by Andrea S Gilgulin

Created on: December 21, 2009

A War Time Christmas In London

It was Christmas time in London during WWII, and William was not excited this year. Mum and Dad had said not to expect many gifts because of the war. There was not very much money in the household, and what they had needed to be spent on necessities. Father Christmas, his parents had added, would be busy delivering gifts to the soldiers fighting in the war and would not have time to stop at civilian houses this year. William was at that age when he realized Father Christmas was probably just a tale, but part of him still believed he was real. So William was feeling rather disappointed about this, it was not that William was spoiled, but he enjoyed opening festively wrapped gifts on Christmas morning and being surprised by what was inside.

William didn't think there would be much to eat either. Food was rationed, and when he went with his Mum to the shops, all of his favorite treats were gone from the shelves. There would be no sweets to nibble on, and even Christmas dinner would most likely be without the large Christmas goose he was used to seeing served. He would also miss the mash potatoes that his Mum made very creamy with lots of butter, because, although they had potatoes in the house, the ration of butter would be too small to add to them.

When Christmas morning arrived, William ran downstairs as usual; just to see if maybe Father Christmas had stopped by after all and left gifts. He looked over at the tree, which was decorated, as it was every year, with tinsel and brightly colored ornaments, and to his surprise saw a pile of gifts under it. Then, he noticed the gifts were wrapped in old newspaper and bits of fabric instead of the usual Christmas paper. He actually thought they look very festive wrapped this way. William started to think maybe Christmas would be fun after all. Then his parents came downstairs. They looked over at the tree and exclaimed that apparently, Father Christmas had been able to pay a visit after all. William and his parents sat around the tree and started opening the gifts. They were not the usual store bought games, toys and clothes William was use to getting, instead, most were homemade, but he thought they were even better than the store bought ones. His new sweater was warm and felt cozy against his skin. He loved the hand carved wooden soldiers, there were enough of them to play army, and Father Christmas, or maybe it was Dad, had also made a wooden barracks for them to sleep in! 

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