Christmas Newsletter – 16 December 2022

Welcome,

Can you believe the year is nearly over? Whatever that means for you, whether you celebrate Christmas or Hannukah, or any other religious observance, or merely enjoy the more secular festive season, I hope you have a wonderful and happy time. My daughter and family arrive from Singapore on Christmas morning. It is my granddaughter’s 6th birthday (I am making the cake and my talented great niece is decorating it) and we will have 19 family members here from late afternoon for some birthday fun and then Christmas dinner. I am so looking forward to it. We share the load with providing the food and drinks and after Lucy and her family were isolated last year with Covid, I am so keen for my grandchildren to meet all their second cousins in person. We love extended family.

When I was young, from early in December when I returned home from school Mum would invariably be playing Christmas carols on the record player, decorations and Christmas ornaments would be out and a huge number of cards from friends around the world would be strung up. I have Christmas music on in the background as I write this. My favourite CD is one from The Australian Girls’ Choir when my daughter was leader.

Christmas can also be a very difficult time for some of us for many reasons. For those of us who have lost family or friends, this newsletter from Good Grief might help Christmas will be fun but first, we have to get there! including my latest offering in our collaboration Comfort food for Grief.

Meanwhile, I have popped the Mindfood article about dealing with loss on my website. I will also be cooking Crisp Pork Belly with a very Christmassy Spiced Cranberry and Apple Relish on the Morning Show on Channel 7 on 22 December. It is usually on sometime after 10.30 am but things can change with live TV – keep your eye out for that.

I have been so lucky to be able to enjoy a number of live performances beginning with Handel’s Messiah, with all the wonderful new acoustics in the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House. Both my niece and a close friend were in the chorus so it was extra special. It was such beautiful music, especially the Hallelujah chorus. Sunday night was the 19th annual Christmas Carols with the most incredible orchestra and soloists conducted by a friend of mine at Holy Family Maroubra.

There was a fun Sail Away party for Oceania’s ‘re-inspired’ Regatta and Wednesday night found me at The Wasp at Kings Cross Theatre. It is a gripping, yet incredibly humorous thriller by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm which explores how far beyond the playground we carry our childhood experiences and to what lengths some people are willing to go to in order to come to terms with them. It is directed by the second Blair Milan Scholarship winner, Becks Blake, and produced by Jessica Pantano, who won the Blair Milan Touring Prize some years ago. The acting from Cara Whitehouse and Jessica Bell is superb and entirely convincing. Little wonder it received an excellent review in The Sydney Morning Herald. It’s only on until Saturday but is well worth getting a last-minute ticket if you can.

This will be my last newsletter until w/c 9th of January as I will be delightfully busy with grandchildren. I’ll be posting a blog on What to do with leftovers after Christmas so please keep up-to-date with me on Facebook and Instagram or email me with any requests or comments. With thanks to my delightful reader who advised me that My Mum’s Christmas Cake worked out perfectly substituting gluten-free flour!