For Christmas 1968, the Observer Magazine teamed up with Heal’s for a guide to the ‘timely art of making Christmas 1968 a happy one’ with ‘51 worrying days to go’ (3 November 1968).
‘Dickens’s Spirit of Christmas Present conjured up a merry weekend in an instant,’ wrote Sally Thompson, ‘and Scrooge himself was able to buy the Cratchits a prize turkey on Christmas morning. But generous gestures nowadays need more forethought.’
A ‘get-off-the-mark breakfast’ was the first item. ‘This is no day for gargantuan fry-ups. What’s required is something simple, refreshing… that can be prepared the night before. Cold ham, for instance, beautifully presented.’ Sadly, in the accompanying photo it looked more like something fly-infested by Damien Hirst.
One of the recommended labour-saving devices was the ‘elegant manually operated’ Eva potato-peeler machine (£4, 7s, 11d). ‘Potatoes for six can be peeled in less than a minute,’ it gushed. ‘Just feed in water and washed potatoes and turn the handle.’ Why did I not know about such a device? Farewell, small peeling knife.
‘If you can’t remember the ages of your 10 nephews and nieces, still less what they look like,’ wrote Thompson, ‘give them all the same thing, something that spans the age groups, like a cartridge pen, a pop record or a super box of paints.’ There was also this delightfully random suggestion: ‘If you are very rich, you might like to send a ping-pong table.’
But the section that really makes this of its time was at the end: ‘If you hope to telephone friends or relations overseas on Christmas Day, book the call now. The last official date for booking is 23 December, but by then lines to many countries will be full up. Last year, roughly 15,000 calls had been booked by the end of September.’ Maybe they were right to panic with 51 days to go after all.
