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I love Christmas with my family. Large rant below. It's all trivial stuff, not earth-shatteringly important, so I suggest if you're not up to listening to me whinge about ultimately unimportant shit that you skip to the next post.
I'll do this chronologically.
( Read more... )
Anyway, I pack the presents into my shopping trolley, reasoning that it was going to be much easier to transport the lot in something with wheels. Since I don't drive, my SO had taken the car to work, public transport sucks on public holidays, and I was NOT taking that much stuff, some of which was fragile, on a 50 minute bike ride, I ordered myself a taxi
The taxi arrived faster than they usually do on an ordinary day. This was good.
So I got to my parent's house to say hello and drop off the presents for unveiling that evening. The first thing I get asked is "Bubbly?" I assented, and drank my first alcoholic drink of the day. This is something I miss about having moved out. Christmas should start with pre-lunch bubbly, lunch being the first real meal of the day. On Christmas, my family believes that anyone who wants breakfast can damn well get it themselves. What am I saying? They believe that 100% of the time. But Christmas breakfast can involve caviar, spreads, and toast as well as bubbly in bed for the parents if the kids are feeling organised, and have already got their own breakfasts. After I finished the bubbly, addressed all the presents, exchanged presents with my sister who was not going to be there for tea due to working, I got my sister to drop me off at my SO's parents' house to have lunch with them, sans my SO.
( Quick rant about my sister... )
So then I left and went up the hill a little to my SO's parents' place. I arrived perfectly on time for lunch, which was very nice. Their traditional Christmas lunch of roast pork, roast turkey breast roll, and roast vegies. It was tasty.
( Read more... )We waited until my SO finished work and got to his parent's place to cut the pudding. ( Read more... )My SO's mother remembered my difficulties last year with traditional Christmas pudding and cut me a very small slice for which I was very grateful because that's all I could eat of it.
Then there was the after-lunch nap. Three people on the floor, one in a bed, one in a recliner chair, and then me unable to sleep and therefore reading my SO's Dad's magazines and National Geographics. The one in bed went straight to bed, and so missed us giving out presents, but my SO's family doesn't seem to have the tradition of waiting for everyone to be there for a large present-giving orgy, since they had started before I got there. ( Read more... )
After naps had finished, we went to my parents' place, where I seized upon the remains of lunch (the last of the smoked trout, some sliced salad goodies, enough to keep me going and yet light enough that my tummy wouldn't protest). ( Read more... ) We watched what was on TV, which wasn't too bad until they got to the moralising bit at the end. More nice alcohol was thrust at me. I like my Dad's taste in wines. In general, it marches with mine. Shiraz, not merlot, and never cask wine except for cooking (makes my tummy protest).
Then presents. Lots of small inexpensive things that make us laugh, many books changed hands (about half of which were cookbooks, a quarter fiction of some kind, and the other quarter about investment), and I got the pasta maker I vaguely mentioned in passing to my mother about 3 or 4 months ago that I wanted. She rocks!
We even had a Christmas tree that I didn't have to bring with me! ( Read more... )
There's probably more things that I want to say something about, but my body tells me it's finally ready to eat.
Enjoy yourselves as much as possible, people!
I'll do this chronologically.
( Read more... )
Anyway, I pack the presents into my shopping trolley, reasoning that it was going to be much easier to transport the lot in something with wheels. Since I don't drive, my SO had taken the car to work, public transport sucks on public holidays, and I was NOT taking that much stuff, some of which was fragile, on a 50 minute bike ride, I ordered myself a taxi
The taxi arrived faster than they usually do on an ordinary day. This was good.
So I got to my parent's house to say hello and drop off the presents for unveiling that evening. The first thing I get asked is "Bubbly?" I assented, and drank my first alcoholic drink of the day. This is something I miss about having moved out. Christmas should start with pre-lunch bubbly, lunch being the first real meal of the day. On Christmas, my family believes that anyone who wants breakfast can damn well get it themselves. What am I saying? They believe that 100% of the time. But Christmas breakfast can involve caviar, spreads, and toast as well as bubbly in bed for the parents if the kids are feeling organised, and have already got their own breakfasts. After I finished the bubbly, addressed all the presents, exchanged presents with my sister who was not going to be there for tea due to working, I got my sister to drop me off at my SO's parents' house to have lunch with them, sans my SO.
( Quick rant about my sister... )
So then I left and went up the hill a little to my SO's parents' place. I arrived perfectly on time for lunch, which was very nice. Their traditional Christmas lunch of roast pork, roast turkey breast roll, and roast vegies. It was tasty.
( Read more... )We waited until my SO finished work and got to his parent's place to cut the pudding. ( Read more... )My SO's mother remembered my difficulties last year with traditional Christmas pudding and cut me a very small slice for which I was very grateful because that's all I could eat of it.
Then there was the after-lunch nap. Three people on the floor, one in a bed, one in a recliner chair, and then me unable to sleep and therefore reading my SO's Dad's magazines and National Geographics. The one in bed went straight to bed, and so missed us giving out presents, but my SO's family doesn't seem to have the tradition of waiting for everyone to be there for a large present-giving orgy, since they had started before I got there. ( Read more... )
After naps had finished, we went to my parents' place, where I seized upon the remains of lunch (the last of the smoked trout, some sliced salad goodies, enough to keep me going and yet light enough that my tummy wouldn't protest). ( Read more... ) We watched what was on TV, which wasn't too bad until they got to the moralising bit at the end. More nice alcohol was thrust at me. I like my Dad's taste in wines. In general, it marches with mine. Shiraz, not merlot, and never cask wine except for cooking (makes my tummy protest).
Then presents. Lots of small inexpensive things that make us laugh, many books changed hands (about half of which were cookbooks, a quarter fiction of some kind, and the other quarter about investment), and I got the pasta maker I vaguely mentioned in passing to my mother about 3 or 4 months ago that I wanted. She rocks!
We even had a Christmas tree that I didn't have to bring with me! ( Read more... )
There's probably more things that I want to say something about, but my body tells me it's finally ready to eat.
Enjoy yourselves as much as possible, people!
