There’s a lot to love about Christmas. The slow build-up of intensity and excitement as the year draws to a close, the increasing hum of activity and pace, dusting off those special recipes that only get used in December, cracking open the box of decorations and putting up the tree, singing along to carols in harmony, getting our crazy Christmas photo vibes on.
Prior to school finishing up for the year there was a crescendo of events to enjoy and attend, including Harvey’s Nativity Play and Eli’s Year 6 Graduation. It was a bittersweet mix of emotions as we celebrated with both, at polar ends of the schooling experience.
With our house currently on the market and the sense that every day at our little oasis counts, we decided not to go away for our semi-traditional trip before Christmas. Instead, I propelled myself into baking and preparing mode. I can’t exactly recall now what I was doing in those two weeks, but I can tell you that it felt very urgent (in a good way) and that I was driven by a keen sense of purpose. My ‘to do list’ brimmed with ideas and I took great pleasure in ticking each item off. There were the Christmas bonbons to source and fill (with plenty of help from Ivy and Hudson), four types of fudge to make (Dark Christmas, Candy Cane, Caramel Clinker and Rocky Road), mini mince pies (which no one except for me ate!), white christmas, gingerbread cookies to frost, last-minute presents to buy and wrap, a house to decorate and Christmas Eve/Day recipes to prepare.
The kids were incredibly obliging and settled into a relaxed rhythm that mostly involved jumping into the pool, reading and doing their 4x15s (a genius system Dave came up with to get them to earn 30 minutes of screen time – four lots of 15 minute learning slots from maths, sport, reading, IXL, music etc). Dave busied himself with planning and preparation for the 2024 school year (a task that honestly brings him great joy) and I planted myself in the kitchen. We were all well and truly in our happy places.
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When Christmas Eve rolls around, we are well and truly ready. So much so that I end up having a long mid-morning nap on the patio couch outside. We surprise the kids with their gifts in the morning, and they busy themselves enjoying their newfound spoils. The lamb simmers away in the slow cooker, the tiramisu and burek already assembled and the antipasto ingredients ready to be pulled out and joined with the bounty Mum sends along with Dad while she takes advantage of a quiet kitchen. Thankfully the weather is absolutely perfect for a dip in the pool and the kids expend some of their boundless energy with an enthusiastic Pa to corral them.
We move on (progressive dinner style) to Mum and Dad’s for Part 2, involving family photos, the epic Tomasich spread, presents, decadent dessert and carols (on TV). Incredibly, without any organisation or planning, the Hughes family happens to dress in black and white (despite the pre-organised ‘red’ theme, which I completely forget about) which results in a fantastic family shot and well-balanced whole family picture.
Dinner features all the favourites – Mum’s chicken in pastry, lamb and gravy, chicken and apricot salad, pierogi, garlic bread, beetroot and feta salad, watermelon and feta salad, cucumber salad, and roasted brussel sprouts. We barely make our way through a quarter, despite stated intentions to pare back the options. Somehow each year manages to become more elaborate.
Outside, the rainstorm arrives, washing away our hopes of the traditional Christmas lights walk around the neighbourhood. Instead, we sit down to yet another decadent course – dessert. Our plates are loaded with tiramisu, sour cherry trifle, traditional pudding and fudge.
The whirl of present-opening begins, with exclamations of delight and surprise. My sister always manages to outdo herself every year, sourcing meaningful and generous gifts for each person (regardless of whether she has them as Kris Kringle). Her personal touches are exquisite – from the gold hand-lettering on the presents, cards and table gifts, to the ribbons and wrapping. It always feels a little like a beautiful tornado. Afterwards we blink and survey the piles of presents and happy faces, not quite able to believe that months of preparation and planning have been realised in an instant.
Before long, the strains of familiar carols waft out from the living room. Mum and I finish off the night trying to outlast the children by watching a Hallmark Christmas classic ‘Three Wise Men and a Baby’. I tiptoe over sleeping bodies to deliver the laden packages to the ends of beds, only to find Eli still reading calmly on his Kindle. Ah well, thankfully the ‘Santa myth’ has been well and truly laid to rest in our household ever since I could no longer fend off their curious questions with a cheeky ‘what do you think?’.
The morning brings with it clusters of excited whispers and creaking footsteps as one after another wakes to find their stockings filled. After a few false starts (‘It’s not 7am yet!’), three grinning faces appear in our room to discover what gifts have appeared overnight. Eli is the usual straggler, eventually showing up and being pleasantly surprised to find a wardrobe’s worth of new clothes (which Dave and I sourced from Marketplace and Savers, respectively).
Eventually we gather for Christmas Brunch, enjoying warm burek, bacon and egg cups, berries and tropical fruit, freshly squeezed orange juice and homemade eggnog. We savour every bite before loading up the car to return home.
It feels as if the seasons have shifted and we crank up the heat on the trip, returning to find thankfully that the windows someone had accidentally left wide open haven’t resulted in any overnight floods. After a quick tidy up and stashing of presents away, we are ready for the next phase. Dave’s family arrives gradually over the afternoon and we catch up over antipasto platters and snacks. There’s homemade sausage rolls, ciabatta, focaccia, nuts, chips, cured meats, cheeses, dried fruit, dips of all kinds, olives and plenty of festive drinks.
We have grand hopes of using the entirety of our space to relax and eat in, particularly the oasis outdoors, but the torrential rain forces us to be creative. Instead, we bring the presents into the sitting rooms and each family takes turns presenting their gifts to one another. After family photos, we use pretty much every towel we own to dry the outdoor table set and bring it into the back room, setting them up in an L-shape for the main event.
The oven gets its biggest workout yet, with every spare inch of space dedicated to roasting, baking and warming. Turkey, lamb, roasted potatoes, sweet potatoes, parsnips, pumpkin and a cheesy cauliflower/broccoli bake all go in and thankfully come out perfectly. We enjoy ham (with a yummy maple glaze), chicken, rice salad, Greek salad, gravy, apply sauce and mint sauce. It is an epic feast, yet dessert is somehow even more decadent.
I don’t think the table even shows through the selection of desserts – pavlovas, candycane cookies, a traditional trifle, lollies and chocolates galore, plenty of fresh fruit, a gingerbread house, an ice-cream pudding, gingerbread cookies, fudge, white christmas and yo-yos. So many choices!
The night gradually tapers off with conversation, clean up and games between cousins. It’s everything we hoped for – our best Christmas yet.
