Bernadette and Wayne have been making a rockery in one corner of the back deck area, and we went and got a ton of 'river rock' from the local stone yard for $30...which was pretty cheap methinks...
You'll notice that it looks a bit brown, but that's just the mud that was on it. We surreptitiously used the hose to wash it all down after this, and the colours are....well, pretty much what you'd see in a bubbling brook. (Blues, and yellows and stuff) Looks good.
It's an important emergent truth, that Christmas is not about religion and the birth of Jesus, and with the passing of each year, it becomes less and less about that and more explicitly about the profits of retailers, and this year's collective retail spend over last year's. For me, the festival seems to sort of sidle up in a sneaky sort way, smack me round the head, and then suddenly I feel a bit fleeced and taken.
Not that I dislike Christmas per-se, but its the bit about selling to kids, and selling kids dreams, and that feels most like we're all being fleeced. In Australia, the whole thing seems to be less hyped in some ways, although there is still a massive amount of commercialism, but this year at least, the commercialism seems less 'ugly' than it did in the UK.
We all got together for the Christmas meal last night (Christmas eve) because Andrew and Lee had other commitments on the day, as did Carlene and Ian. There were 17 of us at the meal, which was something of a collective effort and a fabulous do.
Prior to the meal, the kids, Daile, Bernadette and I all went out in the Ute to look at the Christmas lights locally. The kids of course enjoyed the ride as much as the lights, and lots of people were doing the same thing, either in cars, or on foot. There was a pretty festive atmosphere, almost carnival, and lots of families were sitting about drinking and stuff in their front gardens yelling 'Yeeha' and 'Happy Christmas' and what have you as we slowly paraded past.
Earlier in the day, the kids and I built a ginger-bread house as is our tradition, only this year, we did a more ambitious version. Sadly, there was a 'violent storm' or something, cos we suddenly noticed that the tree had 'blown down', and all the branches had fallen off....! Shame, but I guess its not really designed for being all that structural eh?
Here it is fully loaded! (By the nippers)
Thanks for all the stuff we got everyone!
Gill, here's a pic with me wearing the shorts you sent. I'm also sporting a new 'sun screen top' (from Daile of course), and a new shirt that reads 'Despite the look on my face, you're still talking'. The body board and stubby flippers are from Daile too, and we're all going to go down the beach tomorrow to see me drown! Ha ha...hope not. Seriously though, when the surf's up, it can be easy to get caught in the rip, and we'll be making sure that we're in between the lifeguard's flags. She got a camping mattress, and snorkeling gear...so she'll be in, when I'm watching the kids.
One thing that they do here is limit the present buying for adult family members by having a list of the adults and pairing two names randomly, so that each person buys one other person their present, and it has to be for $100 or there abouts. The result is that, on the whole, the effort is less stressful, less expensive, and everyone gets a decent present. But on this occasion, I also got an additional present from Wayne, that he'd remembered me waxing over some time ago. It was a little remote control helicopter. Out of the box it just works, and is designed to be flown indoors. We had great fun with it, and Matilda in particular has got the bug! However, the funniest thing is that Monty is driven to distraction by it, and chases it round, barking at it, and trying to snaffle it when it gets low. Of course as soon as he gets near it, it snips his nose. Its very funny...although a bit noisy for those not involved..
As this goes to 'press', its about 6.00 am UK time Christmas Eve. HAPPY CHRISTMAS to you all, from all of us.
:-)
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