Letter of the month

Traditional nostalgia

I really enjoyed reading about the magic moments acting editor Nicola Russell created for her son when he was small. I remember our family Christmas traditions vividly, even though it was 60 years ago! Our family were vegans – highly unusual in the 1950s. So there was no roast turkey on Christmas Day, or roast lamb, which would have been more usual back then. Father Christmas used to leave our presents in a pillowcase on the end of our beds. After we unwrapped our one or two small gifts, we would go to the river for a picnic lunch. Our big treat was iced fruit cake, which had threepenny pieces baked inside! As threepence was my pocket money for the week, finding a threepenny bit in my piece of cake was extremely exciting! KATHRYN SIMPSON