7th Jan.1954
Dearest Mummy,
I was going to begin a long letter tonight, but writing this list has taken so long that I know I will get nowhere if I begin. We are bidden to the Herzberg’s tomorrow, so I think I will send this off as it is & write you of all our Christmas doings at the weekend. With having two long weekends of 3 1/2 days each at Christmas & the New Year I thought I would get so much done, but on the contrary – I got nothing done at all, & in between & since I have been scrambling to catch up! Of course we got up later & played with the children more & had visitors & went out, so I suppose I really hadn’t much time left after feeding everyone! The Christmas weather was disappointing with cold but very little snow but by New Year the temp. dropped way below Zero & snow has been snowing down! Everything is lovely & white & pretty & Lindy loves it!
Thank you so much for your lovely letter begun on Christmas Day, Mummy- it was sweet of you to write & I was so pleased you’d got our parcel- I feel I have neglected you over the holidays but will try to make up with a lalaplooza soon.
Lots & lots of love from Cyn.
What follows is Cyn’s Christmas List of presents sent and received, and her comments on them, in chart form. I am going to post pictures of the charts rather than trying to reproduce them- with 4 in the family, it gets more complicated. She doesn’t mention cards, but she sent them off earlier, and hung those they received along the bannister.
The only presents I remember from this long list is ‘Squirrel Nutkin’ for me, (one of my favourite Beatrix Potter’s) and the wooden boat with sailor skittles from the Heslops for Charlie. It was sturdily made and versatile and lasted long after all the other things were lost in memory.
A Family History in Letters 