Saturday, December 25, 2010

A Day of Giving And Receiving

This morning, I was woken up by my alarm at what felt like an inopportune time:  6am.  After a 1am curfew from spending Christmas Eve at the Koppenol's house, I felt tired and grumpy and didn't want out of my bed at all.  Just looking out my window described my attitude: bleak.  It was cloudy and raining.  Some Christmas Day it started out to be.  So, I reset the alarm and closed my eyes; only to be woken up again by a text message from my brother talking about Jebus Krost and how is was his birthday; and his gift to my brother was a passport into his own brain... hehe... yep, that's my bro!   I replied that I thought I was the only one who got that present; then I got up, dressed and began getting ready to go out.  Today, was going to be a long one.
I went downstairs with my camera, shoes in hand and everything else to the tree and found my presents I had bought myself; and I unwrapped them.  My first one was the 30th Anniversary Edition of Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon'.  I love it as I was born the year it was pressed; and so I thought to get it mainly for that and the great music on it.  I also got myself a beautiful new laundry hamper I put together while the vinyl played on my turntable.  It was a great morning; and I totally enjoyed my own pressies to myself.  I had also gotten myself a Leftie's Day Diary too 2011.  Not bad, eh?
Before long,  I was out the door with the presents for everyone else packed and meeting Mum and Dad down the front on the footpath.  It was raining gently and the roads were slick and almost empty all the way to Gabe and Kat's place; we were grateful.  But as we drove, the rain became heavier.  And as we pulled up to their house, I rolled up my trouser legs so my cuffs wouldn't get wet or dirty, grabbed my bag of gift, the umbrella, my bag and camera and another bag or two off Mum and Dad and headed in.

 

After we had the presents put under the tree and I had been introduced to Lynn from next door, we got into some delicious pancakes and tea.  Then, after we had filled up a little, Katrina put on the sparkly hat and played Santa; handing out the gifts to everyone.  We all had a great time getting out gifts, ripping off the paper and being surprised.  I received exactly what I wanted this year:  a Zumba Kit.  I asked for one thing; and that was it.  Everyone enjoyed what I bought them and Mum loved the block of chocolate and the $20 Bunnings voucher I gave her.  Gabe and Kat loved the two bags of Single Origin coffee and storage container I got them (I told them about Garden City's 'Gloria Jeans' and they said they had to have a look at the ones that are bigger and have the coffees for sale around their area; as they don't know of any).
Then, we grabbed more food of eggs, fried ham, avocado on freshly made bread that Gabe made... all wonderfully, delicious food and we jumped right in!  We ate until we were stuffed; and then Gabe made us freshly brewed coffee!  Yummo!  After cleaning up, we were shown their photos and movies from Asia and I played on their video game machine,  Mum played the one-armed bandit and I went outside and got some lovely photos of the chickens.  
Lynn is a lovely lady; and a real card!  She has a great sense of humour and isn't your average old person.  She's quick off the mark and can carry a good conversation without getting boring about anything.  We all enjoyed her quick wit and humour; as she made us laugh at everything this morning.
Too soon, it was around 3pm and time to leave.  Mum, Dad and I were off to Cameron and Kelly Killips' house to see the family there; and we had a bit of a drive ahead of us.  But as with this morning, there wasn't much traffic on the road; so it only took around 20 minutes to get to Holland Park.  Once there, we found Natalie and Stuart were there with their little girl, Arabella, and we stayed for a few hours eating cheese and biscuits, chocolate, Christmas cake and Almond Crescents over coffee.   All the while Matthew and Harrison played and ran around while it sprinkled rain.  By around 7pm, we decided to leave and head off home.  I got home by around 7:20pm and showed Mum and Dad what I had gotten myself for Christmas and they were really impressed with the vinyl and the laundry hamper; and Mum loved the ornament that was meant Bookcrossing's dearly departed member, oi-reader.  
Well, I have uploaded my picture for tomorrow today.  I have put away my drink - which I never used today - and I've put away my pressies and haven't found any places for them yet.  But I will.... don't worry.  I hope you spent a wonderful day with your family - or whoever you normally spend Christmas with - and enjoyed your day.  No matter how you spent it, together with family, or on your own enjoying the day flow quietly by, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

2 comments:

  1. Merry Christmas to you.

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  2. And to you Diary of a Naked Wombat... as you can see, I had a wonderful day with my family. How was yours?

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