Christmas Week

Well Dear Reader, I hope your Christmas was as good as ours. The weather didn’t entirely play ball, but we had a grand time all the same. Monday was lovely and sunny, but as the week has progressed the weather has become more unsettled and wet. However, even though Christmas Day started with some rain, by lunchtime when everybody was arriving at our place it had dried up and the sun was just about to come out.

Shopping on Monday was as manic as you would expect. The problem was made worse by husbands who appeared to have been dragged out for their annual food shop and were at a loss as to what to do, so just got themselves and their trolly’s in the way of the more seasoned customer. I also had a trip up to Murray’s Bay to discuss a modelling assignment with a photographer (which went OK) and did some wine shopping, ready for Wednesday. The laundry, once through the magic machine, largely looked after itself.

A bit more shopping was done Tuesday morning, to be followed by the preparation of lemon curd, sausage rolls and mince pies (which turned out very well this year I think). I started getting the garage ready for Wednesday, had a chat with Dawn and Barry when they came over to exchange gifts, and picked Nicky up early from work. Apparently there were not many borrowers around by 4.30 so Sally let most of the staff leave. I did a treat for dinner for Nicky and I; my favourite smoked salmon with pasta in cream and brandy sauce. We throughly enjoyed it and I left a bit of salmon over for Boxing Day breakfast. I spent the evening assembling a fan and watching Top Gear.

We didn’t let the dull and wet weather at the start of Christmas Day affect our plans. Nicky and I had a quiet breakfast of porridge, followed by present opening. We then started setting up the house ready for the family lunch: moved the tellybox into Claire’s room, set up three tables in the garage (the library table for first course, Ratigan table for desserts and gate leg table for drinks). We also put some seating round, and when the weather cleared up opened the garage door. We put 10 places round the dinning room library table and plenty of other seats in the lounge so that all the adults could sit at the same time. This arrangement worked very well. Even though it got a little warm with the ranch sliders closed, it meant that people weren’t constantly walking through the “seating area” to get to the food. The only problem for some, was being presented simultaneously with both first course and dessert. We did present opening between the two course and then a group photo after dessert. As ever, we had more than enough food, all of an excellent standard, and loads of hands to help with organising and tidying. Nicky and I were left alone by mid afternoon, though with a fridge stacked to the gunnels. Claire and Ryan came over about 5.30 and stayed quite a while which was great. The dishwasher earned it’s keep and we watched a Hugh Grant film to wind down the very enjoyable day.

Boxing Day was much quieter. We had leisurely poached eggs and smoked salmon on toast for breakfast, and then went over to Henderson to see Stella, who decided to join Nicky and I in going to the cinema to see Philomena, which we all enjoyed. We had a quiet rest of the day at home after returning Stella.

Nicky and I were both at work on Friday. I had a job in Takapuna so took the opportunity to visit Pohutakawa Bay afterwards, enjoy a bit of time in the sun and distribute a few flyers about a naturist event which is on next month. I got more laundry done when I got back in the afternoon, and we had dinner on the Ratigan before watching “My House in Umbria” which I had recorded previously.

After our Saturday morning breakfast of boiled eggs, we made a picnic lunch and set off for a tiki tour of Auckland. First stop was St Lukes to give Claire some slippers which Nicky had finished repairing for her the evening before. Then onto Kings Plan Barn for Nicky to spend some birthday money on plants and compost. Delivering and collecting of presents with Steve and Ros in Mt Eden was next, before heading over to Paul and Jenny’s to return some items that had left behind on Christmas Day. We had a very welcome cup of tea on their deck, and then had our picnic English style (the wind was quite breezy) at Cockle Bay. Last stop was Gledndowie. I went for a walk round the reserve and down to the sandspit while Nicky visited Ruth who was in good spirits. It was almost early evening by the time we got back and wasn’t long before we were onto our second pot of tea, this one accompanied with crumpets and mince pies.

Today started and finished wet, but was lovely and sunny in-between. We had a number of folks round for tea after church, and Nicky sandwiched Scrabble in Henderson with gardening - planting the plants purchased yesterday. I’ve just been ironing and reading, though I managed a good bit of sunbathing mid-afternoon.

And that’s Christmas. Onto the New Year.

Take care, Rick