Bring in the New Year

I have just celebrated Christmas for the 67th time. Wow that's a lot of Christmas's. Although the first few I don't remember and probably a few more I have wiped out. It was great this year to see the grandchildren so excited. We were also lucky with the weather. Tony had been working on the pool to have it "just right" for Xmas and we got a 33 degree day.

We started the day by opening the presents then going for a swim. By the time we were ready to eat the weather had cooled down a bit and we were able to sit outside. Craig and Anny provided the Enchiladas for entree. David cooked the turkey and Simone made the stuffing to go with the ham, pork, prawns, oysters, mixed veggies and salad. When all this had settled we went inside to have a beautiful dessert of Lime cheesecake and Berry Yogurt Cake which Kerry-Ann had made.

Of course I always have some disasters ......one the Christmas cake I burnt. Its not too bad if you cut off the top and bottom. I also had a problem when I was making some small quiches to take to our card night party. I could not get the pastry to kneed properly. I was getting rather angry and was about to throw it all in the bin. I then decided I was not going to let it beat me. I put some more milk in and broke it up into smaller pieces and rolled them out. They turned out ok but next time I'm just going to buy the ready made pastry.

I was waiting for Melissa to call on Christmas Day and when she did I said the wrong thing and made her cry. I hope this did not spoil her day!

The last 2 days have been quite relaxing. I have watched 10 episodes of the latest series of Dexter......only 2 to go. I can then start the 2nd series of Glee. Felise is wrapped in Glee and know all the characters.

We are going out on a friend of a friend's boat for a bbq on Wednesday. Will let you know if I have survived this in my next blog.

Forgot my password

Its been a while since I have had to log in my password and it slipped my mind completely. So I have spent the last ten minutes trying to reset a new one. Well here I am. That's not the only thing I have forgotten lately. I spend all last Sunday afternoon searching through old papers trying to find my maternal grandmother's birth certificate. I found it some months ago and noticed that she was born in England. At the time I did not notice where abouts in England so I have made it my mission to find out. Of course, I cannot remember where I put it but came across some interesting old letters. One was from my Dad's cousin written in 1938 advising him that he had been left some money by his Uncle. This is the uncle that lived in Belluvue Hill and where we spent many Christmas's when we were wee tots with all our cousins. The cousin is also the brother of Laurence, the one the caused a ruckus at my brother, Geoff's, funeral. Anyway the sum he was left was £34.7.7 which must have been a decent amount in those days. It probably paid for my Mum's engagement ring. I also found letters written by Kerry-Ann when she was overseas in 1991 and a letter from David when he was at a school camp telling me how dreadful the food was, how the rain was spoiling everything and would I have his favourite food and a warm bed for him when he got home. It was an interesting afternoon but I did not find that certificate. I am more determined than ever to do so. I know I can go on to ancestry.com and get a 14 day free trial but you then have to ring up to cancel it so you don't get charged. I have done that several times with dvd offers and would like to avoid it if possible. Sooooo onward looking.

We had our Christmas lunch at Tebbutt Lodge last week. Rev Gardner and all the dignities where there as our Manager, Helga, was receiving an award for her Special Services to the Wesley Mission. I had my last day for the year on Tuesday. Nellie, the lady that always holds on to her handbag for dear life and grunts, has come a long way we me this year. She now participates in trivia and even cracks a few smart remarks. The wedding is off between John and Diane. John has been in hospital for the last 2 months and Diane had now found out he won't be coming back to Tebbutt as he needs a place with a bit higher care. We are giving our pregnant volunteer, Olga, a baby shower after Christmas. She is such a sweet little thing. I think the resident's will get a kick out of that.

Last Thursday they held a ham raffle at Parramatta RSL........lots of whole hams and half hams.

We were going out on Friday with Peter and Carol (Dubbo friends) for dinner there so we asked them would they mind going Thursday instead so we could go in the ham raffle. They agreed so we brought $10 worth and they did as well. Guess who won the ham. That's right, they did.......and a whole one at that. The previous Sunday we had spend a few hours they waiting for this $10,000 draw. Only they drew 2 names out every 1/2 hr which meant we had to stay there. So we had afternoon tea, then dinner and didn't even get our names pulled out. There was one consolation, I had my name with another lady's pulled out for "the price is right" and had to guess the price of a bottle of olive oil with garlic. For the correct answer I received a gift basket. So the time was not completely wasted.

.......Roll on Christmas.