Christmas Day presence

As someone very profound once remarked “life is a strange beast” (I think it was my brother. Or possibly it was me) and I have to agree (with either Dave or myself) it is a strange beast, it really is. I found myself thinking this yesterday and again today. Maybe I will think it tomorrow as well. By then I will have remembered who it was who actually said it in the first place. Maybe I should google it?

I’ve just googled it and am none the wiser. I think I should get on with the point I am trying to make which is that yesterday I spent my first Christmas in New Zealand. If you’ve never travelled to this side of the world you’d be forgiven for thinking that this is a straight forward thing to do. But Auckland is five hours ahead of Perth, two flights and seven hours away. My route was similar to flying from the UK to Cyprus then onto Morocco. So it was never going to be as straightforward as it might seem. But the chance to see Fe for the first time in six weeks and spend Christmas with her family for the first time made it a no-brainer.

I’d been warned by Fe that her Christmas traditions are very different from the ones I enjoy at home. For while the family Norman usually bunker down around the 24^th December and emerge three or four days later blinking into the daylight with sore heads and swollen bellies the family Fe have to cram in their vast extended family network. And following my first experience of spending the 25th in the company of thousands I now know why it is that when New Zealanders meet on the other side of the world they find a common link almost immediately. They are all related.

My morning was spent at one of Fe’s many relations houses in Auckland. There were about 30 adults, kids and babies present. Mince pie competitions, secret Santa, three different types of meat for dinner and plenty of red wine, champagne, cheese and nice things to eat. The only thing missing was the sun which despite positive forecasts refused to attend. It was hectic, fun and informal. Exactly how I like things. And I noticed that I was especially welcomed by the husbands & wives of Casey members who no doubt remembered what it was like to undergo this initiation ceremony for the first time.

After a couple of hours power nap back at Fe’s house we then spent the evening at close family friends, the Joyce’s. There weren’t quite so many people this time but still plenty of new faces to meet and names to learn as well as another Christmas dinner, red wine & champagne to consume. And it was whilst sitting in the living room with a glass in my hand and conversation floating around it dawned on me just how weird & amazing life can be.

I was spending Christmas Day slightly drunk, jet-lagged & surrounded by my New Zealand family and friends. And normally Boxing Day would be a case of more of the same please. But this time I was contemplating an early start followed by a 4-hour flight and a seat 3,000 miles away in amongst 90,000 sports fans in a different country watching the resumption of the Ashes. That’s a weird thought to have when you’re sitting someone’s living room with a daft hat on your head that you’ve just pulled from a Christmas cracker.