Christmas 2020
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Right, said the Meldrew whanau, let's think positive. So we have.
Christmas celebrations, except for the kids, has effectively been postponed 6 months to 25 June in Kent, with Boxing Day to 26 August in Cornwall.
We thinking we might go for an antipodean theme - fake snow on windows etc.
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@MiketheSnow Looks great. Not much in the way of ski lifts though I guess? Hardcore though mate, so well done - and good luck with the snow.
Looking more and more like my proposed trip to France at the end of January is going to be a non-starter
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@Catogrande said in Christmas 2020:
@MiketheSnow Looks great. Not much in the way of ski lifts though I guess? Hardcore though mate, so well done - and good luck with the snow.
Looking more and more like my proposed trip to France at the end of January is going to be a non-starter
Cheers
Yep all walking up. Worth it though.
Yours truly
Yeah the European winter season looks fucked
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@MiketheSnow said in Christmas 2020:
Yeah the European winter season looks fucked
Not sure if I flicked past this on a French news channel but there was a severe shortage of snow at some resorts ?
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@Victor-Meldrew Did they cover The Jam?
Would be brill if they did
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@NTA said in Christmas 2020:
@MiketheSnow said in Christmas 2020:
Yeah the European winter season looks fucked
Not sure if I flicked past this on a French news channel but there was a severe shortage of snow at some resorts ?
Down low yes
Up high more than enough -
The ex's choir did loads of modern stuff arranged for choirs - Ray Davies, Beach Boys etc. No Jam from memory...
The Eton College concert was very traditional but not stuffy at all. Atmosphere was out of this world. IIRC, I flew in from a snowy Basel and went straight to the concert.
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Not that big on Xmas and since 2004 it's been a day of driving and eventually getting shit-faced.
My wife and I live on Sydney's North Shore, wife's family live in Newcastle, my parents as well as my brother and his family in the Sutherland Shire and my son who lives with his Mum are in the North West.
So our Xmas has gone consistently like this for the past 16 years...
First, my favorite part, a tradition for the past decade or more with just my wife and me... a trip to Sydney's Fishmarkets at around 2 am on Xmas eve morning. We buy all the prawns, oysters and sashimi to take with us for Xmas dinner with the in-laws and then we sit down and have rather large snack of oysters, calamari and a lobster tail or two. It's usually pretty quiet at that time and it's just a nice time to take a moment and enjoy before the madness starts.
And the madness goes like this... We wake up early on Xmas morning to pack the car with gifts for all the nephews and nieces and then head off to pick up my son, 40+ minutes, then from there to the Shire and my brother's place for Xmas breakfast which always turns out to be more brunch, that's 1+ hour drive.
After Xmas brunch, it is take my son back home to his Mum's, 1:10+ minutes as the traffic gets worse, drive home from there, 45-50 minutes.
Unpack everything we've brought back from the Shire, then repack the car for two days in Newcastle.
Drive from Sydney's North Shore to Newcastle, can be 2 hours, can be 5 hours depending on traffic.
So it's usually about 4 to 6 hours of driving on Xmas day.
When we finally get to Newcastle it's unpack car and settle into our room as quickly as possible in order to crack my first beer. Drink 2nd beer and possibly 3rd beer and then take a nap.Get woken up by wife to say we're opening the Champagne now. And then the feasting begins. MiL is a great cook and since they are Hong Kong Chinese, it is usually a banquet meal with 8 courses and everyone tries to outdo each other with the bottles of wine we bring and consume. Usually, the 5 of us drink about 10 to 12 bottles. I'll sneak in the odd beer or two between courses. Post dinner it is usually a glass of port and then a whisky which my Father in law only drinks when he is pissed. Then I usually fall asleep on the couch with my father in law and brother in law whilst my wife and her Mum clean up a little before they give up and we all go to bed.
However, for the first time since 2004. Xmas 2020 was going to be different. As my son now drives, he was going to drive to the Shire meaning we can drive directly to the Shire and save ourselves a good 1 hour plus of driving. Then after brunch, my son would drive himself home and we would just go home and prepare as the Newcastle in-laws were coming down to our new apartment which we moved into here in Lane Cove less than 2 months ago. We had planned a big feast of salads, seafood and meat along with appropriate beverages.
Now with COVID running rampant across the Northern Beaches and greater Sydney, the in-laws are staying in Newcastle. My parents health is poor so they won't be going anywhere and as I have my own health issues, we've decided to just stay home and not go anywhere and just have the first Xmas with just the two of us... hmmm, maybe I might get lucky
However, all that said, it won't stop us from going to the Fishmarkets at 2 am on Thursday morning, but we will be all masked up
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reading these Sydney and UK stories there is no end to the dicks that Covid can eat.
It's been 6 years since i had christmas with my family. wonder if i'll get to do it next year? i had the nicest house booked at the Mount too.
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Bro and his family have successfully made it out of quaratine in Auckland... as in doing their 14 days and no positive tests!
Family Xmas out in Paekakariki with all siblings attending for the first time in a few years. Bro has been away from NZ for 20 years! Super stoked that they are moving back and will be local.
Xmas will be all about the kids (2x 4 years olds + Mr 11 months) while the rest of us eat, drink and veg out as much as possible. We tend to watch one of the official Xmas movies, so there will be at least one Die Hard movie and some brainless disaster movie on the cards.
Sounds like the kai is all sorted, which is good as the parent's place will be heaving and we have a lot of chefs in the family. I'm going to volunteer to do dishes and leave Dad and my bro to battle it out lol.
Very aware of how lucky we are this holiday season. Will be drunk and online wishing you all a merry xmas at some stage I'm sure!
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turns out my 'boring Christmas' with the family (in Dargaville) will still be many times better than plenty around the world!
Father-in-law is stuck in London on his own.
@Paekakboyz this seems even more relevant right now
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@taniwharugby said in Christmas 2020:
(in Dargaville)
COVIDelectricity won't have reached there yet will it? -
Was supposed to spending Xmas in Queensland, lunch with my Mum and evening with some Chinese-Malay-Aus Catholics, so lots of good Malay-Chinese but with some religion shoved in there.
Now that is canned having an orphans Xmas with a Palestinian, an Indian, an American, a Jordanian and a Belarusian with everyone bringing a food from their area. So should be fun with good food.
I'm going to make a Pavlova because we're in the city and there's nowhere to dig a pit for the hangi.
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@Nepia said in Christmas 2020:
Was supposed to spending Xmas in Queensland, lunch with my Mum and evening with some Chinese-Malay-Aus Catholics, so lots of good Malay-Chinese but with some religion shoved in there.
Now that is canned having an orphans Xmas with my a Palestinian, an Indian, an American, a Jordanian and a Belarusian with everyone bringing a food from their area. So should be fun with good food.
I'm going to make a Pavlova because we're in the city and there's nowhere to dig a pit for the hangi.
That sounds like an awesome Christmas idea.
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@Hooroo said in Christmas 2020:
@Nepia said in Christmas 2020:
Was supposed to spending Xmas in Queensland, lunch with my Mum and evening with some Chinese-Malay-Aus Catholics, so lots of good Malay-Chinese but with some religion shoved in there.
Now that is canned having an orphans Xmas with my a Palestinian, an Indian, an American, a Jordanian and a Belarusian with everyone bringing a food from their area. So should be fun with good food.
I'm going to make a Pavlova because we're in the city and there's nowhere to dig a pit for the hangi.
That sounds like an awesome Christmas idea.
Yeah, it should be fun, we'll have a few beers and play some cards/board games, then watch Tenet to see if it makes more sense drunk.
Hopefully the Palestinian and Jordanian don't both just bring hummus and bread.
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@Nepia said in Christmas 2020:
Hopefully the Palestinian and Jordanian don't both just bring hummus and bread
Hopefully the Palestinian and Jordanian aren't both thinking "hope the Kiwi doesn't do Pavlova - it's just meringue and whipped cream FFS. Yeah and isn't it dinki di Aussie anyway?"
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@dogmeat said in Christmas 2020:
@Nepia said in Christmas 2020:
Hopefully the Palestinian and Jordanian don't both just bring hummus and bread
Hopefully the Palestinian and Jordanian aren't both thinking "hope the Kiwi doesn't do Pavlova - it's just meringue and whipped cream FFS. Yeah and isn't it dinki di Aussie anyway?"
Yep! You need to do a rolled shoulder of Christmas lamb, @Nepia!!
