All set for the new years celebration?

I am all Christmased out! It has been a strange one this year.

24 December 2002: Christmas eve spent skiving off work to do last minute shopping. Then it is off to a friend's house for dinner with his family and our friends. Great food, very drinkable plonk, and goodwill etc.

24 December 2004: Christmas eve afternoon was spent deperately looking for a whole chicken to roast for Christmas dinner. Found one, added a lamb roast thinggy that looked familiar (ie had seen one served at a grill somewhere) in my shopping trolley as I was feeding me, Doug, M (6ft 2) and his partner D (6ft4). Figured more is best. Also liked the thought of having farm friends together in the oven.

Then it was off to meet M, D and their friends for an early dinner before heading out to the Christmas carol session at the Town Hall. We had turkey in a nice, upmarket Italian cafe in Potts Point, with lovely house Verdehlo to accompany. Then it was off to the Town Hall. Where the MCC Gay and Lesbian Christmas Eve Service 2004 was being held. Doug turned to me and whispered "Wow, when M warned me that I would be the only straight guy at dinner, he wasn't kidding." It was a beautiful service. We sang carols(D cannot sing for nuts! Note to self: Do not bring him anywhere near a Karaoke bar). We listened to uplifting speeches. And a few boring ones. We celebrated goodwill for/to man, woman, lesbians, gays, transexuals, transgenders, and the generally confused (not my words, they were the reverand's). For me, it was a humbling experience to think that those at the service, those who are not kindly accepted by so many of the conservative religions, were there faithfully, without doubt, to pray to their own higher order, knowing that love and acceptance is a possiblity in this world. Such faith, such loyalty. The true spirit of Christmas.


25 December 2002: Lunch at No 27. I would be there early, after stopping by Cold Storage to pick up ice (traditional Xmas duty) and other bits like parsnip (Usually this entails a call to host as I would have no idea what a parsnip looks like). Arrive at 27, pretend to help while happily sipping glass of wine (drinking at 10am not sign of alcoholism if done at behest of host), eat, open pressies, watch video/pirated VCD and take nap. Go home.

25 December 2004: D still asleep at 4am. Try to wake him. He is not happy even after my explanation that technically we can open presents. Am forced to wait till 9am (well, I fell asleep but he doesn't have to know that) when his father calls to wish him Merry Xmas. I happily wake him up. We have breakfast and open a bottle of Moet (Again, champagne at 10am is not sign of alcoholism if someone else pops cork). He opens his pressies. In addition to the huge ass map, I bought him a tie (he has some ugly ass ones I am going to throw out), a book on the 40 must see sites before you die, and another book on the Ig Nobel Prize. The prize is given to academic researchers who carry out research that makes you laugh, and then think. One example is the study of homosexual necrophiliac behaviour among malard ducks. Another is one that suggests chickens prefer beautiful people. I was not allowed to open my pressie until we took a walk to our lookout point behind the flat.


Our lookout

I got this.





I must have been a very good girl this year, or a very, very bad one.

I said yes please. Firstly because I adore him. Secondly, I am so getting major brownie points for adding to the faith (this has been recently pointed out to me by dear friend who called today to reassure me that Damansara Heights was not, I repeat, not affected by the Tsunami). Thirdly, how can you not marry a man who only knows one jeweler because he remembered the movie?