Tuesday, December 25, 2012

For years and years all my son wanted for Christmas was ...

A transformer, this year his wish came true. Although a little latter in the day and a little larger than his toy box allowed.

We've had an amazing Christmas Day, a quiet start with suitable surprises under the tree. Little cub squealed, elder cub smiled, grandad said he needed a new one as the old one was worn out. Bear and i exchanged books, inks and favorite sweets, which the cubs devoured. We shared the day with my dad who drove down from Waimate to stay - something that really excited the cubs. Mid afternoon we headed out to visit Bears brother and SIL, then returned home to sort a special family meal. Bear and I prepped the veggies, and looked forward to cooking the nicest fillet of beef we have ever splurged on.... As the new potatoes (jersey bennies - a local delicacy) and mint came to the boil the power went off. There was a big click followed by nothing.

Off in semi-permanent way, but at first we didn't know that. Do be safe we turned off the stove, and the grill, and waited. Outside the neighbors started to gather outside to discuss the lack of power. We went out and joined them. The power went off at 6:30ish, and was back on by 10pm, after a rather investing and complex series of maneuvers by men in trucks, day glow vests, safety harnesses, and even a transformer truck complete with a cherry picker extension. We had prime viewing from our living rooms. The weather has been fantastic, it is still warm and still, so much so the cubs are squirting each other with the hose and riding their bikes around and around. Steak, potatoes and baby carrots will keep to tomorrow, we had cold salad and stuff instead.

Take care, hope your Christmas has no more trauma than ours,

Na Stella



1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Stella,
I'm glad to read you're troubles were minimal. Same here. My 6 yr old and 3 yr old played and 4 month old slept. I texted you a while I ago regarding and you were wonderfully forthcoming. I bought a Hansen e-spinner. Not as zen-ish a machine as a manual one, but it's a work horse with the added benefit that I can store it in a shoe box if need be. Thanks again for your advice. I just wanted to share with you my little pre-Christmas story. I was sitting on the sofa on December 21 at around 1am doggedly trying to finish my son's teacher's mittens. I was watching the History channel regarding the much anticipated Mayan-timed apocalypse.... click. Power goes out. I sit there, needles frozen in time, minutes go by, and I think "You've got to be kidding...these guys had their calendar set to Eastern standard time?!" After which I started making a mental count of our meager collection of bottle water, canned foods, flashlights, candles, etc. Thankfully power came back minutes later and I lived to tell the tale. Merry Christmas to you and your family, and thank you for your blog.
NiCaam