17
OUR CHRISTMAS
December 1944Mum and I went back to Grandma’s house a few days before Christmas in order to light the fires in the grates, so all the rooms would be aired. Grandma had a bee in her bonnet about airing and would go round feeling things for any hint of damp. She had two airing cupboards, four clotheshorses, a pull-up-pull-down kitchen ceiling airer, and a special part of the black-leaded fire range that opened to reveal an airing rack with rods of a size only suitable for socks.
We started by preparing the fire in the scullery-c*m-dining-room where the iron range stood sentry. Then we passed on to the open grates, rolling up newspaper to make paper sticks, packing them with twigs and finally placing small coals on top. Then we pushed a poker underneath to make sure the fi
