The Best Laid Plans - Christmas 09

Some people love Christmas. I'm not one of them. For lots of reasons I haven't been a fan of Christmas for years. I've Bah Humbugged my way through more than I can count. This year the Poobah (my daughter) and I decided to have 'Unchristmas'.

We had one last year at her little flat in Woden. We stayed in our pyjamas all day, drinking strawberry daiquiris, eating un-Christmassy food and watching un-Christmassy videos. It was great fun.

This year we thought to have it at my house, and add a new dimension to it - these southern hemisphere Christmasses are usually sweltering, so last weekend I bought - tadaaaaaaaaa - The Wading Pool. Here it is, ocky-strapped to the back of the bike. The plan was to spend the day wallowing in the water ('hippo-ing', we call it), sipping strawberry daiquiris and having a BBQ, before watching the (now) traditional un-Christmassy videos.

But - after a week of hideous temperatures well up in the 30s,
we woke to 10mm of rain in the gauge, and a steady fall that would continue all day and all night.

The best laid plans... oh well. Forget the wading pool. There would be no hippo-ing this Unchristmas. We still did the strawberry daiquiris, though, heh heh.



And the BBQ, cooked by the very talented Boomerang Boy and his lovely assistant, Oscar bin Laden, once Boomerang Boy (who had a big Christmas Eve) had recovered enough to don the BBQ hat and pick up the tongs.

If I help, can I have the leftovers?

Good BBQ - high five, little dude!

And the rain continued... 30mm and counting!

And we did watch Mrs Henderson Presents and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. And also The History Boys. And there was much laughter as well as a few cinematically-induced tears - and a good day was had by all.

And the daiquiris kept coming, and eventually the old chook nodded off, and her lovely children couldn't help themselves. Actually, they could - and they did. They helped themselves to her camera and look what she found on it when she woke up this morning. At least they hadn't drawn a penis on her forehead (something the Poobah has been known to do in the past. Just ask her friend Leanne!)

And the rain did (still!) fall.



Yes, that is just under 50mm in the rain gauge. The ground should be nice and soft for all the digging I have planned for the next week. For now, though, from all at Chez Betty - Merry (Un)Christmas!