Get in Early

Well Christmas/Hanukah/Kwanzaa/Winterval is over for another year. And they are already advertising next years Christmas hampers on the TV. I mean everyone gets all bent out of shape when the Cadbury's Creme eggs appear in the shops in February, but when you are advertising next years hampers two days after you've just gorged yourself on the contents of this years then you know the world has gone mad.

Actually I don't really understand the whole Chrissy hamper thing anyway. Surely it's easier and cheaper to just got to Woolies and buy all the stuff you need the week before the big day? After all, you always end up with a jar of Dundee Marmalade and some unidentifiable pickles from any hamper that never get eaten.

My Christmas was good, thanks for asking. I went to my mate's mum's for the big day, which was really nice but it's always odd to be at someone else's house for Christmas. They have different rituals and that's a bit strange. There seem to be two ways to do the Christmas day thing. One is get up early and open all the presents there and then in a blizzard of torn wrapping paper. The other is get up at a civilised time, have lunch and then open the presents in the afternoon. I've always done the former method (I mean as a kid I was sometimes up at 4 am) and that is what is normal to me. This year I did it the other way and it was a bit odd. I think it's because the "presents after lunch" way always seemed to be the really posh method. After 37 years of doing it one way I just can't get my head around the other way. Must be my poor, country heritage. At least some things are the same at every house: the feigned excitement at really terrible presents (I got wine so my excitement was real) and at least one, often many, really awkward moments when one member of the family gets drunk/stoned/belligerent for no reason/tearful with another member of the family. Oh the fun of a family Christmas.

Thank your gods it's over I guess. Now it's just time for the sales. Or more accurately the jumble sales. We went onto Perth today and it seems that the shops are suddenly full of crap. For example, David Jones seems to have moved out pretty much all the stock they had in there last week and brought in piles of crap that they are just selling in the sales. I mean it really looks like a jumble sale with stuff piled on tables and crammed into racks. In fact it was pretty much completely pointless gong into town at all. I mean the only thing I wanted to buy had actually increased in price since Christmas. That is not my definition of a sale.

So now it's all over and I have nothing to do until I go back to work after Australia day. Luckily the house I'm in now has cable tv so I have 50 channels to choose from to fill in time. Currently I'm watching Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall cooking pigeon pie with scrambled eggs and almonds and cinnamon. My god, these toffs will eat anything!