“Morning is an important time of day, because how you spend your morning can often tell you what kind of day you are going to have.”
~ Lemony Snicket, The Blank Book
Saturday morning, 22 December, 2012. The world hasn’t ended.
Instead Harry the pup woke me up, and after a cuddle the dogs and I went for an early walk to pick frangipani to decorate the house. I’ve only been home since yesterday, after another round of doctors visits and such up in Brisbane, and our little cottage needs some fresh blooms and Christmas spirit.
The farm was shrouded in light mist, but it soon lifted and we were treated to an early morning balloon fly-over.
Today, it’s beginning to feel like Christmas. Until yesterday I wasn’t even sure how this year’s Christmas might look… I’ve been mostly away from my precious farm, thinking more about health things than celebration.
But now it’s shaping up nicely. Today we’re going into the Farmers Markets in Bangalow to pick up some supplies, and we’ll meet friends for coffee.
Then after a few hours work for me today it’s tree and decoration time. (Nothing subdued about that around here – our place at Christmas always looks like a team of sugar-high five year olds were let loose with too much tinsel.)
I am a firm believer that Christmas is what you make of it. It can be a difficult day for many, who are on their own, far from home, or estranged from family and friends. We’ve always had an open-door policy for Christmas. For me the spirit of Christmas is all about inclusiveness and love.
I invited a few friends around to share our day. My girlfriend wanted to contribute something and rang me, needing to know what our theme was.
Theme?
Oh my, how that brought back memories of my mother’s over-the-top Christmas Extravaganzas with eleborate menus and colour co-ordinated place settings.
Theme? Tropical! I decided. Why not? Let’s ‘theme’ Christmas.
And then something magical happened. Another friend with nowhere to go, and then a few more… “Oh, yes,” I kept saying, “do come. It’s a ‘Tropical’ theme!” Everyone became engaged. A Tropical theme? Pina Coladas. Hawaiian shirts, floral leis, shorts and sarongs and flowers in your hair. Perfect for an Australian summer Christmas. (Yes folks from the other side of the planet – we don’t do snow at Christmas time – we do prawns (shrimp) on the Barbie (barbeque) with mangoes and watermelon and refreshing fruit drinks. I would think the world was ending if we had snow here at Christmas.)
I am getting excited now. I am planning menus and decor. OMG – I have turned into my mother!!! (I am trying not to think to hard on that last statement. LOL!)
So this morning Bert’s busy collecting wood for the evening bonfire…
Harry is busy sleeping after running around like a demented pixie…
Ben and I are getting ready for a Tropical Themed Christmas – quite fitting for Byron Bay.
I’d better get the rum and fruit cake ready for Santa and leave out some dog biscuits? for his Kangaroos.
