Merry Christmas!

Wednesday:

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas.

We had guests over for lunch and a swim on Christmas Eve afternoon, then had a quiet evening watching carols on TV.

On Christmas morning we had a lovely time opening presents. At the crack of dawn of course. Tim and I were a bit sleepy but the kids weren't!

Tim's side of the family, plus my brother, came over for lunch. I wish I took more photos, but I was too busy! Here is one Tim took of me with cousin Daniel and his wife Martha, my brother Darren in the background.

And the dessert buffet! Mango cheesecake, sticky date pudding, lemon tart and a fruit platter.

As usual we were stuck with everyone's recycling garbage; all the wrapping paper plus bottles, boxes etc. We drop hints and one year asked outright if anyone could take some but no apparently they had no room in their bins. THEY have no room? This is what was left after we filled our recycling bin, we will have it sitting there another week before the bin is emptied and we can fill it up again. May take another fortnight!

Oh well, at least we managed to get all the other garbage (food scraps etc) into that bin which has been collected so we aren't left with stinky bags like some other years. Recycling stuff doesn't smell.

We had 18 for lunch and 12 for dinner on Christmas Day. I was glad to collapse into bed, to the soothing slosh of the dishwasher running for the umpteenth time.

A couple of people returned for lunch on Boxing Day to eat leftovers, then many of the Christmas group gathered again to go and see the Star Wars movie, a bit of Boxing Day tradition for us (a couple of people on child-minding duties went to a later session) and dinner at a restaurant which I suggested because it almost sounded like people were expecting to come back to our place and I wasn't prepared for that!

Today I basically insisted we see no-one, I needed a day to recover, but then our sister-in-law Ping has invited us over for dinner at their place which is lovely of her so we'll go there. I'd kind of rather crash at home watching the cricket but at least I don't have to cook!

A few of the more interesting events of the past few days:

I smashed two glass items on different days. On Christmas I pushed some items down the counter top, not seeing there was a glass hiding behind a box of crackers. It got shoved off the edge onto our unforgiving tile floor and smashed into a billion pieces. In a house with little children including three crawlers! Broom, dustpan and brush, vacuum, and hope we got it all. One of the adults did find a few shards - with their bare foot - but no real damage to humankind.

Then on Boxing Day I moved a casserole dish to the counter, somehow the thick glass lid slid off as I put it down and it went over the other side, again onto the tile floor. Huge smash! Broom, dustpan and brush, vacuum, Roomba. It was Aunty Vanessa's dish, luckily I had the same dish in a different pattern but the same size lid to give her. Not that she would have asked for it, she wasn't even there, but it was my fault so I was glad I had the lid to return.

There was a funny saga about dessert. When we were still deciding who would bring what, in chat online, A said she would make a trifle, but B said no she was going to, so A gave in though slightly miffed. Then B was talking about how she made 'healthy' jelly (jello) for the trifle because there is no need for desserts to be unhealthy so C asked for the recipe. Turns out it was just supermarket jelly with 'natural colours and sweeteners'. And then B didn't even bring a trifle! She just brought 'healthy' jelly and custard for the kids (I suppose those are two elements of a trifle!) -- but then she asked if she could take home leftovers of some of the other 'unhealthy' desserts! I thought it was pretty funny.

I found it a bit less amusing that B brought only a small amount of another food that fit her special dietary needs, basically only enough for her own slice of the family, even though she also ate other things on offer and everyone else of course shared everything and would have liked to try her dish. I didn't even realise she'd brought anything, I didn't see it, but others commented to me later. Ah, family dramas. They keep life from getting boring, don't they!

I was given headphones for Christmas by my brother-in-law Nick. He knew I wanted some good ones, not little earbuds that always make my ears sore, but small enough to wear on the train or out walking, and his speciality is tech stuff especially music. I didn't get a chance to try them out until Boxing Day morning and then I literally had tears in my eyes at the sound quality. Amazing. Surrounded by music.

Most of the 'real food' leftovers are gone but there are plenty of packets of chips and lollies, and boxes of chocolates, hopefully all with be eaten during the next couple of family gatherings before midnight New Years Eve. Back on strict diet from 1st January 2018!