Ditto, 996.
I spent my Christmas Eve night working on a cancer ward from 9pm-7am and Christmas Night in Emergency. 11pm Christmas night, a 47 year old man with two early-teen daughters gave up his fight after a long struggle. If he'd been able to hang on another hour, Christmas Day every year for his family could've been a lot different. And, of course, we got the ceaseless string of elderly people with no families, prepared to pay hundreds to get admitted to hospital for feigned illnesses, just for a bit of company at Christmas. Then there was the sweet thing with oesophageal cancer who knew she shouldn't, but couldn't resist a little bit of Chrissy cake... Very dangerous stuff that, under certain circumstances.
On a lighter note, I had "Christmas" last Thursday, with a few lads out in the Aussie bush in the middle of nowhere. As I've already told Kaz, we chucked some prawn kebabs, steak & marinated chicken on the barbie (two of the fellas there were chefs
) & I made a wicked batch of sangria. We sat on the verandah with the Chrissy carols in the background, shooting anything that wandered past (except the few neighbours who made the trek to drop in when they saw the festivities). These guys are
real Aussies. Nothing is wasted. The metre long goanna, red-bellied black, roo & wallaby all chucked into the freezer for future tucker (not sure if that'd be for them or their dogs... most of the dogs out here in the bush eat better than their owners). It was a warm night & between carols, you could hear the ciccadas & crickets singing their own happy birthday to Jesus. It was great.
Kaz, if you or anyone else do fancy getting away next year, I promise to show any of you a real outback Christmas!
In saying that, Christmas day actually brought some areas of Australia, a white Christmas! Unheard of!
I hope you have a good New Year as well