Sometime in July, my mum called me into the study, clearly excited about something.
“I think we should do a big family Christmas for yiayia and all her siblings.”
I was immediately on board, followed quickly by promptly being sceptical of the logistics of pulling something like this off.
Yiayia is one of seven. With time slipping by and so many moments now out of reach, Mum felt it was the right time to recreate the Christmases she once shared with all her aunties, uncles and first cousins.
Photo albums and VHS tapes now hold the technicolour versions of those memories. The ones where Santa Claus, who sounded suspiciously like one of the uncles, would sit in the middle of the room handing out gifts to every child. There was music, food, and the glow of colourful Christmas lights that just don’t shine the same way anymore.
Getting everyone together was going to be a feat. What began as two generations had doubled to four, and many of my great aunties and uncles were great-grandparents themselves.
As we started writing out the guest list, each cousin, and their partners and kids, made the number climb faster and faster. Before long, we’d hit triple figures.
I didn’t have to go far to ask my mum’s cousins and aunties what they remember from those early Christmases. (Shout out to my cousin Mia and her fiancée Leon for hosting their engagement before we went to publish.)
Theo remembers all the first cousins piling into Arthur’s dad’s ‘Hermes Transport’ truck and being driven down to the Mornington Peninsula.
“We used to flood out and all the Aussies would freak out,” Theo said.
“As soon as we got there, we unloaded everything. We used to take out the tables and set it all up. Back then you could bring a whole lamb to cook on the beach. We’d all go fishing too,” Arthur added.
Satiated by the conversation, I made my way inside where yiayia and her sisters were chatting at the engagement, swapping the latest family news. I interrupted gently to pick their brains. Some details had faded, but the feeling of those years was still vivid.
Theia Melpo remembers the Christmases spent at home.
“Some years were spent on the beach, others at home. Everyone would bring something to share on the table. We used to all get together, but after the kids grew up and started getting married, that’s when we started breaking off and spending time with their families instead,” she said.
She became a great-grandmother a few years ago. This Christmas would bring four generations of the extended family together again.
“I’m looking forward to us all coming to celebrate together again, to reminisce but also make memories with our grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Just as long as we’re healthy and strong,” she said.
“Those were nice years… We all still love each other very much, we just don’t get together like we did in the 70s and 80s,” Maroula, the eldest of the Melbourne cousins, chimed in.
The funny thing was, while Mum and her cousins were on board, they still had to convince the parents. Once upon a time they thrived in big gatherings, but now yiayia, the aunties and uncles were dealing with ailments and the natural slowing down that comes with age. Getting around wasn’t as easy, or as painless, as it used to be.
I had to ask, after all these years, how the first cousins felt about taking this on now, stepping into their parents’ shoes.
“We were a little hesitant to start,” Arthur said. “We hadn’t done something like this in a long time. We had to convince my mum and the others, explain why we’re doing it. But they’re all on board now. They’re going to enjoy it.”
We stood together for a moment, acknowledging the time that had passed, and the people who weren’t here to see it.
“It would’ve been nice if we could’ve done it a few years ago,” he said.
In November, the Zervos cousins met to sort out who was bringing what, and where the soiree would be held. There they sat, discussing like their parents once would have.
And while we won’t be able to recreate the exact feeling of those Christmases my mum, her parents, and the extended family once shared, we carry a little of that golden nostalgia with us and celebrate with the same spirit.
To me, that’s the true spirit of Christmas. The gift of coming together, sharing in the joy, and holding close the people who make it all matter.
