A Magical Trip

by Judy Campbell

"We can't go away for Christmas," stormed Raychel. "At least you can't make me go; I'll stay with Tony."

"Tony's going too," said her mother. "You knew that. We've been planning this ever since the Mullers invited us to visit them in England. If you let yourself, Raychel, you could see that you will have some fun."

Raychel's mom did not often have to be stern with her, but Raychel was being a "pill" (hard to take!) and she knew it. She just hated going away for Christmas, even if it was a chance to meet the pen pals they'd been writing to for a year.

"Did I tell you," said her mom, "that the first place we'll be staying is near Alnwick (Pronounced Annick) Castle where the Harry Potter movies were made? We can stand in the very spot where the famous Quiddich games were held!"

Raychel came up from out of her bad mood so fast that she almost bumped her head on it!

"What did you just say?" asked Raychel.

"Does that make a difference?" asked her mother.

"Slightly!" squealed Raychel. Then she stopped. "I'm sorry I was mad before," she said.

"Sometimes people say harsh things when they're mad," said her mother. "Thanks for saying you're sorry."

Raychel's mom laid out the whole plan. They'd start with a visit to the Mullers in Alnwick. They would spend Christmas and Boxing Day there, and then travel south to Kent to visit the Eatons, another family they'd met through the Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF). Raychel's family had joined CLF because they wanted to connect with even more UUs than the ones they knew in their own church. Last winter they'd "met" the Mullers and Eatons on the CLF electronic list and they'd been e-mailing ever since.

Now Raychel was excited. She and Tony started saying things like "jolly good" and "cheerio" to each other, and they checked the Harry Potter website for other "English" things to say.

They were ready to go. At least, they thought they were. Once they arrived in England though, some people's accents were so strong it seemed as if they were speaking a different language! And there were lots more different words: Cookies were "biscuits," toilets were " loos," sweaters were "jumpers," popsicles were "ice-lollies," and that was only the beginning.

It had been a long plane ride, and for a couple of days Raychel and Tony felt sleepy during the day, and wide awake at night.

"Jet lag," Tony's dad said. "We're in a different time zone."

Fortunately, by Christmas morning they were feeling fine. After a simple breakfast of tea and toast and orange marmalade that Grandpa Muller had made, they all sat in the "lounge" (the living room) around a gas fire and opened their gifts. The Christmas tree was stuck into a bucket of coal to keep it standing, and was decorated with "fairy lights" and simple ornaments that had been in the family for years. But the best was yet to comeÑan English Christmas dinner.

The Mullers had been cooking and cleaning and polishing all morning. A fire was roaring in the grate, and the dining room was toasty. But the hallway outside the dining room was ice cold! The family heated only the room they were in. They kept all the inside doors closed and everybody wore sweaters, or "jumpers." One day it got so cold in the house that the water in the toilet bowl froze! They all took hot water bottles to bed, and once they had warmed up a spot in their beds, they didn't move until morning.

Christmas dinner was wonderfully different. The first thing they did when they sat down was to snap the "Christmas crackers" that were at each plate, and pull out a prize, a paper crown, and a fortune. Everybody put on the little tissue-paper crown, even Grandpa Muller, whose crown kept sliding down over his left eye.

The high point of the meal was the Christmas "pudding," a dark, rich cake, full of bits of fruit, and dripping with a delicious sweet sugar sauce.

Mrs. Muller, had made it weeks ago and when she did she put three little silver coins (sixpences) into it. Then she steamed it for six hours! When the pudding was served, whoever got a sixpence would have good luck in the next year. This year's winners were Tony, Mrs. Muller, and their son David. When the meal was finally finished, the family went into the chilly "lounge," turned up the gas fire, and sat down to watch the "telly." Every one of the adults fell asleep. Raychel and Tony wondered if Boxing Day, which was the next day, could be any better than this.

It's a tradition in England (and in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand too!) that on Boxing Day you give Christmas boxes full of good things, or gifts of money, to people who are less fortunate than you are.

For this family, Boxing Day meant another big meal in the middle of the day, more Christmas crackers and paper crowns, and more sleepy adults after the meal. Raychel and Tony agreed they could get to like this!

The next day they finally went to the Harry Potter castle, and it was just as magical and magnificent as they had dreamed it would be. There were towers and secret stairs, stone floors, immense velvet curtains and suits of armor. Then they drove south and after investigating a very old Unitarian church, arrived in Kent at the Eaton's house just in time for "tea." They were treated to bread and butter sandwiches and little slices of cake. Raychel and Tony could have each eaten a small horse at that point, but they were too tired to complain, and New Year's Eve was coming up. That is, Hogmanay was coming.

The word Hogmanay was used mostly in Scotland and the north of England where people stayed up on the eve of the New Year to "see the New Year in." It was supposed to be good luck if the first person to come through your door in the New Year was a tall, dark man, carrying a lump of coal and some salt. The coal meant you would have a warm house for the year, and the salt was for good luck. (They called it "first footin".)

John Eaton, was a tall, dark man. So, at 11:59 pm, they pushed him out the door with some coal and some salt, and he went up and down the street to all of the neighbors, making sure they would all have a good year. He had done this for years. He called it "jolly good fun."

The magical trip came to an end far too soon. On the plane ride home, Tony and Raychel talked about what they liked the best.

"It was all the best," said Raychel, "but standing on the quiddich field at Alnwick Castle where Harry Potter stood was the best of the best. If we hadn't taken pictures, the kids at home would never believe me!"

"And I liked the dungeon in the castle," said Tony.

"You would," said Raychel, "I thought it was creepy. But the castle was neat. I could just imagine real kings and queens and princesses and dukes walking around it long ago," she added.

"But they're walking around it today," said Tony. "The Duke of Northumberland lives there with his family. That's his house!"

"Now that's a lot of dusting and vacuuming," said Raychel's mom.

"I can't believe I didn't want to go on this trip," sighed Raychel. "I'm glad we came."

"Me too," agreed her mom. "Maybe you'll get the sixpence next year. Betty gave me her recipe for plum pudding and three silver sixpences to go in it!"

"I like knowing there are more Unitarians than just us." said Tony. "Are there UUs everywhere?"

"Well not everywhere," said his dad, "but thanks to CLF, we have found lots more around the world than we ever knew about before."