Morning present opening with immediate family and Wendy (who is a family friend from Adelaide who has spent the last three Christmases with us!). Reading of the last of the Advent things and lighting of the candles.
Lunch up at my Grandparents house (Probably really for the last time this year as they are moving… we thought the same last year) with Grandparents and my Uncle/Aunty and respective cousins.
The power went out just before lunch was cooked. We altered our usual structure and opened presents first. I added to the abundance of homewares (that’s quite seriously what most of my presents were this year). The power returned to a ‘Yay!’ and we sat down for a full on Turkey/Roast.
My youngest cousin Naomi (she’s 11 and somehow loves me ‘best’) pulled me outside between rain showers for a walk in the garden whereby she danced around directing the conversation toward Geoff – it was quite funny because I knew what was going on and she couldn’t quite muster up the guts to ask me directly. I helped her out eventually and she came out with the hilarious not-so-subtle question about ‘flower girls’ (to which I told her not to jump the gun!). Haha amusing.
I sat down for a chat with my Grandpa (who has early-mid Alzheimers). He was talking about places he remembered visiting, the problem lay in the names of countries/towns – I could guess but when you guess and it’s incorrect after a few goes it gets awkward and you know he’s frustrated. That was the worst thing – watching my Grandpa over dinner, much quieter than normal, and not having his usual tasks because my Dad and Uncle had to take over. That and my Grandma seemingly being overly concerned about shoving more food at people (which is what my Grandpa usually does).
After half a game of Monopoly and a half hearted attempt at eating some left overs for dinner I left for Geoff’s and was quite disappointed that I’d missed seeing Victor and Charitie (his Grandparents).
Another present exchange. It was interesting, the lead up to the Christmas and the conversations that Geoff and I had about presents. I managed to surprise him (and I think he’s pretty happy) and he managed to go much more overboard than he was “allowed”. Needless to say I was pretty stoked with what was in the box!
Boxing day was spent at our family friends the Smiths (that’s no pseudonym) and Mark’s traditional ginormous steak.
I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning my desk off after I made my sister flush Archimedes (my last fish which I’ve been trying to kill for about a year). I am now pet-less for the first time in a very long while.
This morning has been spent cleaning more of my room, to fit various boxes of, you guessed it, bowls/plates etc… and generally getting rid of junk.
I’ve re-done what my desk looks like and I’m much happier with the cleaner outcome. Not to mention what was in the box (A3 photo printer oh yeah!) that now takes up half my desk and is !!!!!!
Well done if you’ve gotten this far – for this really just is the kind of entry that is thoroughly meant for myself as a ‘record keeper’.