http://www.pe.com/imagesdaily/2007/12-08/wham_400.jpgBonsoir my lovelies.
And how were your Christmases, may I ask? Too much food, so annoyed at family members, full of extreme dvd watching? Same here. But on the whole, mine was fun- time for a brief rundown? O-kay: here we go. Warning: It's a long one.
Then we showed dad what we had gotten him and mum for Christmas- a brand new HD, LCD Panasonic television. Flat screen and everything. Dad crooned and was suitably appreciative. Mum got home, frowned a little and proclaimed:
"But I don't know how to USE it!"
Well there's gratitude for you. Saying thank you never really was my parents' forte- it may be an Asian thing- they get shy and flustered and find it easier to say something peculiar rather than consider that it's the thought that counts.
[By the way, not really related to my Christmas but one of my mates at work gave his own spin to the annoying family rearing its ugly head on Christmas Day:
"We went and visited relos in Geelong and whenever we're around my grandparents, my parents put on all these weird airs and graces. I was just eating my food and my mum kept on saying "Take your elbows off the table". I felt like yelling "F*cken hell I always eat with my elbows on the table, leave me alone!"
You had to be there to hear it and laugh because this was coming from the cheeriest guy at work who wouldn't say boo to a cow. ]
Miffed and rolling her eyes into her orbits, BigSister retreated back into the kitchen where she worked on the prawn, radish and apple salad with home made mayonnaise while I delved back into the Upper East Side. Five episodes later and my head dizzy from too much tv, I joined her in the kitchen and helped her make these special potatoes where you fry them, season them, then submerge them in chicken stock and bake them in the oven. So good. We made the snapper and waited and waited and drummed our fingers on the kitchen top. Where was Dad? Christmas dinner is ready on time for once.
My dad was working on Christmas Day and said he'd be home in an hour. Dangnammit all that well timed organisation for nothing. We may as well have been disorganised, cooked with our eyes shut and watched the entire season of Gossip Girl without stopping.
Eventually he got home and we ate a feast. Dad said it would've cost $300 in a 3 hat restaurant while my mum kept on asking extra peculiar questions such as:
"And how much did this fish cost?"
"And how much was the television? Did you get it from Bing Lee?"
Again: there's gratitude for you. How about:
"This meal is awesome, and I love the television"
... now there's a thought.
Needless to say, everyone enjoyed the trifle. Hands down, the best dessert to date. Well done, BigSister.
The next day was Boxing Day and BigSister ventured into the scary world of Post Christmas sales, at the equally scary hour of 8 am, while I slept blissfully on. I snuck back into the world of xoxo Gossip Girl while my sister returned home victorious- shoes, sparkly Collette Dinnigan jacket and a wool dress all for a third of their original price. We ate leftover Christmas dinner and I exited Boxing Day feeling a little annoyed that I had wasted the day watching dvds. But then I considered that there wasn't really much else to do, and it was fine.
On Sunday my sister and I visited our old next door neighbour. She's 85 and her husband is 88 and they're the cutest couple you ever saw. We gave her a sushi making kit for Christmas and raided her fridge for some exotic chunks of cheese, bread, pickles, capsicim and Mango fool (it's mango chopped up into tiny pieces mixed in with milk). Yum. I kick started my New Years' resolution to drive more and drove up and back from Castle Hill. Proud as.
P.S I have six words (and eight items of jewellery) for you: Castle Towers Diva- Best Purchases Ever.
On Monday I moaned about the whys and wherefores of going back to work while BigSister told me to Snap out of it! and just ignore the impending gloom that is, the day after the Christmas break. But I don't wanna go back to work! I yelled, to anyone who would listen.
I met my sister's boss- a judge in the Supreme Court. Jovial, articulate and a food lover himself, we enjoyed the best Japanese that China Town has to offer at Menya. We slurped down our noodles, marvelled at the amount of soup he had spilled on his shirt "Just pretend it's the rain!!" before saying au revoir and leaving him to navigate his way back home through the city.
To top off my four day weekend, I caught up with my old friend Miss Louise, from high school. She's living the dream: working in Geneva, travelling the world, actually doing something adventurous with her life. If you know what I mean. We talked, took silly photos, cringed at the weirdo waiter who clearly had a crush on poor Miss Louise and wanted her digits and yammered on and on like the good old days. I love catching up with her and can't get over the fact that even though we go for loooong stretches of not seeing one another, each catch up is like a continuation of the last one gone by- we don't miss a beat, there is no awkward crevasse to bridge each time we speak, and it relaxed, easy and fun.
Like I said, on the whole Christmas break was a lovely mix of people, food and family politics. Today I returned to work sad and unmotivated. In fact, I probably declared from the moment I stepped into the office, that today with be a highly unproductive day. Work can start with a vengeance next year. It's still the festive season after all, right? right???
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