A Christmas Eve Birthday
Dear Ann,
The first two weeks Philip & Greg were with me were just great. When they wanted to go & explore the changes made in Newcastle in recent years or go off & have a lunch on their own I made sure I had my car free.
The two weeks went by far too quickly & then I lost the two of them. Philip had organised to visit Peter, Beth & family in Brisbane, Queensland & left one Friday for the weekend. There are 13 family members in the Brisbane area, and Philip added another six interviews to his family history project.
Peter, Beth and Philip
Greg & I had one night here together & took the opportunity to sit out in the garden on my new seat where we thoroughly enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine prior to our dinner. I must say it was very pleasant but I am not so sure I would enjoy it on my own!
Then the following day Greg left with his niece, Neika to fly to Kalgoolie in Western Australia to visit his sister, Laraine who has been working at the mines there for the past three of four years. This was once mined for its gold in the gold rush era and they are still mining gold and other minerals now.
Kalgoorlie is not the greatest of places for an average family to live even though the city has expanded a great deal in past years it lacks family-friendly stores and services. The jobs, however, pay well for those who wish to live there & save for the future.
So that meant I was on my own again for a week. I went to the airport to collect Philip when he returned from his weekend away that he had really enjoyed.
From the airport we went straight to David’s place for our fortnightly dinner with family. Philip was staying with David that week to spend some time with his brother.
Neika had kindly lent the boys her car as she was going to be away for some weeks, so Philip went to collect Greg when he returned & they came back to say with me on Christmas Eve.
Charley’s 24th birthday at The Parry Street Garage
Before they settled back in again they had arranged to take all the family out to celebrate Charley’s twenty fourth birthday. It’s tough having your birthday on Christmas Eve, but it was a rule from the day Charley was born, seven weeks prematurely, that she would have a birthday as well as Christmas so that’s the way it has been.
Philip gave her the choice of where she would like to go & she chose Parry Street Garage, which is very popular with the young people. It is huge & it used to be a garage, but today it plays host to heaps of young people who love the noise & the buzz. The food is excellent & you would have to be hard pressed not to enjoy it.
It was not possible for me to take Charley’s birthday gift with me as it was a huge parcel, starting with a travelling bag inside that had a rather big handbag inside. Inside that was a lovely green feathery hair ornament that she wears very well with her lovely red hair.  There were also a few more this & thats.
She did get a laugh out of the black top I bought for her with a huge golden pineapple on the front. Charley dresses mainly in black & looked very elegant on the night of her birthday with a gorgeous skirt & a very attractive black beaded jacket.
Charley unpacked her birthday box on Christmas Day.
I commented on it & she reminded me that I wanted it for myself. I had forgotten that we saw it in Ross (a discount department store)Â the day before we left Burbank. We both tried it on, but when Charley modelled it I knew it was for her as she looked so gorgeous in it.
So even though it was Christmas Day that’s when Charley got to peek into her birthday gift, which took a while to unpack!
I felt one of the highlights for her birthday was that her Uncles Philip & Greg wanted to take her to dinner as well as the family. These three gelled together almost as soon as they met when Charley & I went to Burbank last year. Â A great bond was born between them which is lovely to see in families & I don’t think this will be the last birthday they will share together. Also Charley & I are planning on another trip to California.
My very fondest love. Dawn X O X O