102. Merry Christmas

COSTA DA CAPARICA - LISBON - PORTUGAL

Audrey's hand made stocking

Audrey's hand made stocking

Christmas propper started late in the Giantavan courtesy of Mother and Father Christmas coming home from Mary & Stuff* at two thirty then realising that we had to do the work of Santa's Elfs and wrap the presents.

Saw Brian about midday looking and exact facsimile of how I felt. He too, at two thirty am, had been informed that he was not about to slope off to bed as all the presents were yet to be wrapped. It was at this point, twelve hours later that we realised that the four of us could have wrapped and yacked from ten and totally avoided the own goal that left us in this state, Christmas morning.

Dam - Santa found us!

Children arrived at the unseemly hour of ten** in the morning, complete with Christmas stockings. Delightful as it was, two in the bed and four on top made for tropical conditions inside the bed. The unpacking of my Christmas stocking was deputised by the quorum and my appropriate reward was to be force fed white chocolate, via sweaty little hands, the chocolate which I am usually very fond, but not immediately on waking. I was able to feign enthusiasm and delight and got away with only eight segments which had my mouth approximating the equivalent of an unopened can of condensed milk. Seemed churlish to plead for temperate conditions so by the time the hoards departed in a rush so as to move the promised time of present opening forward I weakly crawled from the bed and stood steaming*** for some minutes.

Mary & Roman

First time in three months

Bacon and egg breakfast with waffles was the request of the children which, interspersed with phone calls to family, initially in NZ then the UK took us through to the early afternoon by which time a couple of rounds of Broken Orange Pekoe and pancreatic action had diluted my blood to the point where I could face eating something.

A pleasant afternoon followed including getting three vertical on roller blades/skates and accessorising Fyfes bike with a seat with a skull on it, reflectors and a stand. Unfortunately Fyfe returned from somewhere and caught me in the act of fitting Iris’ new front basket to his (new to him) beloved downhill bike before the task was completed.

Bike seat joy

Vertical

Thanks to modern farming techniques, we were able to purchase a chook that approximated a turkey which arrived complete with head and feet which I dispatched in private. It was already plucked for which I was grateful. Having a head and feet at my disposal presented all sorts of opportunities however a respect for Christmas and a healthy fear of my wife meant that the opportunity was wasted. This may be the first time that my applying discretion or self control has been recorded - am I loosing my edge?

The short day passed remarkably simply without meltdown which was a surprise considering how tired we all were.

Merry Christmas to all.

* Roman's noun for the McDonalds; Brian, Sheena and Mary

** Later discovered that sister Elizabeth and Tony and my Mum had been celebrating Christmas for four hours by this stage. When we phoned I think it was beyond Elizabeth’s comprehension to be allowed, by children, to start Christmas after the sun has risen

*** A mental image for readers to enjoy