An annual ritual?
When I was a child, the Christmas season would induce several rituals, as I am sure it does, or did, for the rest of the country’s children.
There were obviously such things as the school play, or carol service that happened every year, which I would be cajoled into taking some role within.
A trip to visit Santa was also pretty much mandatory amongst the busy weeks of December.
I can distinctly remember going along to our local Co-op, who every year, would install a machine that conned you into thinking you had taken a sleigh ride to see Father Christmas, when, of course, in reality you had just stepped out of the other door of the pneumatically operated sleigh-ride-simulator.
That is a rather cynical view in hindsight, and my memories are actually very happy ones, I used to enjoy the magic of the illusion, and it was so well run, you even got to ‘ride’ the sleigh back to the store, complete with whatever Santa, or the decision makers of Co-op, had deemed you worthy.
One of the reasons for making those yearly trips was to let Santa know what you would like for Christmas, what your favourite toy or wish was at the moment. We also used to write a list that my parents would send up the chimney of our open fireplace, all very festive and warm.
Amongst all the things I would list, I knew there was something I was going to receive regardless of its inclusion or omission, and that was the Beano and Dandy Annuals.
My mother received them herself as a child, and it was a tradition she wanted to continue, and one I very much enjoyed too.
And rather than it completely stopping as a young adult, the Beano and Dandy were replaced with the Viz derivate, much more appropriate to my then post-teenage addled mind.
A quick search on Amazon has revealed that the Beano – my favourite of the two – is still amongst the top ten children’s annuals. However, it is the only one that originates from comics within the best selling ten.
The others are from popular TV series, films, and books made even more popular by TV. Doctor Who, Top Gear, Ben 10 and Horrid Henry are all presently in there, as is Hannah Montana.
I eagerly await to see if I get one of these annuals this Christmas, and I feel it is something I should appraise for my own child, perhaps extending our family Beano tradition another generation.
But what about you, what annuals will be on your children’s bookcases?
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