{"id":45,"date":"2015-01-28T11:17:30","date_gmt":"2015-01-28T11:17:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/?p=45"},"modified":"2015-01-28T12:47:37","modified_gmt":"2015-01-28T12:47:37","slug":"the-joy-of-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/?p=45","title":{"rendered":"The Joy of Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"Phoebe<\/a>
Phoebe Christmas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\"Phoebe<\/a>
Phoebe in our pool<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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THE JOY OF CHRISTMAS\u2026..<\/strong><\/p>\n

I had a pretty big weekend again \u2013 culminating in a superb barbecue Sunday afternoon, which I am presently paying dearly for. I went down to Fisherman\u2019s wharf in the morning and bought some seafood off Mr Barra \u2013 a kilo of King Prawns, a dozen oysters and some Threadfin Salmon fillets. I made up my famous Lemon Butter prawns (who\u2019s recipe I conveniently stole from my sister-in-law and now claim as my own). I could see trouble ahead in the synchronisation of barbecued prawns and grilled Oysters, both Kilpatric and mornay. However, much to my relief (and probably everyone else\u2019s gastronomical delight), one of Phoebe\u2019s mates turned out to be a chef. So he did the oysters in the kitchen (didn\u2019t even have to read the book!) while the barbecue smoked away outside, under the careful eye of Damon (Phoebe\u2019s boyfriend), while I drank beer and watched contentedly on.<\/p>\n

At first, I believe it was through courtesy, that no one commented on the Christmas carols I had pumping through the speakers but after I brought it up, it seemed they had plenty to say. I still suspect a hint of sarcasm in Phoebe\u2019s sweet praise and singalong attempts. Chefboy brought his fiance Jane, along and she proved a lovely girl \u2013 admired my Snowy River poster, prancing horse and stockwhip behind the bar. When the second round of carols sparked up, Jane inquired as to whether it was Garth Brooks \u2013 I said no it wasn\u2019t, it was in fact Alan Jackson, but fear not \u2013 Garth was coming on next.<\/p>\n

She then confessed to being a huge Garth fan \u2013 loves country music (I started wondering how committed a fiance she was to Chefboy). I told her I had about 200 country CD\u2019s inside, if she\u2019d like to burn any \u2013 Chefboy protested with much vigour.<\/p>\n

After some beer, bourbon, rum and wine, I decided what we all really needed was a salty, gutful of slushy Margarita. So in I ducked and set too with the blender \u2013 half a bottle of Jose Cuervo, a healthy dose of Cointreau and a smallish measure of Margarita mix. I churned him all up with a jugfull of ice, generously salted the fancy glass rims, and whisked them out back to the anxious punters. They went down a treat, though the merits of the salt remained a matter of contention till the end. I, however, was unanimously\u00a0\u00a0 declared a masterful barbecuer (though, to be fair, I actually swiped the margarita idea from my brother the selfsame night I pilfered his wife\u2019s prawn recipe).<\/p>\n

Earlier in the afternoon there had been much playful banter and repartee as we commenced a few rounds of Bocce in the backyard. Unfortunately due to an earlier tropical downpour, the pitch was deemed a \u201cHeavy Track\u201d, so along with the other contenders, we had to endure long grass, leaves and soggy soil. The quality of play was variable at best but it was generally enjoyed as a novel way to build up a thirst.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve really enjoyed the build-up to Christmas this year but while I always look forward to the big one, I\u2019ve had reservations in the back of my mind about Christmas Day coming round this time. I put this down to my not wanting the silly season to be over again, because I\u2019m enjoying the good times so much.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve had carols playing in my car since the start of December, bought some flashing lights and decorations \u2013 even stuck some lights up at work. I usually don\u2019t do any of this \u2013 I\u2019m usually in Sydney by now, with all my family and friends. But this year, another bloke jumped in early and took holidays over Christmas, so I have to stay in Darwin. For the last few years my brother has come down from the Gold Coast before Christmas, with his family and we\u2019ve all been together in Sydney and had a ball, but they go back before Christmas Day. Normally I stay at the oldies, in my old room, and my sister brings her husband Johnny and their three kids around to sleep over on Christmas Eve. That way, though it\u2019s a bit of a tight squeeze, we all get to share the excitement in the morning. We run through all the old routines \u2013 taking photos through blurry, slightly hungover eyes, whacking the old carols on, leg ham and fresh garden-grown tomato on toast for brekky with a cup of tea. Chicken and pork and turkey and ham for lunch, hugs and kisses and presents and playing with new toys etc. I love every part of it.<\/p>\n

Driving to work the other day, I noticed how a lot of the Christmas songs have the \u201ccoming home to the family and friends for Christmas\u201d theme. I usually love this aspect, because that is exactly what I do, and Christmas to me means family, but I won\u2019t be there this time. It made me realise that perhaps my reluctance for Christmas Day to roll around might actually be the inner dread of waking up alone in my five-bedroom house on Christmas morning and trying to sound happy and excited, chatting on the phone to the kids.<\/p>\n

The feeling very much reminds me of Paul Kelly\u2019s \u201cHow To Make Gravy\u201d \u2013 a song from the perspective of a bloke stuck in jail over Christmas.<\/p>\n

Okay, enough sooky-la-la, the upside is that I actually have five weeks off and head to Sydney on the Qantas red-eye on the 29th<\/sup> December, so I\u2019ll be there for New Years and a fair while after. I\u2019m also spending Christmas day at a mates family party, with good company and plenty and tucker and drinks, so it\u2019s not half as bad as I made out, just missing the family I guess.<\/p>\n

So, I mentioned my recently purchased flashing lights. I scored these little suckers from Coles for the princely sum of ten bucks a box, which appealed as fair value, given there are 206 globes on each string (though I remain perplexed by the decision to attach such an odd number of globes together?).<\/p>\n

I also had to buy two packets of brass hooks \u2013 as there was nothing from which I could hang the cable. So up and down the ladder with a hook and a drill every three feet \u2013 it felt like the step routine from Aerobics Oz Style, only they didn\u2019t have to dodge a recently arrived, bulbous-eyed, smiley-faced staffy-dog every time they stepped down.<\/p>\n

Then, after I opened my two boxes of treasures, I stood dumbfounded after discovering the little fairy lights were clear globes, not the coloured ones I thought I had! That and the cable was green and not white, like all my paint.<\/p>\n

I decided to go with it anyway, I was already hot and sweaty and wanted to see some kind of reward for my effort \u2013 apparently patience is not among my strong suits. So back to the ladder. I finally got all the lights up and, feeling quite proud of myself, went to unleash my festive glory by connecting the power\u2026<\/p>\n

\"My<\/a>
My Darwin Chrissie lights<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now, these magnificent flashing displays come with a very special transformer-box-type contraption that plugs into the power outlet \u2013 unless you have an outdoor\/exterior waterproof-type outlet, like me \u2013 then, much to your delight, you\u2019ll find the boxy transformer body butts up against the wall and prevents the pins from actually slipping into their slots! So now I\u2019ve got a 45 metre, thick, black extension lead coiled in the corner, which said staffy-dog finds very comfy to sleep on \u2013 not sure of the repercussions of dozing in a haze of electromagnetic radiation, but she sure seems to spend a lot of time facing North these days…..<\/p>\n

\"50<\/a>
50 May St Post Party Shot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      THE JOY OF CHRISTMAS\u2026.. I had a pretty big weekend again \u2013 culminating in a superb barbecue Sunday afternoon, which I am presently paying dearly for. I went down to Fisherman\u2019s wharf in the morning and bought some seafood off Mr Barra \u2013 a kilo of King Prawns, a dozen oysters and … Continue reading The Joy of Christmas<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5K3B8-J","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions\/52"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewallaby.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}