Christmas part 2

Christmas eve was a disaster for me. After finishing work early, I raced back to my house, packed in all of 5 minutes and left with Maddy. It wasn’t until we reached Caboolture my heart stopped. My laptop wasn’t in the car. I had left it outside in the panic of packing. Immediately, I called my roommate (he was down the coast) and asked him to text our neighbours to go see if it was still there. They were on holidays too. In fact, all of our neighbours were away. Most of my Brisbane friends live on the other side of the river. Who could I call to go save my precious MacBook Pro? I was out of opinions. Until it dawned on me – my dad was spending Christmas with his partner, who just so happens to live 3 minutes away from me. Oh daddy dearest, my saviour. I told him my situation and he headed over. 5 minutes and I heard the news I was dreading most – it wasn’t there. Like a good father, he reassured me it was probably inside. “No, dad, it’s not. I triple checked every room before we left. Thank you for checking though. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

I can’t remember being so angry with myself. How could I be so careless? Especially with something so important. I had just lost so much. So many creative projects I’ve been planning / working on, 4 years worth of assessments, countless diary entries, private photos of my family and friends, my baby sisters first moments of life – the list goes on. My laptop has my entire life on it. And it was only a few days before I was going to back it up in case something like this happened… But I got distracted watching Xena…

When we arrived at my mothers I was in an extremely blue mood. I nursed little Nellie for a few hours then went to my room and cried. I just needed a few hours to wallow in my self pity before facing my family again.

I was not feeling the Christmas spirit.

Christmas morning

My phone was dead when I woke up, so I had no idea what time it was when I crawled out of bed. Opening my bedroom door I was greeted by my stepdad Bruce, mum, Jordy, Maddy & Nellie. I was the last up. Luckily it was only 7am.

We did our usual Christmas morning routine then headed to Bruce’s parents house for lunch.

This is what my day looked like.

It’s difficult spending Christmas with people who aren’t really your family. I found myself (like most years), hiding in the nicknamed “Opera Room.” It’s name *surprisingly* comes from the fact opera is always being played or sung while inside. The room is filled with photos, antiques and a beautiful grand piano.

Once Nellie had enough of people, we went back home. It was then I spent the rest of the afternoon floating around in the pool, going to bed at 8.30pm.

Christmas 2012? Complete. 

Not quite. I was still yet to see dad and my family. The day after Boxing Day I headed to Hervey Bay. 4 hours later and finally, I was being smothered with cuddles and kisses from the Blackburn’s. It had been an entire year since I had seen my favourite auntie and uncle. They are the hardest working couple I have ever met, raising two well-behaved boys and building their now successful business from scratch. Not to mention they’re high school sweethearts. I adore them both so much.

I didn’t really take any photos whilst there. Just relaxed in their company and savoured the fleeting moments together. 

However on the way home, Maddy & I pulled in up at this beautiful wharf.

In closing, I was still the Grinch this year. But at least there is still a lot of room for improvement for 2013.

Now only 9 days until I have to climb my next emotion intensive day.

(You’ll find out later!)

X

P.S Almost forgot to mention, laptop was found unscathed.