Merry and bright

May your days be merry and bright and may all your Christmases be white

May your days be merry and bright 

I was awake early on Christmas Day, more because the sun was shining in through the bedroom window rather than excitement that Santa might have visited. I was far too old to get excited about a man who only comes once a year. I crept into the lounge, placing my secret Santa gifts & a present for Dave & Brian under the tree. Three bright red stockings with white furry trim were already under the tree, bulging with gifts. Dave and Brian were soon up, Brian announcing “I think Santa has been, there is fluff from his stockings all over the carpet”. Clearly Santa enjoys a spot of cross-dressing when he visits Sydney. Over coffee we each opened the gifts in our stockings. It was nice that “Santa” had included me. He clearly knew me well as my stocking contained a small bottle of gin, some tonic water and a lime, some chocolate coins and a Toblerone.

After a quick dip in the pool and a champagne breakfast we headed off to Garrett’s, a friend of Dave and Brian’s, where we and several other people would be spending Christmas Day. We loaded up the car with presents, alcohol and food. I was in the back seat holding on to the turkey, Brian had the unenviable task of sitting up front holding the gravy Dave had made the day before. En route we collected a friend of theirs, Iain, and were soon at Garrett’s, turkey and gravy both surviving Dave’s driving. The rest of the gang for the day comprised of Ryan, his friend Christa and Kuan. I had met Kuan the previous night at The Beresford although we hadn’t really chatted much. He had been in a bit of a panic that there wouldn’t be enough food so had gone off to try and find a store still open late on Christmas Eve to do some last minute shopping. From the spread of food already out on the table for lunch it was clear we were not going to go hungry. We wouldn’t have gone hungry had a coach load of unexpected guests called in to help eat all the food either.

We had lunch out on the roof terrace, every inch of the table taken up with plates of food. We made a good dent in the food and soon everyone was sitting back, pleasantly full and saying how they didn’t need anything else to eat. Eating until I couldn’t move made it feel like Christmas, even if I was sat outside in the sun wearing factor 30 sun cream. As we sat in a post food silence Kuan said he would go get dessert, this being the part of the feast that he had made. Everyone, apart from me, had been responsible for various parts of the Christmas Day meals. I was hitching a ride on Dave and Brian’s turkey and gravy contribution. Kuan returned shortly with an impressive looking cake (white chocolate cake with peaches & mangoes in champagne jelly) before heading back in, I assumed to get some plates. A black forest cake and a large trifle were also brought out. We somehow managed to get through half of the white chocolate cake, the other two desserts returned to the kitchen untouched.

After lunch we all donned Santa hats and took a much-needed walk down to Bronte Beach. The place was busy, people lining the beach and the grassy area behind it, a number of barbecues were on the go. This was the mental image I had of an Australian Christmas. What we thought was going to be a leisurely stroll down to the beach and back turned into a bit of a route march and we returned to Garrett’s about two hours later, having walked all the way along the coastal path to Coogee beach. My first glass of wine on the return went down rather quickly. The kitchen was only big enough for a couple of people so I volunteered to stay out of the way with Ryan and Kuan. We sat on the terrace and played several rounds of Spot It! which brought back memories of Nashville. Our traditional turkey dinner was served around 9pm. Nobody managed dessert.

And may all your Christmases be white

The evening was rounded off with the secret Santa gifts. I got a copy of Bill Bryson’s Down Under which I was very pleased with. I had nearly bought at the airport in New Zealand with my last remaining currency but had opted for a bacon sandwich instead. I had a catch up with my sister and Mother on Skype to wish them a Happy Christmas, my sister telling me that I didn’t appear to be anywhere near as drunk as she thought I would be. I took it as a compliment. We left the car at Garrett’s, sensibly calling for a taxi given we had all had a few drinks. The taxi driver got a little lost but we were soon home and I crashed straight into bed after a very long but enjoyable southern hemisphere Christmas.

Boxing Day got off to a sedate start. Over coffee and some toast we watched the start of the Sydney to Hobart boat race. From Dave & Brian’s balcony we could see the boats in the distance. We returned to Garrett’s at lunchtime in order to collect the dishes that had been left behind the previous day.  There was also the matter of two desserts, untouched the previous day that would need to be tackled. Over coffee we made inroads into the black forest cake and the trifle. We gave it our best shot, Brian even having thirds, but we finally admitted defeat. It was a while before anyone got up from the table, all of us enjoying a cake coma for a while. We finally loaded up the car and headed back to Dave and Brian’s for a quiet afternoon.

That evening we were joined by Em, a mutual friend from back in London. Em was over in Sydney visiting some friends and would also host me for a couple of days over New Year, my first lesbian host of my travels. We had got to know each other when we had been on the LGBT Employee Network leadership team together. I had been Head of Gays for a while, Em taking on the co-chair role when I finally gave in my dictatorship-like rule of the network. She and I have a love-hate relationship, I love winding her up, she hates having to put up with my childish behaviour. We are like squabbling siblings. After a drink on the balcony we went in search of a restaurant. A lot of places were closed but we found a nice little Italian place, opting to sit outside. Brian went off to get some wine for us to have with dinner. Not long after Brian got back with the wine we decided to move indoors as it had started to get quite windy. Over dinner we caught up on what was happening back in London with the gays. They seemed to be coping without my presence. Em and I managed to get through the whole dinner without winding each other up which was a little odd. It was probably because we hadn’t seen each other for a while. She redeemed herself at the end though, saying “See you Fattie” to me as she left the restaurant.

The following morning was another gay host handover day and I was packed and ready to go at the specified time. Dave and Brian were up too, neither of them ready, rushing around half naked as they packed. I texted Dan to let him know that I was ready to leave but that we might be at his later than planned. They were only heading off down the coast for a few days but from the pile of luggage building up in the hall you would think they were going away for months. I had seen them pack a Scrabble set and a pineapple. I didn’t want to pry into how they would be spending their evenings. We finally headed out an hour later than planned, one of my few travel delays of the trip.

  
“May your days be merry and bright and may all your Christmases be white” 
Lyrics from White Christmas from the musical White Christmas