Letters to Ann

Dear Ann,

Well what a great Christmas Day we had with all our family together for the first time in twelve years. Not only that, but we joined hands with eight members from Lauren’s family who were also coming for lunch.

Philip, Greg & I were up reasonably early for the big day as we had to distribute all our gifts from under the tree before Lauren’s family arrived. Georgia & Mick had to be elsewhere for lunch as is often the case with families.

So we loaded the car with or gift bags, pavlova, whipped cream & enough fresh berries & fruit to flatten any pavlova. They already had plenty of Christmas pudding, as well as a cheese cake from Georgia, but I fancied a pavlova as I was well into the festive mood.

The pavlova was a hit.

As soon as we arrived, we carried it all in from the car & got settled we were ready for the fun to start. The huge Christmas tree in the corner didn’t look as if it was struggling too much under its load, although it didn’t help with all our goodies to add to the cause.

After a decade of Christmas Days with just Philip, Greg & I, my mind went back to many years ago when I was first married & being the eldest of eight we always had very busy Christmas Days. It took Max a while to realise what had hit him, as he was the youngest of three. With a huge gap between him & his siblings & with a small family it didn’t take long for Christmas gift giving to take place.

I think David started the ball rolling as head of the household & as one person received a gift that person then had to give the next gift & so it went on for at least two hours. The place was strewn with Christmas paper, curling ribbon & gifts. It would be impossible to remember who got what, but I know I got my usual stack of health supplements from Philip & Greg which I appreciate very very much.

David unpacks his bag of goodies from Dawn

I also received the fourteenth volume of Letters to Ann. It was the second time I hadn’t written two volumes in one year. I didn’t quite make a second one. However, the left overs from last year will give me a good start this year. The goal I set myself in the very beginning of this project was to write twenty volumes: I don’t mind if I do more, but that was my original goal.

Lauren, David & Riley gave all us grannies a cute little avocado gadget to put the other half of an avocado into, which keeps it fresh when you don’t use it all. I wondered what it was at first, but could see the advantages when it was shown to me. It really does take time sometimes for the penny to drop!

Charley gave me a very sweet little Christmas card which had the Tree of Life on the front & also inside where it stood upright. On her card she had written:

“Dear Gran, Merry Christmas. I hope there are many more holidays we can spend as a family. Love you heaps, from Charley.”

She must have put a lot of thought into the gift she gave me which I absolutely loved, I put it on as soon as I held it in my hand. It was a gorgeous silver necklace of the Tree of Life & I know I will get a lot of wear from it.

For my family here I gave a medley of gifts to in Christmas bags – for Lauren & David, two books each. I also gave David the cutest little blue Kombi Van, as he has been giving his real one a big face lift which has been uppermost in his mind for months so I figured he would like a miniature one & he did, he loved it.

For Riley a bottle of her favourite perfume which took ages to find. Eventually Philip & Greg tracked it down for me. I might add too that it may well have been gold I was purchasing! She has good taste!

Riley and her expensive perfume.

I thought Charley would like the video Philip, Greg & I always play at Christmas in Burbank & which she saw last Christmas. It’s called ‘The greatest Gift of All’ featuring Stephen Colbert. Is funny * has lots of cameos from well know stars over there. Of course I give the girls other little things that I collect for them over the year. Grans are allowed to spoil their grand children.

For Mick & Georgia I had to get some advice from David & Lauren as I don’t know them well enough yet to know their likes & dislikes.

For Philip & Greg I had already purchased binoculars for both of them, as I thought they might get a lot of pleasure looking further over the canyon at the wild life which they both love. Their email to us telling us not to give them presents as they were travelling very lightly came too late for me, but they managed to get it into their bags without too much trouble & as plan two, there was the postman!

Greg admires the new binoculars.

The funny thing is I also had for them two ceramic knives that advertised that they never needed to be sharpened & the boys were absolutely thrilled with them. They are the best knives they have ever had & far superior to the electric knife for many things!

After all the unwrapping, shuffling, ooing & ahring we settled down as Lauren’s family arrived, namely… Chris, Lauren’s sister & her husband, Peter, Ian, Lauren’s brother & wife, Virginia, also Virginia’s Dad out from England for a visit.

Then there was Lara & gorgeous baby, Hugo only a few months old, plus of course, Pat, Lauren’s Mum. We all gelled together really well before we sat down to the table.

The lunch was more than delightful. Although the pavlova was not really needed it did look grand taking centre stage on the table where it was also well patronised!!

After lunch us three outsiders didn’t know there was going to be a secret Santa, so Philip and Greg filled in (temporarily) for Georgia and Mick, while magically there was one for me. The rules were that anyone could swap from anyone until the end of the game.

When my number was called I picked a big parcel, funny shape & wrapped in brown paper. It was a medley of gifts inside, but the main one was a white china Santa which looked like a gnome & I love gnomes for my garden. Then when Veronica’s father, David had his pick he decided to change & came straight for my gnome.

He was dead sure going to take my gnome, but I must have glared at him because he suddenly veered away when he was about to swop, grinned as he said that he wouldn’t dare!

It was the most wonderful day with David & Lauren as the greatest hosts & the two families joining in as if they had known each other forever. Christmas is not only about gifts, it’s also about families & we can count ourselves very rich indeed to have the loving families we have.

I love my family very deeply & I also love you Ann. You are as vivid in my mind now as when I first met you. My love always, Dawn X O X O