26 Dec 2010 – On the 1st Day of Christmas…

my true love gave to me a Partridge in a pear tree. Why a partridge in a pear tree? A partridge is not a small bird that can be easily placed in a cage in the kitchen. And the song pre-dates dwarf fruit trees so we are talking about a good-sized tree which makes for a rather large and bulky gift. The gifts in this song could have been chosen for symbolic reasons or possibly because they fit into the rhyme of the song. The twelve days of Christmas were a time of feasting and the partridge is a game bird that would have been a popular main course at one of the feasts.

The 12th day of Christmas falls on 6 Jan when all the Christmas decorations will be put away to make way for the Chinese New Year/3 Feb celebrations when May & Bjørn will be visiting from Norway.

Sat, Christmas Day with nephews Clement, Vince & family (Stanley/15yrs & Andrew/3yrs). Appreciations to Annie for having me over to their new lovely flat HBD in Woodlands and for 3 bottles of wine. Cheers to 4th Aunt, cousin David, sister Jo and Mica & Mun@Pearl Bank. Thank you for lovely gifts, Bev, CH&Ting, Christine, Clement, Kenson, Linn & May

Today, 1st day of Christmas/Boxing Day, lunched with CH&Ting and Beverly… cheese & chocolate fondue. Been a long time ago since the fondue set (older than the guests!) made in Denmark was in used, one of the first Christmas gifts received in the late 1960s! Thank you for wonderful company, good wine from Margaret River and pretty gifts.

Life is like a box of chocolates… you never know what you’re gonna get – Movie Forrest Gump