The Christmas Period
I’ve been too busy or away from the PC to update my blog over the Christmas period, so here is a summary of what has been going on over the past week, with a few pics.
Despite finishing my shopping early on the week of the 19th December, I found myself at the Pavilion and Musgrave shopping centres, typically to catch up with friends I hadn’t seen for ages, including Hayley and Greg, and Ashley. Fortunately, our get-togethers tended to be around 9am, early enough for most people to still be getting going for the day. Although the centres didn’t feel too chaotic inside, parking was stop-start nightmare any time after 10am. I tried to be home by midday, and off the roads.
Friday evening was my Christmas get-together, and it actually turned out to be very well-attended: me, Paul, Mark, his sister Lauren, Gareth (accidentally groping Shirley during the evening) and Denbeigh, G and Shirely, Hayley and Greg, Warren, Bronwyn and, back for Christmas from the UK, Scott Miller. Ash, Lara and Kirsten excused themselves and I heard absolutely nothing from Natasha and Matt.
The evening was bring-and-share, which proved to be quite dangerous because the variety of food had people snacking until we were absolutely stuffed. So much so that when it came around to dessert, while everyone enjoyed Denbeigh’s Turkish Delight ice cream, her delicious apple crumble was hardly touched.
At least all the scoffing set the tone for the next few days. On Christmas Eve, my uncle and aunt came over in the evening for the cold glazed gammon and salads we have annually. Seeing as we had to stay up for Midnight Mass, our evening entertainment ended up involving an episode of Extreme Make Over (believe it or not), team Balderdash and laughing at some truly hideous digital camera photos from the evening viewed on the TV.
My sister’s boyfriend, Jason, was dragged with my mother, sister and myself to Midnight Mass (Paul went to his own church) at around 11:25 for Christmas carols. The actual mass kicked off at midnight, at a time when all I could focus on was the thought of my bed back home, with the duvet already pulled back. Fortunately my mother left the offering envelope in the car so a brisk run in the rain and cold (which was the weather in Durban for the whole of the Christmas weekend) revived me enough to (just) stay conscious throughout the 1 hr 45 min service. Our old priest retired about a year and a half ago, and while his replacement must be wonderfully supportive and caring when you need counselling, as a preacher he is too by the book and dull. Although our old priest was moody, scary creature he at least kept you on your toes during mass.
On Christmas morning we were all up from before 8am to open a few presents before Jason had to join his parents on their trip for the day to Richards Bay. The list of presents that I bought for other people is below this post, but in terms of what I received, I ended up opening 4 DVDs (Batman Begins, Batman Returns Special Edition, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Four Weddings and a Funeral), 2 silver bangles and some costume jewellery, a movie-cover copy of CS Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, a new handbag, socks, undies and a scarf.
As a kind of bonus, it was cold enough on Christmas day for me to wear the leather jacket I bought earlier in the month, when I went down to Paul’s house for his family’s Christmas lunch. It’s pretty rare to be able to wear leather in Durban in December.
Before we had lunch at Paul’s we opened presents with his family. It was obviously no surprise when I opened my DVS Shoe Company takkies and rashvest from Paul, seeing as we had been shopping for them together a few weeks back. What was a surprise though was the Woolworths jacket that I received from his parents. I’d been eying it in the store a few months back but didn’t bother pursuing it. For the record, just like many women have a passion for shoes, I’m a complete jacket whore. I love Winter and cold weather so that I get to choose from my favourites.
Anyway, when it came to Christmas lunch and its gathering of 11 people, I did the sensible thing this year seeing that I was going to also be eating Christmas dinner at home in the evening (Last year I stuffed myself at Paul’s in the afternoon and could barely touch my dinner). I had a single spoonful helping of everything (turkey, gammon, lamb, pumpkin, rice, roast potatoes and peas) and didn’t take seconds. By this time though my 5 and a half hours of sleep came back to haunt me (I’d been using caffeine to keep me running) and I was very glad that Paul was going to be chauffeuring me back to my place. I doubt I could have concentrated enough to drive.
Back home we ended up eating after 7pm, which gave me time to recover a bit. Dinner here, with my parents, sister, grandmother, uncle and aunt and Paul was a strangely salty turkey, stuffing, roast potatoes, carrots and creamed spinach. Dessert was my mother’s made-only-once-a-year layered trifle. Meanwhile, there was absolute crap in our Christmas crackers- some deformed plastic planes and several Hitler moustaches. Genocide: how festive.
After Christmas dinner as a family we decided to play the drinking boardgame Pig Out that I had bought my sister for Christmas (it turned out to be an appropriate present seeing that Jason bought Leigh a fluffy little pig that sings My Girl when you squeeze its hoof). Turns out I’m one of those sleepy drunks. After a few rounds, I slipped back onto the couch with my Christmas hat over my eyes. I ended up in bed before midnight, making it one of the first Christmases in years where I haven’t seen the day both in and out.
Boxing Day began the laziness, eating of leftovers and post-Christmas blues. Paul and I spent the day at his house seeing his cousin and his girlfriend, who had been away on Christmas day. We at least got to put our years of Lego building to good use when we finally got around to assembling Paul’s new gym bench. I was in charge of following the instruction manual.
The only thing that did bug me that day was in the evening when Paul and I were watching an episode of The Family Guy on his new flat Dell monitor. Gypsy the cat had been eyeing the gym bench. Paul’s father saw this, and as a man who can never relax or sit still, it was a sign to haul out the tools and make some masonite covers. Paul, indoctrinated to jump when his father says so promptly disappeared for an hour to help. Of course I was annoyed. Although, I’m pretty sure that how your partner’s parents frustrate you are not one of those things that you can discuss with your partner, no matter how openness is encouraged by relationship therapists. An additional annoyance is that the bench, which is in the guest room (where I sleep) now looks hideous. Instead of draping it with a towel it has slabs of masonite and plastic tubing all over it.
It’s moments like that where you remember that so many of the world’s mythologies have stories about a younger generation of gods overthrowing their domineering parents and defying their authority.
Despite finishing my shopping early on the week of the 19th December, I found myself at the Pavilion and Musgrave shopping centres, typically to catch up with friends I hadn’t seen for ages, including Hayley and Greg, and Ashley. Fortunately, our get-togethers tended to be around 9am, early enough for most people to still be getting going for the day. Although the centres didn’t feel too chaotic inside, parking was stop-start nightmare any time after 10am. I tried to be home by midday, and off the roads.
Friday evening was my Christmas get-together, and it actually turned out to be very well-attended: me, Paul, Mark, his sister Lauren, Gareth (accidentally groping Shirley during the evening) and Denbeigh, G and Shirely, Hayley and Greg, Warren, Bronwyn and, back for Christmas from the UK, Scott Miller. Ash, Lara and Kirsten excused themselves and I heard absolutely nothing from Natasha and Matt.
The evening was bring-and-share, which proved to be quite dangerous because the variety of food had people snacking until we were absolutely stuffed. So much so that when it came around to dessert, while everyone enjoyed Denbeigh’s Turkish Delight ice cream, her delicious apple crumble was hardly touched.
At least all the scoffing set the tone for the next few days. On Christmas Eve, my uncle and aunt came over in the evening for the cold glazed gammon and salads we have annually. Seeing as we had to stay up for Midnight Mass, our evening entertainment ended up involving an episode of Extreme Make Over (believe it or not), team Balderdash and laughing at some truly hideous digital camera photos from the evening viewed on the TV.
My sister’s boyfriend, Jason, was dragged with my mother, sister and myself to Midnight Mass (Paul went to his own church) at around 11:25 for Christmas carols. The actual mass kicked off at midnight, at a time when all I could focus on was the thought of my bed back home, with the duvet already pulled back. Fortunately my mother left the offering envelope in the car so a brisk run in the rain and cold (which was the weather in Durban for the whole of the Christmas weekend) revived me enough to (just) stay conscious throughout the 1 hr 45 min service. Our old priest retired about a year and a half ago, and while his replacement must be wonderfully supportive and caring when you need counselling, as a preacher he is too by the book and dull. Although our old priest was moody, scary creature he at least kept you on your toes during mass.
On Christmas morning we were all up from before 8am to open a few presents before Jason had to join his parents on their trip for the day to Richards Bay. The list of presents that I bought for other people is below this post, but in terms of what I received, I ended up opening 4 DVDs (Batman Begins, Batman Returns Special Edition, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Four Weddings and a Funeral), 2 silver bangles and some costume jewellery, a movie-cover copy of CS Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, a new handbag, socks, undies and a scarf.
As a kind of bonus, it was cold enough on Christmas day for me to wear the leather jacket I bought earlier in the month, when I went down to Paul’s house for his family’s Christmas lunch. It’s pretty rare to be able to wear leather in Durban in December.
Before we had lunch at Paul’s we opened presents with his family. It was obviously no surprise when I opened my DVS Shoe Company takkies and rashvest from Paul, seeing as we had been shopping for them together a few weeks back. What was a surprise though was the Woolworths jacket that I received from his parents. I’d been eying it in the store a few months back but didn’t bother pursuing it. For the record, just like many women have a passion for shoes, I’m a complete jacket whore. I love Winter and cold weather so that I get to choose from my favourites.
Anyway, when it came to Christmas lunch and its gathering of 11 people, I did the sensible thing this year seeing that I was going to also be eating Christmas dinner at home in the evening (Last year I stuffed myself at Paul’s in the afternoon and could barely touch my dinner). I had a single spoonful helping of everything (turkey, gammon, lamb, pumpkin, rice, roast potatoes and peas) and didn’t take seconds. By this time though my 5 and a half hours of sleep came back to haunt me (I’d been using caffeine to keep me running) and I was very glad that Paul was going to be chauffeuring me back to my place. I doubt I could have concentrated enough to drive.
Back home we ended up eating after 7pm, which gave me time to recover a bit. Dinner here, with my parents, sister, grandmother, uncle and aunt and Paul was a strangely salty turkey, stuffing, roast potatoes, carrots and creamed spinach. Dessert was my mother’s made-only-once-a-year layered trifle. Meanwhile, there was absolute crap in our Christmas crackers- some deformed plastic planes and several Hitler moustaches. Genocide: how festive.
After Christmas dinner as a family we decided to play the drinking boardgame Pig Out that I had bought my sister for Christmas (it turned out to be an appropriate present seeing that Jason bought Leigh a fluffy little pig that sings My Girl when you squeeze its hoof). Turns out I’m one of those sleepy drunks. After a few rounds, I slipped back onto the couch with my Christmas hat over my eyes. I ended up in bed before midnight, making it one of the first Christmases in years where I haven’t seen the day both in and out.
Boxing Day began the laziness, eating of leftovers and post-Christmas blues. Paul and I spent the day at his house seeing his cousin and his girlfriend, who had been away on Christmas day. We at least got to put our years of Lego building to good use when we finally got around to assembling Paul’s new gym bench. I was in charge of following the instruction manual.
The only thing that did bug me that day was in the evening when Paul and I were watching an episode of The Family Guy on his new flat Dell monitor. Gypsy the cat had been eyeing the gym bench. Paul’s father saw this, and as a man who can never relax or sit still, it was a sign to haul out the tools and make some masonite covers. Paul, indoctrinated to jump when his father says so promptly disappeared for an hour to help. Of course I was annoyed. Although, I’m pretty sure that how your partner’s parents frustrate you are not one of those things that you can discuss with your partner, no matter how openness is encouraged by relationship therapists. An additional annoyance is that the bench, which is in the guest room (where I sleep) now looks hideous. Instead of draping it with a towel it has slabs of masonite and plastic tubing all over it.
It’s moments like that where you remember that so many of the world’s mythologies have stories about a younger generation of gods overthrowing their domineering parents and defying their authority.
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