Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe help to make the season bright

The smell of Christmas… the smell of the cake… I always associate the smell of spices with Christmas. The Christmas cake and the pudding came in November. Everyone had to have a stir in it, wasn’t that the truth. You had to have it made before the 1st of Demember.

One year, guess who got the job of cleaning out the turkey, and I kept asking poor mam ‘ What do I do now? What do I do next?” I never forgot that one. They say there is a poison piece in a fowl, and I was afraid that I would burst it or something! You would have to cut the neck and that is where you would stuff the turkey.  I was about twelve, the year I cleaned my first turkey. That was the first time Mam was sick, she must have been very sick to stay in bed.

Catherine (Care Choice nursing home, Malahide Road)