It started off with breakfast at Kelly's mom's place. Gaye and his sister, Victoria were busy in the kitchen.
And the table had already been beautifully set and kept under wraps.
Victoria recently turned from being vegetarian to full-on veganism. So she cooked a pot of vegan stir-fry with potatoes, mushrooms and tofu.
I ended up terrorizing Charles, the cat, who enjoys playing coy though she secretly wants to be loved.
We ended up exchanging gifts before breakfast... the culture here is to wrap lots of little gifts up and stuff them into stockings along with stocking stuffers like chocolate and candy. So you don't just get one gift. You get lots!
My gifts from Kelly... love them! (of course I'd already told him what I wanted. Heh.)
And also got these books from Gaye & Victoria. (Skinny Bitch in the Kitch is the recipe book follow-up to the original Skinny Bitch). Yay!
My final stash:
2 weeks ago, I'd got Kelly a Wii Golf game (which he's been playing already), and I also got a silver bracelet of his all fixed up again (on his request - the clasp had been broken)... And also got him a pipe and an old man's box to store his crap so it's not lying all over the coffee table.
Gaye's friends, Richard & Mandi, came over to join us as well for breakfast. Popped the bubbly and we tucked into bircher muesli, vegan stir-fry, salmon (for the non-vegans), scrambled eggs and toast. And lots of delicious fresh fruit. Oh, and of course my favourite... MINCE PIES!
For some reason, Gaye was convinced that there was a rat behind the fridge coz Charles had brought one in the night before and it was definitely still alive. She was sure it was still running amok in her kitchen and wanted the men to do something about it. So with full bellies, both Kelly and Richard had to pull the fridge out (there was much whining and moaning)... and it turns out there was no rat there. It was still funny to see people running out the kitchen and standing on chairs in anticipation of the non-existent rat come running out from under the fridge though.
We practically rolled ourselves home with full bellies and had a few hours' siesta in the afternoon, after which it was time to visit Kelly's dad & Margarita for Christmas Feasting: Round 2.
**Going off on a tangent here, but Robyn has a whole row of those African curio boy sculptures... dunno what they're called but I call them the "Thabo Dolls" (since Thabo's the most common African name I've come across... kinda like "John" in the English language). I'd mentioned them in a previous post here when we went on a drive last Saturday.
Anyways, Kelly's refused to let me buy any of them coz they reek of a mix of tourism and colonialism... but here they are in his dad's house. They're so cute!
(Man with the movie camera's my favourite)
I suppose when they're that small they're kind of more manageable, but I've always wanted a 5-foot Thabo in the corner of the house... which probably makes it a wee bit more in-your-face. Haha, maybe that's why he disapproves. OK, tangent over.**
So the tree had been set up at Robyn & Margarita's, and this time we were terrorizing the dogs instead.
(They were soooooo not impressed with us!)
We attempted a self-portrait with the 10sec countdown timer.
And it was gift-giving time: round 2!
Victoria's stocking stash:
While Margarita slaved away in the kitchen, the rest of us had sundowners on the balcony (we were shooed out of the kitchen!)
And then it was time to stuff our faces again... the vegans brought Quinoa Salad and Margarita made them a delicious Olive, Caper, Parsley Gnocchi... and the rest of us had beef fillet, gammon and calamari. Yum!
Small vegan, Big appetite:
That pretty much sums up our Christmas Day. I'm grateful for the lovely company, delicious food and generous gifts... it makes me feel pretty fortunate and very special. Above all, just very, very blessed.
Hope you had a fabulous day too! x
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