Editorial: Christmas moments that last

This Christmas Hawke's Bay Today is publishing the festive day memories of people who have made the news in 2011.

Today on page 5, for example, art adviser Judith Anderson reveals that one of her earliest Christmas memories was a crushed box of melted chocolates which arrived from relatives in the US. "In our poor rural family this was on the same scale as a baby Jesus miracle," she says.

If you think back, it is generally the simplest of Christmas moments which linger strongest in our memories.

When I was a child it was all about trying to stay awake to catch out Santa (we never did), the sheer excitement of waking up to find a pillowslip at the end of the bed with a few small presents, a handful of lollies plus a piece of fruit (always a piece of fruit) inside.

Then, sometimes before and sometimes after breakfast, dad playing Father Christmas, handing out the bigger presents from under the tree to four excited little boys, one small girl and our mother.

Simple gifts are long-remembered. One year we got a model aeroplane that "flew" along a piece of taunt string and had to be landed in front of your feet. I can't be 100 per cent sure but I'd be surprised now if it was anything more than a cardboard plane, a plastic pole, a length of string and a lever to pull the string tight.

One thing is certain, it was a far cry from PlayStation Version Whatever and the many other consoles and gadgetry which feature on so many kids' wish-lists these days. That didn't matter to us, we thought we were made men with a plane and a piece of string.

In more recent years, there has been cricket in the park with my wife Andrea and teenagers Henry and Grace. Sometimes the inlaws would join us. They're not very sporty but it is amazing what a glass of bubbles and a family get-together on Christmas Day can do for the spirits.

Something as basic as some really bad batting of a ball in the middle of a green park would leave us smiling. Which goes to show that our guest writers' memories serve them well - the real spirit of Christmas is in the simple things.