T'was The Night Before July 24th...

My Dear Princess and Dear Friends,

In that words of the great British philosopher Noddy Holder, "It's CHRIIIIIIIIISTMAAAAAAAAAS!!!!!"

No. No it isn't. Not really.

But here in Aotearoa, where the mornings are cold and frosty and the evenings are drawing in, it kind of FEELS like it is. Which is the point here. 

Last year, in order to celebrate the end of New Zealand's lockdown, a bunch of plucky residents of the Wairarapa town of Greytown decided to celebrate the whole of July as their "Festival of Christmas". This means they put up lights and wreaths and play Christmas songs all over the place.

It just makes so much more sense doing it in the cold and the dark than right in the middle of effing Summer. 

And this year, Loulou, Tiger and Joshua decided to join in the festivities and they asked Caro and I to join them at an Airbnb rental in the town so we could have Xmas dinner and do some other fun activities. 

Meanwhile, concurrently, at the same time, while this planning was going on, I was developing my full-on friendship with Shenée. Who I have decided is a bit like the little sister I never actually had. 

(In my head, she trailed after me when I was in my early 20's with her Barbies, bossing me around and being just adorable.)

So it seemed only natural that I should tell Shenée of our Xmas plans and invite her and Craig along to join in the fun. 

This is how Caro, Shenée and I ended up sharing a taxi to Greytown* where we met up with Tiger and headed straight to the pub. (Loulou needed to nap, Joshua was having his car serviced and poor Craig had to work.)

It made me very happy how quickly Shenée became part of the fabric of our funny little alternate family. I told her about our background together and of the Orphan's Christmases we used to have in Edinburgh, but it is all rather a lot to take in. 

Still, as Loulou, Craig and Joshua eventually joined us, everything seemed to make sense. I spent most of the evening talking to Craig and Joshua, but all I could hear was laughter coming from the other end of the table.

And I felt warm and fuzzy inside. It is always nice to welcome more orphans to the Christmas table. 

Shenée and Craig left us early to go to their romantic cabin, and this left the rest of the Old Guard to wander through the streets of Greytown, ooooohing and aaaaahing at the lights and being generally FILTHY.

You will be gladdened to hear that Loulou is in very good spirits. I have missed her very much of late. Just seeing her makes my spirits rise. And she seemed genuinely happy. For example, this is her posing in front of a festively lit house. 

I guess that, just as you can invent a family for yourself, you can also invent a festive holiday for yourself. It really did feel like Xmas Eve today. And I really did feel like the Spirit of Christmas Present was present. 

Or was that just Shenée?

S.

* Don't ask how much it cost. Shenée was appalled.