Monday - Wednesday, December 21 - 23 2009 (diary)

The last few days we have had wonderful rain and also a few thunderstorms here at ThreePonds in the foothills 15km inland from Mooloolaba. But on the coast they have had nothing so far. The surf is wonderful too these days and I enjoy my swim every day enormously.

The Mooloolaba Caravan park right on the beach is full now with the Christmas holiday regulars. I have not slept in a tent for over two years, but when I see all those campers I start to get the urge again. Perhaps late next year for a few weeks after leaving Darwin in October again. It is really nice to have that sleeping in the open and close to nature feeling.

I have also started taking my lunches from the Mooloolaba Junction. They have a good "Noodle Box" outlet there with discounted meals for pensioners like me, just $4.95 (€3) for an excellent seafood noodles lunch. I love it.

Christmas Eve is approaching. I have ordered 3 dozen oysters from my regular outlet in Kunda Park and bought a bottle of sake to go with the sushi Babette is getting for us. (She also hopes to get a supply of frozen bitterballen from a Dutch shop in Brisbane today). I also have a dozen bottles of Henkell Sekt on standby so we should be OK for the coming week. We decided last year to do away with a Christmas tree, but we may put some candles and Christmas lights on. We'll see.

Thursday, December 24 2009 (diary, memory)

I wish all my Blog readers

This is a photo of our very first Christmas in Merewether Australia (100 km North of Sydney).
Antien's mother (my mother in law, Dorry) had given us a metal Christmas tree frame which you could easily take apart and take with you everywhere. We used it for many years in Australia.

In Merewether (1966) we erected and decorated this tree frame for the first time, put the candles in and then went shopping.
Upon our return all the candles had bent double (in inverted U shapes), partially melted in the summer heat. So that was a useful lesson learnt : in Australia put the candles in the tree only at the last moment, which we did from then on.

Friday, December 25 2009 (diary)

Babette, Doug and I had a very pleasant "Heilige Abend" (Christmas Eve) last night with deliscious Oysters Kilpatrick, sashimi, sushi, accompanied by lots of Henkell Sekt, sake and Belgian chocolates.
After the meal we watched a DVD of the wonderful movie The Thomas Crown Affair with Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo (the latter always reminding me of She, which still triggers my emotions 30 years after the event).
Did we celebrate the birth of Jesus ? As a good and very generous person we perhaps did, as a son of a God we certainly did not. Christmas for us, like probably most these days, is essentially a time of family bonding. Perhaps also a time of Hope for a more compassionate humanity. Without the terrible fighting and deaths, paradoxically partly caused by the very event we are celebrating.

Curiously Christmas (of a commercial nature) is becoming also very popular in a for 90% Muslim country like Indonesia. On TV I watch shopping centres in Djakarta with fake snow falling onto customers surrounded by cute winter village scenes, reindeers, dancing (very attractive female) Santas and all the Christmas symbols. They beat Australian commercialism hands down.
Is this a good thing ? Why not ? I believe so. Perhaps one day we will be celebrating Ramadan too, although that perhaps is a long shot.