For as long as I can remember Christmas has always been a big thing in my family, with nothing spared or forgotten (aside from Nan’s mint sauce, which for some reason always struggles to make it to the table). To give you a bit of an idea, the Buckley Christmas process (and I mean process) generally involves the following;
• A lot of decorations, carols and anything else that might put you in the festive spirit
• Lazing around by the pool, beach or riverfront depending on which family was hosting the day’s festivities
• An abundance every roast meat, vegetable, salad and dessert imaginable
• Enough Christmas gifts to provide for a small village (delivered by a certain family member dressed as Santa just before Christmas lunch)
• Copious amounts of alcohol, prawns on ice, scorched almonds, cherries & liquorice all sorts
• A ‘friendly’ match of cricket, football, table tennis, or whatever else we can find to challenge each other to, followed by all the males settling down for an afternoon siesta
• And of course the one thing, without which it just wouldn’t be considered Christmas… FAMILY (both immediate & extended)
• Ohh and Christmas also wouldn’t be right unless it was followed up with a boxing day that encompasses eating a mountain of leftovers, watching the Boxing Day Test Match, watching the start of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, nursing sore heads, water skiing, visiting the beach, lazing by the pool and in the event of completely crap weather – heading off to the cinema to watch the latest boxing day release!
However this year given that two of the cousins (including myself) would be abroad and that two of the other older cousins were committed to spending Christmas with their respective partners, we all accepted early in the year that Christmas was going to be a bit of a non-event. This notion was solidified when we discovered that Poppy Bill would be spending this festive season in a hospital bed putting up the greatest fight of his life; the fight to live!
Despite the adversity, in true Buckley spirit, we were not going to completely relinquish the Christmas tradition and decided to hold an early Christmas in which all bar one of the cousins (and dad) could attend. So one week early we all found ourselves in Sydney juggling ‘decking the halls’ with hospital visits. However, try as we might to replicate our typical Christmases, all the good food and greats gifts didn’t fill the noticeable void in the festivities… after all it just didn’t seem fair celebrating while one of us was suffering!
Wishing you Peace, Love & Happiness (and a fantastic festive season)
Jessica Dawn Xx
