unbelievable even though we never received many presents. The smell of
under the tree then into us asking if he could open them and this was 26 years ago ❤
