Kelly's World

Photo credit: OSUBeaver13

Over the last few years, I’ve tried to get a bit of a “Christmas Newsletter” written for my mum to send out to all of her friends and our other family members as a way of updating them on what we’ve been up to. Note the word “tried”. I think I’ve only done it once, maybe even twice. I plan on doing it again this year.

While I was hanging out with my mum and sister yesterday, I asked them for points on what they’ve all done this year. It really became apparent just how much of a massive year of change 2011 has been.

For me alone, I separated from my boyfriend of 11 years, moved home with my mum, moved into a share house with females (my first time ever really living away from a parent of some kind, given that my ex and I used to live with his mum), changed jobs and got into another relationship. All within the space of 12 months. That’s pretty crazy, and that’s not even including all of the stuff on my 52 in 52 list.

I wonder what 2012 has in store for me?

Photo credit: OSUBeaver13

So the count down to Christmas has begun. In just over a month it will be that time of the year, the one that all the shops try to convince us that it’s all about the presents you give. Not for me. I know it sounds cliche, but I just love Christmas because of the family gatherings. My mother’s side of the family is quite extensive, and every year we try to get together for a big feast and generally spend some time together. I love my family, and I would be devastated to not spend Christmas with them.

But I’m getting off topic here.

One of my 52 in 52 things is to celebrate the 12 days of Christmas. If you’re not familiar with the song, here’s a cool Destiny’s Child version that’s basically the same thing:

No matter what version of the song you listen to, it’s basically about listing what presents they received from their true love. However, I don’t plan on insisting that I receive presents each day in the lead up to Christmas. For me, it’s about giving, therefore I’ll be celebrating by spoiling my true love, and giving him something special in the 12 days leading up to Christmas.

There are quite a few logistical challenges involved. The biggest one is that the nature of his job means the time we get to spend together is going to be varied and irregular. There might even be days when physically it’s just impossible to get some time alone. This means I need to find a way to ensure that he gets something without the need for my presence. These ones will have to be material gifts, something I’ve planned in advance (not to mention given him strict instructions he’s not allowed to open the present until that day).

I also don’t intend for this to be an expensive exercise, nor a materialistic one. So unlike the lyrics in the Destiny’s Child song, my true love won’t be receiving keys to a CLK Mercedes. He probably wouldn’t fit anyway (downside of being so tall).

Thus the question now remains, what do I give him?

I’m thinking that for some of the presents they’ll be along the lines of “services”, like a cooked breakfast/dinner that he wasn’t expecting, a back massage etc. For the days I can’t be there or our time together is limited I want to have some nice little gifts to give him, something that will make him happy. It’s going to take some serious thinking, as he’s not one to say “I want xyz”. I’m going to really have to pay attention to him, as well as use my knowledge from the past 6 months of dating to recall the small things that made him happy.

Have you ever celebrated the 12 days of Christmas before? If so, what presents did you give out? If not, are there any other Christmas traditions that you do every year?

It’s now 2 days after Christmas, technically the first “public holiday” since Christmas fell on a weekend, and I feel like I have only just recovered. I knew I was looking forward to it, I just didn’t know I was going to have that much fun!

I have quite a large family. In my immediately family, I have my parents and one sister (and by blood another sister, although I don’t consider her part of my family anymore). However, my mum is one of seven, and all my aunties, uncles and cousins are quite close. This year, with the exception of two of my uncles, we all gathered together at a hired scout hall in Brisbane, along with some others considered close to the group. Judging by the numbers it became immediately clear why we needed to hire a hall – there was no way that group was fitting into anyone’s house!

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Christmas Day, spent with family and friends. What an awesome, awesome day. I’ve blogged the whole day here if you’re interested in taking a look at what I got up to.

It’s 6.30am, I’m the only one up and the person left in my bed (Mat) is going to be a very hung-over boy when he wakes up in a few hours. At least this year I’m not waking up grumpy at him, unlike last year when he was drunk & obnoxious because he was nervous about proposing. Most guys would be overly nice, but whatever

I’ll be heading to Brisbane in a few hours for the traditional massive family meet-up, I can’t wait. A year without the family gathering wouldn’t be Christmas. Plus, my evil ex-sister won’t be there so I’m willing to put a bet on there not being any domestics this year. Awesome!

So Merry christmas everyone, and I hope you all have a wonderful day with the ones you love.