SOMEHOW IT MATTERS

This year my Christmas calendar was jam packed - I had not just one family affair to attend, but two. 

The first was Christmas eve at my family home - and as always it was very laid back under the trees, with loads and loads of food and inappropriate laughter. Towards the end, the guns came out and I joked, that it's a pity I didn't get them all to deck the tables with their arsenal of boy toys (AKA weapons) instead, because it would have made a perfect picture for the caption, "Christmas with the family!" 

I got back late and overslept the next morning, so I hardly had time to prepare for the next one. It was all the way on the other side of town, in the East Rand. The hosts were my 'sister' and her husband. I say my sister, but it's not a blood thing, just a lifetime together thing.

This year, they decided to have a full out traditional Christmas, the sort her husband has never had before - the sort that quite frankly most of us are unaccustomed to. 

You may also wonder as I did, if there's something to all those decorations and little traditions?

In the South African heat, there's obviously nothing like a 'White Christmas' - but the day was overcast and cool, so it helped to enhance the mood.

Besides that, they had done a phenomenal job with the decor and so the atmosphere was already perfect.

Then came the food - not just a braai, as usual - we had some savoury snacks to start. Droewors, sausage rolls, cheese grillers and spanakopita.

Main course consisted of a roast leg of lamb, rice with gravy, roasted vegetables and cauliflower and broccoli in a cheese sauce.

Just before desert, we remembered that the crackers were still unopened - so we had a go at that. These were a 'crafter's' variety and inside we discovered the usual paper crowns, a joke and an odd fact and some quality items. The whole experience was quite a bit of fun and brought on much laughter.

One of the crackers revealed a nifty puzzle none of us had encountered before. It consisted of four different puzzle pieces, and a little paper with all the shapes these four alone can produce. Not a child's toy by any stroke of the imagination, all of us had a go at it, but none of us could master it. If anyone knows what this puzzle is called, please let me know, I wish to own one myself.

The desert was ingenious - unlike anything I'm accustomed to - and I will definitely borrow this idea for the future. There was a selection of bite size quality treats (lemingtons, a citrus roll cake, chocolate brownies and baklava) on display interspersed with fresh fruit. As a result of the size, variation and balance between sweet and tart, it has to be one of the best desert options I've encountered yet.

At the beginning of the lunch, we were instructed to push our chairs back in if we left the table, since their one dog, Bonnie, has a tendency to take a seat. Inevitably, before the lunch was over, she also got her chance, and took a seat. I'm so glad I caught it, and it was by far my favourite picture for the day.

All in all, it was a phenomenal day, one that has convinced me that there truly is something to all those decorations and traditions; one that has me second guessing my own ideas about these sort of things too. 

I think, those of us who have not been celebrated, think celebrations are out of place. Yet it is the celebratory aspect that marks it in our memory as significant. Without that, well it would have been, just another day.

Fortunately this year for me, I had the privilege of celebrating Christmas the festive way, for once, and that has made all the difference.

WORDS: rhodenel©26DEC2024 

PHOTOGRAPHY: rhoderuth©25DEC2024