(Pictured above is Rita's son and heir with his dog, Muppet)
Popped in to see the parents yesterday, and it was refreshing to see the old customs still being maintained. Sitting nattily perched on top of their mailbox was a wrapped Christmas present with a hand written A4 sign attached to it, telling the postie that this present was for him.
The ‘olds’ have always bought at Christmas time for all our tradesmen – the milkman, the baker (in the old days when our milk and bread was delivered), the garbage men and the postman have all scored a present every year.
What ever happened to that custom? Should I have upheld it? It’s quaint and after seeing that, I felt bad that I’d omitted to leave presents out for my Mercury delivery man, and my postie, and my garbage guys.
But there would be no prizes for guessing what would happen nowadays to the traditional bottles of beer that Dad used to leave out for the garbos. It was OK to leave it out at Huonville when you lived down a not-very-often-used road, but in the middle of West Hobart you’re pretty well guaranteed that the garbos won’t be the joyful recipients of the beer left out on top of the wheelie bin to thank them for a good years work carting away all our rubbish.
The goodies are collected from Hill Street Grocers; the Nicholls turkey has been stuffed and half cooked; the presents are all wrapped; the last of the Christmas baking is in the oven now; family members have arrived to share the day with us; the tree is up and decorated. All is in readiness for a calm, relaxing and enjoyable Christmas Day. I hope yours is the same.
Merry Christmas to one and all.
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3 comments:
Merry Christmas to you and yours too Rita,
What a day. After yesterday and today, I have to say there is a lot to be said for dining out for Christmas lunch as we did last year.
The duck is roasted and carved, the pork belly poached and portioned, ham sliced, gravy and sauces made, new potatoes scrubbed and waiting, choc mousse cake decorated with coffee marscarpone , sausage rolls for dear Uncle Brian ready and waiting, even got the croissants ready for the morn.
I'm bloody over food!!!
Don't ever tell anyone I just said that, but dinner tonight looks like pizza.
The deck is ready and waiting for our 18 plus family and friends and really I can't wait.
Some, including myself, may ask why do we do it?
The answer is definately LOVE!
So, much love and best wishes to all, and to all a good night.
The magical elves that constitute my staff have yet again demonstrated their lack of respect in either not showing up for work at all, and those that have all seem a little worse for wear, if you catch my drift. All they seem to do is sit around smoking cigarettes that, quite frankly, smell funny. And they would rather play cards and tell dirty jokes than do their jobs! Consequently, I have had to prepare the bird, veg, gravy and make a huge tub of chocolate mousse to keep the missus happy!
Anyway, from myself, Henry and Ezra, have a Merry Christmas/Winter Solstice/Hanukkah/Festivus and a happy New Year!
I hope that all of your holiday photos turn out to be triumphs, your stocking is stuffed full of lots of tasty treats and not coal and that all your ginger bread men/women turn out just the way that you like them.
Hope you had a wonderful day Rita - we gorged ourselves silly at Montys as per usual and came home with left overs thanks to Matt and Nat (and by leftovers I mean the rear end of one of Lees pigs). It got pulled apart and carted to a casual dinner I went to tonight, and the majority of the remainder got sent home with the other half to be eaten as my fridge is busting.
Am looking forward to NO FOOD for a few days. Hope you had a wonderful day with the family.
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