22 more sleeps to Christmas

It's 3 Dec and the temperature in Melbourne today at topst was 22 degree celsius. It was so cold, everyone was still wearing their winter clothing and women were still in boots. All the shops were filled with people. More people were out having lunches trying to catch up with friends before the year is up. Even more people are looking for presents. I could everyone feels relaxed and happy. 22 more sleeps to Christmas!

This is an important time for most of us. And I ask myself what would be a perfect christmas?
My family do not celebrate christmas so everything I imagine are from the media or being in friends' homes. I remember Mary, my god-mother's invitation to join her really large family for christmas get-together. So large, there must be 4 generations with kids of every age that comes with a set of boy & girl too. There were some chairs for those who may want to sit down at the table but we were free to take our food and eat elsewhere whilst catching up with cousins, aunties, uncles, distant cousins. There would be multiple rooms for different interest groups - ladies sharing stories, the kids playing with some video games, men talking about politics & sports. And when the night falls, the host gathered everyone to the table and hand everyone a small glass of port wine and a piece of brandy soaked fruit cake. Oh my god! I could still taste the cake & the wine on my tongue. This is the best part of the evening, the cake and wine is so sweet and warm. It can only be a special occasion and it was. The host would be the first one to toast, the others follow suit. That's my kind of christmas - family, noise, kids, brandied fruit cake & port wine, a toast to mark a year passed and welcome a year coming.

When I was staying Hong Kong, I was invited to Sue & Peter's christmas dinner. We were at their home in Discovery Bay early, the turkey was already in the oven with parsnip. We enjoyed the afternoon by taking a leisure walk near the quay, played with Charlotte baby, shared stories and when the turkey was cooked after 8 hours or so, we sat down on a beautiful table with light blue table cloth and silver cutlery and enjoyed our meal. We finished off with christmas pudding flamed on brandy (again!). We opened our christmas presents and had a laugh. Then we watched The Queen's Christmas message on TV. Sue, Peter & Liz are Brits. Now that's my kind of christmas - turkey with stuffing, parsnip, crackers, beautiful christmassy decor, sharing stories with friends, pressies and slow cooking to savor every minute of the holiday season.

What is your perfect christmas like? These pictures are some additional things I would like to add to my perfect christmas. Happy holidays!