Christmas - 2020

We had just returned from a 11 night holiday away at Coolac in New South Wales. This wasn't originally planned because the borders had been closed between us and NSW because of Covid. When the borders opened and we knew this caravan meet was on we made a very quick decision to join in. It was a great time away but it did leave us with a very short time to return and organise for Christmas. However, we came home with a plan and so far everything has gone to schedule. This past week was very busy with appointments and social meetings and has been a lot of fun. I started with a Book Club Dinner on Monday night at the Fish Creek Hotel. As always we had a great night with a small but fun group of women, not everyone enjoyed their meal but we had good company and good conversation.

Wednesday we drove to Melbourne to have lunch at Darebin RSL with my brother Bryan, unfortunately we were so busy talking I forgot to take photos but we had an enjoyable catch up. Thursday it was lunch with our friends Carl and Wendy once again at the Fish Creek Pub. We try to catch up for coffee regularly throughout the year but Christmas needs a special celebration. Once again this was a very long lunch because we had so much to discuss.

In between all of these social occasions Robb and I had appointments for one thing or another so by the time we came to Friday night we were both becoming quite tired, however, Christmas is only once a year and this has been one hell of a year. We arrived home late from Traralgon on Friday evening after spending the day there shopping while waiting for our car to be serviced. We unpacked the care when we arrived home and then we changed and I prepared a charcuterie platter to take to Daniel and Sue's house for the Alex Scott Venus Bay Christmas break up. This is a very relaxed evening and we didn't stay long, we had dinner and sat for just a short time before driving back home.

So finally Saturday has arrived and we both have a hair appointment today and then we have the Alex Scott Group Christmas party in Dalyston at the recreation reserve. We are a bit late leaving home for the party because Daniel and Sue call in for a chat at lunchtime but even so we are amongst the first to arrive at the clubrooms. We grab a drink and then sit outside at a table for awhile by ourselves until the Grantville staff started turning up. They joined us at the table and a few other friends came over to join in so we spent a good few hours there catching up as it had been a little while since we had seen everyone. It was a well set up day with jumping castles for the children, and Santa turned up with bags of lollies for them all. Dinner for the children commenced at 6.00pm and then it was supposed to be time for the adults at 6.30pm but it was a bit later, unfortunately there weren't enough tables for everyone so they decided to do two sittings but by this time it was getting quite late and after the long week Robb and I had we decided to leave before dinner and pick up something on the way home. It was a good decision and we both enjoyed getting home at a reasonable hour. We still have a bit to do to get ready for Christmas Day so we are looking forward to a much quieter week this week.

A much quieter week from Sunday to Thursday which is Christmas Eve. Erin and Ollie arrived around 6.30pm and while Erin unpacked the car I prepared dinner, we were having Burritos because Ollie likes them and it was much easier to keep him happy for this one night, he is a very fussy eater. Erin had requested a Lemon Meringue Pie so Robb had baked this earlier in the day for sweets after dinner. It was a particularly good pie so I don't think it will last long. We sat up chatting, catching up on news but it was a fairly early night to bed. Robb was up at 7.00am to light the spit so that there was time for it to burn down to coals before we put the meat on. We were both up at 8.30am and Ollie was already out here, we cooked him breakfast and then started setting everything up for the day. Matthew, Lyndal and the children arrived around 11.30am and after a quick catch up we opened our presents, we had just finished and we were seeing to some of the cooking when Lyndal's parents John and Karen arrived, this is the second year they have spent Christmas with us and it is so nice for the grandchildren to have both sets of grandparents together. Lunch went well, Robb and I have this down pat now and everything went to schedule. After lunch we moved outside to the back deck and the children played on the grass in front of us with their water pistols, it was pretty warm so it was a good day for it and before long they were all soaked but we let them go until it was time to come in and get dried and changed. John and Karen went home mid afternoon as they had another engagement. We spent a busy day cleaning up and getting ready for dinner. Daniel, Sue and the girls arrived about 6.30pm and all the cousins were pretty happy to see each other and that kept them busy for awhile. Dinner was just cold meat leftovers and salad, I had made up a potato salad yesterday and that is always quite popular. Matt and Lyndal's children were exhausted and went to bed quite early and it wasn't late when Daniel and Sue left either. We were all exhausted but it was a beautiful evening so we sat outside until about 10.00pm, well past my bedtime so I took myself off and left the others looking for a movie to watch. It was a great day and we particularly enjoyed watching all the cousins playing together, we were only missing our eldest grandson Connor this year because it was his Dad's turn to have him this year.