Happy Christmas!

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December 25th – Christmas Day – overnight we had slept on the blow-up mattress in the lounge at Daphne’s and it was quite a successful experiment as it was comfortable and we both got a decent night’s sleep. The only problem was trying to stand up off the mattress!! We had to develop a “roll” off the mattress on to hands and knees – not very elegant but at least no-one else saw us and there were no photos taken to record the event!

It was quite a cloudy start to the day so we hoped that it wouldn't rain. We had a very casual start helping Daphne wrap up presents. We had been invited to Grant and Anna’s for Christmas lunch – a very grand affair where they catered for about 40 people!! A lot of work had been put into the preparation of tables outside on the patio so we were pleased that although still cloudy there was no real sign of rain. We arrived quite early and Charlotte and Amy were just putting the finishing touches to the table layout and Grant, Anna, James and Paula (Anna's brother and sister) were still busy in the kitchen. Gradually people arrived - we knew most of them and the few we didn’t know to start with we soon got to know when they realized we were Sarah’s parents. Sarah and Darryl must have made a fantastic impression in the short time they were here last year and earlier this year. Lunch was a huge success with plenty eaten, a considerable amount drunk and much merriment. Part of the procedure of the day is the “present distribution” - none of us (except Graham and I) had opened any presents on Christmas morning (and we only opened the ones we gave to each other). All the presents were taken to Grant and Anna’s and placed under their splendid tree. Then, at a particular time in the afternoon, everyone gathered in the lounge. All the children acted as messengers as they distributed the presents to everyone including themselves. It was a lovely family occasion and extremely enjoyable so many thanks to Grant and Anna especially and all the other regular party-goers for including us in this year’s celebrations.

As if that wasn’t enough, courtesy of the Whites and the Lynchs, in the evening we were invited to “Molly’s” house for more celebrations. Molly was the matriarch of the Lynch family and, although she sadly passed away a year or so ago, her name remains synonymous with the long standing event. Lynch family members Jim and Cathy together with her husband Geoff now live at Molly’s and they too had gone to enormous trouble organizing mountains of food and drink and a jolly good time was had by all. A very late departure was inevitable but with tea-total David doing the driving it meant that we could celebrate the day with the odd alcoholic beverage!

Once again we stayed overnight with Daphne and Boxing Day was a matter of gently recovering from the excesses of the day before. We eventually made our way back to the caravan and slowly got back into our caravan routine. Our main thoughts were now on our trip to the MCG and the second day’s play in the crucial Ashes Test Match. Day one had belonged to England so it would be fascinating to see if Australia could battle back into the match when they bowled at England. By the end of Boxing Day it looked as though they wouldn’t as England had already passed the Aussie total without losing a wicket!!! Go Poms.

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