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** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Hi, I'm Elle. I'm based in Auckland, New Zealand. I'm the mother of two young adults, the wife of an entrepreneurial gamer and the Queen of Unfinished Projects. This blog will contain poems, short stories, possibly photos and book reviews if you're lucky, and my thoughts on a variety of topics. Hope you enjoy it. |
Christmas went well. I think we did presents with the kids about 9am. Both kids especially loved the little memory books I made of our cats that had passed away earlier this year. Caitie cried, and Jayden said he had to work hard not to cry too. They both sat there and went through them before continuing with the rest of the presents. Jayden was really pleased with all the books he got, and Caitie seemed very pleased with her haul too. I'm not sure she really knew what to think about her trip to Brisbane. Too much to process? They were both very happy though. I got a lovely digital art portrait of myself that Caitie had made from scratch. Shit, she's talented. It might be extra flattering in terms of actually looking like me, but it's a fantastic picture. I got Alien perfume (which I chose) from Caitie and Steve, and a Pinky & The Brain t shirt (that I chose) from Steve (which he didn't even know about, so it was really from me!). The kids got a $20 Whitcoulls voucher from heyxie  each too, which she'd posted up.We spent a couple of hours pottering around the house doing last minute things and making up platters of food, dips, etc. Most of the housework was done though. Our elderly neighbours and their son turned up about 2pm or maybe 3pm. Colleen gave the kids $20 each, and she gave me a beautiful crystal lidded honey pot. It doesn't have a maker's mark, but it looks like the Stuart Crystal that I collect. She knows I collect it, and thought I'd like it. So lovely of her, and it's a beautiful piece. Then our neighbours on the other side and one of their four teenage sons turned up, with three of their Scottish friends. Dad arrived, and then Steve's parents. Dad seemed happy with his lottery ticket and his scorched almonds. I also gave him some of the Rugby World Cup beers that I'd kept for him (that he'd asked me to put aside). Steve's parents seemed to like their gifts from us (a cauldron-shaped mug for her, a cat-scented soap for him (just joke presents) and then a set of Samba cards, card holders and an automatic battery-operated card shuffler machine), although Steve's mum seemed a bit overwhelmed to be honest. She hasn't been well lately. They gave Caitie some Copic markers (which Caitie was thrilled with) and a Copic how-to-make-realistic-skin-tones guide which I'm sure she'll find useful. Jayden got $20. One of the neighbours had made some sangria, which we put in my drinks dispenser. The dispenser hold 7.5 litres, and it was full to the brim. I had half sangria, half lemonade, and it was very drinkable. The neighbour and the Scottish friend were drinking it straight. It wasn't too strong, just not sweet enough, that's why I added the lemonade. I drank four big glasses of it over the night, and we drank damn near the whole lot between us. I think there was about a litre left in the dispenser. Dinner went really well. Was delicious. Two slow-roasted legs of lamb, with roast vegetables, boiled vegetables and delicious gravy. Everyone really enjoyed it. The teenager son went home just before dinner but was replaced with a nephew and his girlfriend. Our neighbours obviously took 'the more the merrier' to heart! It was fine though, there was plenty of food. Then we had desserts. One neighbour had made her chocolate tart, another had bought two pavlovas, the Scottish lady had made a fruit salad, and Steve's mum had made a trifle. We didn't bother making the berries and chocolate plate that we had planned, because there was too much food already. And I completely forgot about the Christmas cake in the pantry (a gift from my boss) but we didn't have room for that either really. Steve's parents left pretty much straight after dinner. Most people left about 10pm I think, after they helped Steve do the dishes, which he was really pleased about as that saved us from a massive job the next day. It had been a total of 17 people for dinner. Dad took a couple of boxes/bags of recycling to put in his bin as ours was full, and he took a plate of leftovers. One lot of neighbours stayed for a little bit after that, maybe until about 10:30pm. He had a whisky before he left, and the Scottish couple stayed on drinking whisky and beer until midnight. Steve and I were so shattered by midnight. I mean, it was lovely that they were enjoying themselves and felt comfortable, considering it was the first time they'd been to our place, but seriously, we would have been delighted if they'd left an hour earlier! We were asleep by 12:30am. Dead to the world. Boxing Day we woke up about 9am I think. Maybe 8:30am. I woke the kids up, then used the leftovers from dinner to make an omelette for breakfast. There aren't many leftovers left really. A smidgeon of lamb, and enough vegetables for two people to have a meal maybe? Not bad. The kids took ages to get up and get ready to go, and we were on track to be at Steve's parents' at about 11am, except we had to stop and get ice on the way. And no one had ice. We went to eight service stations before we found one that had ice. Apparently the company that makes the commercial ice had broken a machine and so everyone was out. We didn't get there until about 11:45am. My nephew all liked the gifts we gave them, which is awesome. One nephew is easy to buy for because he's made for anything golf or fishing related, but we only see the other three once a year on Boxing Day, so that makes it hard. Steve's brother gave him a really nice wooden rolling pin, and the kids got chocolate. Lunch was lamb and beef, with potato salad and a green salad. I wasn't hungry, so I only had a small plate. Then there was trifle, and some little sweets (reindeer poo, snowman snot and jelly tips that Steve's mum had made), a berry and chocolate plate and a really terrible keto pavlova. I think there was quite a bit left over, but they had more people coming for dinner, so hopefully they could get rid of some of it then. We didn't stay too long. I think we left about 3pm. I was exhausted and Steve said he was too. And my mother-in-law really needed a nap, because she's nowhere near back to full health yet. So hopefully with everyone leaving (the rest left just before us) she would actually go and have a lie down. Spent the rest of the afternoon very quietly, trying not to fall asleep. Tomorrow one of Steve's business contacts is taking us out on his boat for a day of fishing, so that should be fun. |
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