Over a century of Christmas memories

Margherita Blaser’s earliest Christmas memory goes back to 1911. Still, Christmas remains special even today, as she tells CLAIRE MATHIESON.

With 106 Christmases under her belt, Margherita Blaser could be considered an expert on the feast. Even after so many, the parishioner of St Ignatius church in Claremont, Cape Town, maintains it is a special and important day for the family.

Mrs Blaser said that Christmas today is very different from her earliest memories of 99 years ago. She recalled her earliest festive memories on her family’s Philippi farm outside Cape Town where she grew up. “When I was seven years old, my brothers and I were given a white linen pillow slip to hang up on Christmas Eve. In the morning it was full of presents!”

While the gifts were exciting, Mrs Blaser said the best memories over the years have more to do with the people with whom she has shared the holiday. “My father was a farmer and supplied seven of Cape Town’s hotels with chickens, eggs and vegetables three times a week.” These hotels included The Royal, a prestigious hotel in its heyday, and the famous Mount Nelson. Due to the family’s dealings with many in the city, the festive season brought many visitors to the farm. “We as children were expected to help with certain things and we were mixed up with all these visitors. Christmas was always an exciting time.”

Mrs Blaser, whose father was an Italian immigrant, said she grew up understanding Christmas as a time for the family to be together. It was also when her mother was allowed to relax. “My mother didn’t have to cook. My father would make ravioli on special days like Christmas, and all the men would do all sorts of things in the kitchen.”

The ravioli that was served is something that Mrs Blaser holds very dear to her heart. Having learnt the art of cooking ravioli at the tender age of ten, today Mrs Blaser can still be seen busy making the dish in her kitchen and sometimes at cooking demonstrations.

Margherita Blaser at 106: When I was seven years old, my brothers and I were given a white linen pillow slip to hang up on Christmas Eve. In the morning it was full of presents! (Photo: Claire Mathieson, The Southern Cross)

Before Mrs Blaser’s father, a trained carpenter, and brothers built the area’s first Catholic church, the Christmas Masses of her youth in Philippi were celebrated in the homes of the community. Fr James Kelly used to cycle on his bicycle all the way from Rondebosch to celebrate Mass with us in Philippi every Sunday. To this day she is astounded by the distance the first editor of The Southern Cross travelled to celebrate Mass.

The traditions that were established in the early 1900s remain strong in the Blaser household. “My father was strict about Christmas. We always got the family together and that is something that we still do today.”

Mrs Blaser has been a successful restaurateur, acclaimed dress designer and cooking instructor. She is also proud mother for four. One of them is Fr Emil Blaser OP, director of Radio Veritas. She recalled how young Emil from an early age played being a priest. It was around one Advent when the matriculant Emil coolly informed his parents that he would like to be a priest. Since then, the Dominican priest has often appeared on television and radio, ultimately founding South Africa’s only Catholic radio station.

The festive season sees multiple celebrations in the Blaser household. It was on Boxing Day in 1931 that John Blaser married Mrs Blaser. “My husband was one in a million. He never complained and was always satisfied.” The couple was married for 49 years. Mrs Blaser said that particular Christmas in 1931 was a quiet one, however the rest have been dedicated to celebrating the birth of Christ, and the anniversary has been given the back seat.

Mrs Blaser said the celebrations are simple yet important. The gift-giving is fun, she said, but it is for children. “Today, too many people are worried about shopping. It’s a different way of living today altogether.”

She said Christmas can be a fun time for children – who should have noisy presents and be allowed to run around and have fun.

Food is an important part of the Christmas festivities in most families, and the Blaser family is no exception. Mrs Blaser, the one-time owner of an award-winning restaurant in Cape Town, recalls the food from many of the Christmas celebrations.”We ate wonderful dishes – turkey, legs of lamb, chicken and of course, there always had to be a pasta dish. I also remember my mother used to make a trifle with cream straight off the farm.”

Despite the lavish Christmas fare, on the whole it is simplicity that Mrs Blaser attributes to her age. She abstains from alcohol and feels television today does not fill the mind with positive thoughts. The avid gardener believes the secret to long life is good, clean living.

And the secret to a memory-filled Christmas is family? “I’s important to remember what Christmas is all about. Today people seem to shop too much. Christmas is very different today, but the thing that stands out in my memory is the people I shared it with and what we did together”.