AuzeeSheila
New member
G'day from Down Under and Merry Christmas to you all. It's very interesting to read about the cold weather you are experiencing up there at the moment, while we are suffering the other extreme of heat, heat and more heat. In other words, it is very hot and dry here in Queensland, where it is now summer. The vegetation is brown and we can't help it out because of water restrictions and you all have more than you want. Funny place, this planet we live on.
Years ago, because of our English origins, we used to have a traditional hot Xmas dinner such as you have, (being an English war-bride, my Mother-in-law wouldn't have it any other way) but gradually, we Aussies got smarter and changed the menu to seafood and cold salads. That's probably hard for you to imagine but it takes, for the women at least, just as much shopping and preparation as the old style menu. It also means we need 'fridges of all sorts for all the food and cold drinks imbibed during the day. Everybody arrives toting an 'Esky' (moulded polystyrene cool box with handle) filled with lots of soft drinks and/or bubbly, which is placed in a corner close to where the owner sits at the table.
We had the largest crowd of people we've ever had yesterday. There were twelve of us in all and it was quite a job for the menfolk to re-arrange the furniture to fit two large tables in one room. The younger ones, 20+ (no g-children yet) slept in and didn't arrive till noon, which made it harder to keep the seafood cool, but fresh, while we awaited their arrival. Ten million ants, looking for water, thought that all their Christmases had come at once, so we had a fight on our hands to keep them out of anything where ice was involved. As we don't have air-conditioning in this house, we found it hard not to melt into the carpet when the humidity hit the 80's. I'm sure that if we stood still too long, the ants would have swarmed us to get the moisture that was dripping off our noses as we tried to stand close to the industrial fan placed in one of the doorways.
My husband, Ron, went to the local seafood shop on Christmas eve and bought small lobsters, Moreton Bay bugs, and kilos of locally caught king prawns. We had smoked ham and chicken for those two who didn't eat seafood, along with the many salads and mangoes, lychees, cherries and stone fruit, fruit mince pies and other traditional festive fare for the day. I had so much food left over, due to the fear of not having enough, I was begging our guests to take some home. Ron had to go away to work at 5am this morning, which meant that there would only be two of us at home and all the food would be thrown out.
Everybody enjoyed the day and I hope we can do it again in my lifetime but I think I will be glad when one of the sons' wives takes it over, as I can commiserate with your wife Royal, and probably most women, about the stress of it all. I was sort of glad when the day was over.
This wasn't because of the company or the work involved, but because there was a bit of a cloud hanging over me. I was told I have incurable cancer in my bones (secondaries) in November and I didn't want the day to end in tears, so tried to make sure that the subject wasn't raised, even though we all knew that the reason everybody was here together on this day was 'just in case.' Everybody bought their digital cameras and there were flashes going off left, right and centre all day long. They will go well in the new digital picture frame (holds 80gb of photos,) that the boys gave Ron and I for Xmas. It seems as if I still have a lot of stories to write for my kids and not as much time as I thought a couple of months ago, so I will be wearing my fingers out on this keyboard for awhile.
I hope you all have a great New Year and you stick to at least one of your resolutions for a day or two.
Sheila.
Years ago, because of our English origins, we used to have a traditional hot Xmas dinner such as you have, (being an English war-bride, my Mother-in-law wouldn't have it any other way) but gradually, we Aussies got smarter and changed the menu to seafood and cold salads. That's probably hard for you to imagine but it takes, for the women at least, just as much shopping and preparation as the old style menu. It also means we need 'fridges of all sorts for all the food and cold drinks imbibed during the day. Everybody arrives toting an 'Esky' (moulded polystyrene cool box with handle) filled with lots of soft drinks and/or bubbly, which is placed in a corner close to where the owner sits at the table.
We had the largest crowd of people we've ever had yesterday. There were twelve of us in all and it was quite a job for the menfolk to re-arrange the furniture to fit two large tables in one room. The younger ones, 20+ (no g-children yet) slept in and didn't arrive till noon, which made it harder to keep the seafood cool, but fresh, while we awaited their arrival. Ten million ants, looking for water, thought that all their Christmases had come at once, so we had a fight on our hands to keep them out of anything where ice was involved. As we don't have air-conditioning in this house, we found it hard not to melt into the carpet when the humidity hit the 80's. I'm sure that if we stood still too long, the ants would have swarmed us to get the moisture that was dripping off our noses as we tried to stand close to the industrial fan placed in one of the doorways.
My husband, Ron, went to the local seafood shop on Christmas eve and bought small lobsters, Moreton Bay bugs, and kilos of locally caught king prawns. We had smoked ham and chicken for those two who didn't eat seafood, along with the many salads and mangoes, lychees, cherries and stone fruit, fruit mince pies and other traditional festive fare for the day. I had so much food left over, due to the fear of not having enough, I was begging our guests to take some home. Ron had to go away to work at 5am this morning, which meant that there would only be two of us at home and all the food would be thrown out.
Everybody enjoyed the day and I hope we can do it again in my lifetime but I think I will be glad when one of the sons' wives takes it over, as I can commiserate with your wife Royal, and probably most women, about the stress of it all. I was sort of glad when the day was over.
This wasn't because of the company or the work involved, but because there was a bit of a cloud hanging over me. I was told I have incurable cancer in my bones (secondaries) in November and I didn't want the day to end in tears, so tried to make sure that the subject wasn't raised, even though we all knew that the reason everybody was here together on this day was 'just in case.' Everybody bought their digital cameras and there were flashes going off left, right and centre all day long. They will go well in the new digital picture frame (holds 80gb of photos,) that the boys gave Ron and I for Xmas. It seems as if I still have a lot of stories to write for my kids and not as much time as I thought a couple of months ago, so I will be wearing my fingers out on this keyboard for awhile.
I hope you all have a great New Year and you stick to at least one of your resolutions for a day or two.
Sheila.
