Christmas 2021, in similar style to 2020, has been dominated by that sneaky Coronavirus. The Christmas of 2019, which occurred just before a pneumonia outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan, was another doozy. Most of the east coast of Australia seemed to be on fire, particularly the spectacular Gosper's Mountain blaze that burned for months prior to the heavens opening and being doused by flood after a savage and prolonged drought.
So, we gathered at Station House with Peter P (the Station artist-in-residence), his gorgeous wife Ann, the divine Mizz Jan and urbane partner Greg and canine visitor Macca for Christmas dinner. Being outstanding pillochs of society, characters in Christmas cracker tug-of-war, silly horn blowing and party popper pulling. Donning jaunty paper hats and engaging in spontaneous adlibbing using our cracker offerings, we ate, drank and laughed our way through a wonderful evening.
Boxing Day and the next day-and-a-half involved the Melbourne cricket test. Shrugging aside its false reputation of being more boring than watching paint dry, the test match was full of drama and see-sawing fortunes. Before lunch on Day Three, the Australians had wrapped up the match and the series, retaining the Ashes, symbolised by a very small urn that reportedly holds the burnt wickets lost by the Poms in the game played in 1877. Somehow, the English seemed to have lost their way playing the long version of the game with the red ball. May they regroup to give the Australians a run for their money in the Sydney test.
We spent two days residing in Perth's northern suburbs at the home of Cal, Bron, Immy and psycho Ragdoll cat Ragnar. Callum was sporting some impressive scratches from a covert attack by Ragnar on his ankle, with no provocation whatsoever. Apparently, his feline nose had been put out of joint by a visiting aggressive dog next door who enjoyed gnashing his teeth and bashing the boundary fence. Thus, Ragnar spent most of our stay confined to barracks away from Stella and Pip, except when he briefly emerged to cast his evil stare at Stella on the other side of the safety barricade.
In spite of the unpleasant hot weather, we thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of our second Christmas celebration. On our first evening, we were utterly astounded by Callum's magnificent dinner with all the trimmings. The second dinner boasted deep fried orange chicken pieces with an outstanding fried rice. Not to be accused of simplicity in his cooking, Cal had extracted the orange oil from the rind, a process that took two days to achieve. The fried rice was also concocted in advance, leaving Callum with all his creative energy to cook the chicken to perfection, followed by the construction of this jaw-dropping dish. Callum had well and truly graduated from "Cooking for Idiots" to MasterChef magnificence. I immediately decided that I needed to visit this establishment more often, as having a live-in chef as a son was almost too good to be true.
We also shared some Secret Santa surprises with Cal, Bron, Immy and Alex. This was great fun. I realised how proud I am of my boys. At thirty and thirty-two, Al and Cal have grown up to be fabulous young men. Alex will always be our Autistic Superstar, but he never stops trying to better himself and learn additional social skills. Callum, who is agreeable, articulate and tolerant is caring of his brother, unconditionally loving of his wife and daughter and uber cool as our son. He has also tried his very best to keep communication open with his sister, regardless of her reticence to connect with her wider family.
Bron, my gorgeous daughter-in-law, a firecracker strawberry blonde who puts up with no nonsense from Callum had blossomed into a remarkable young woman. They first met on 22 November 2010, built their home in 2015 and married in 2018. Immy was born on 6 December 2019, just before the Covid pandemic took hold. Imogen has become the star at the centre of our family. Adored by six grandparents, great grandparents, aunties and uncles, Immy has grown into a bright and beautiful little girl, all big eyes, long eyelashes and curly hair. We were delighted to spend two nights enveloped in her engaging toddlerhood and much loved by her parents.
Currently besotted with Blippi and Bluey, Imogen was showered with Christmas goodies to enhance her curiosity and development. A miniature kitchen and supermarket checkout, a variety of familiar "groceries" and a slide for outdoors was all part of her third Christmas. We hope to be included in many more!
Experiencing unease around dogs at present, she behaved with aplomb around Stella and Pip, waving at them and saying "Bye!" if they came a bit close for her comfort. In return, the dogs were exemplary in their responses. Stella snuck a couple of foot kisses and she and Pip enthusiastically participated in any required cleaning duties.
We returned home to the happiest of cats, both expressing their pleasure through purring and rubbing their bodies against us. The gasping garden demanded our immediate attention with the afternoon temperature peaking at a blistering 42 degrees C (107.6 F).
I am going to blame the heat for my addled brain. This post has taken three days to write, but I reckon this is a fairly legitimate narrative of our very merry Christmas.
Callum, Bronwyn and Imogen - 30 December 2021.
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