Who inspired my Father Christmas character?

Posted on March 5, 2018 by Admin under personal, Photography, products

Last Christmas I launched 5 new Father Christmas cards to add to my range of photographic greetings cards that I sell in varying outlets. They’re slightly different in that they’re illustrated rather than photographic cards, but personally speaking I think they’re lovely, very cute and lots of fun.

Each illustration is different and each card has a little story about Father Christmas on the back.

But you may be wondering where the inspiration came from for the cards. It was my Dad who was my muse. With his fluffy whiskers, smiley face and cuddly physique, he made the ideal Father Christmas.

Dad and I in an am dram production of Orpheus in the UnderWorld (and yes that is a wig I’m wearing lol)

I was very lucky, I had a great childhood and both my parents were very creative. My mum could paint, cook, sew, and loved to read (she was a professional librarian and later ran children’s playgroups), whilst my dad was a photographer and once worked for Tony Armstrong Jones, aka Lord Snowden, (yep that’s where I get it from), could also paint, tried his hand at DIY (not always very effectively mind), loved to act in amateur dramatic (amdram) productions and also sang, in a jazz band (the Red Hot Polyphonic Troglydites), in the church choir, musicals, you name it, he would act or sing in it.

“I know a shortcut”

Yep, I was into photography even then

He also taught himself to play the guitar and banjo, so there was always music around too, one way or another (did he sing in the shower? I can’t remember lol). They both used to be members of the Ramblers Association and we had many a camping holiday trekking across moorland or visiting country houses. His ‘shortcuts’ (across precarious cliff tops or desolate moorland) were infamous in the family. We enjoying a nice clotted cream tea or a Cornish pasty. Often he would buy a fresh crab and ‘dress’ it, for a tasty supper. He had an allotment and also turned the top part of the garden over to fruit and veg, so there was always lots of home grown produce.

Christmas

Dressed for an Am Dram production, probably a Gilbert and Sullivan one

Because Dad worked for the BBC in film processing, he wasn’t always around on Christmas morning. Sometimes he had to work a shift at TV Centre, so often we would have Christmas Dinner late in the afternoon. We had our small pressie stockings from Father Christmas in the morning. We had little gifts such as magic tricks, or notepads & colouring pencils. Chocolate coins & satsumas were tucked at the bottom. After dinner would be THE time all us kids waited for. But Dad, being Dad would tease us just that little bit more, until we were beside ourselves with excitement. He would proceed to do the washing up, exceedingly slowly. Then he would decide it was time for a cup of tea (with us kids crying out ‘Come….on…Dad…..!”), and then, only then, could we all sit round the tree, with one person handing out the presents. To eek that special moment even further, we each opened one present at a time, so that we could all see who had given what to whom. You can imagine just how excited and on tenterhooks us kids were 🙂

He lived life to the full

Despite suffering from a rare genetic disorder and a serious heart condition most of his life, he loved life and lived it to the full. He love his food and even made his own home brew beer and wine (material for another blog perhaps lol) He carried on as long as he could with the acting, singing and guitar playing. I learned to keep going, whatever life throws at you.

Dad made the musket as a prop for a play. The gold bits were doilies cut & sprayed gold. We had a break in once and the police turned up. They looked very carefully at the musket before realising it was a model lol