And so that was Christmas

And what have I done?

Another year over.

But the work goes on!

I’m on call tomorrow as part of the office holiday roster. I’d forgotten about that and sat bolt upright in bed this morning thinking … argh, I’d better check the dates.

Good thing I did.

As for Christmas, can you believe it snowed – copiously – in Tassie on Christmas Day? Even on Mt Wellington in Hobart. Brrrrrr!

As for my neck of the woods, the day went exceptionally well.

The youngest was fairly polite about her Christmas gifts. The eldest loved his yellow toe socks with cats on them. The kids gave me a stainless steel wok and wooden chopping boards, which I am very happy about as they further my quest to remove microplastics and teflon-y stuff from my kitchen.

The youngest drove us up to Newcastle on Christmas morning, with the first stop being the nursing home to see my dad, who sang songs to the kids and seemed fairly pleased to see us.

Then we arrived at my sister’s place. Christmas is my sister’s favourite time of year – so I gave her swimmers with candy canes on them as her gift, as I figured she needed a Christmas cossie for her festive repertoire.

Lunch was delicious – I took along a Recipe Tin Eats potato salad, a Fat Mum Slim tomato and burrata salad, Alana’s famous gucamole and a bottle of Mumm Champagne. There was a massive glazed ham, my sister roasted a turkey loaf and made a prawn salad and an Israeli cous cous salad, plus she prepared a platter of nibbles that included a very delicious brie Christmas tree nibbles.

We played a game of Charades, which came in a giant Christmas cracker. My mother and I tied for being the most inept at it. Mum’s impression of a penguin will stay with me for quite a while, as will my impression of wiping my butt to act out “bathroom” with everyone else.

Speaking of bathrooms … the only Christmas downer was the unwanted gift of a UTI – my first in a gazillion years – on December 23. I got some antibiotics from the pharmacist, but they don’t appear to be strong enough, so I’ve been busting for the loo every 20 minutes over the last few days.

Blaaaaaah. Not fun on two-hour car trips to Newcastle and back!

I’ve just dropped the youngest to the airport and she’s winging her way to my ex-husband’s side of the family.

I feel a little sad knowing it will be a long time before I have both kids under my roof again. We had a lovely few days in the lead-up to Christmas, going for a few dinners, watching tellie and having a swim together.

How was your Christmas?

Song of the day: FranK Sinatra and Bing Crosby “White Christmas”