Dec 12th-24th. The 12 days of lead up to Christmas

The Christmas Parties begin. The first off the rank is our own little Allied Health Christmas Party- early on as everyone is soon to leave me for their Christmas holidays. We book the hospital pool for the afternoon and have a swim and a BBQ. It is very very tame and most end up leaving quite early. Party poopers. There are 3 of us who hang around and we end up at the Spinny with mics in our hands singing “All I want for Christmas Is You”. It’s karaoke night at the Spinny which we take to mean, terrible singing allowed. But straight after our entertaining song a woman sings and she has the most amazing voice! So unfair. She steals the night away and when we (stupidly) ask to do another song- we are given 1 mic to share and she is given the other to drown out our wailing… The next day is unfortunately Friday meaning a work day and I rock up with a giant coffee and panda eyes- obviously very hung over. The day is a struggle... But not something that a post work nap cannot fix because we are back out that night for a friend’s 30th. Surprise- she has booked the hospital pool for a BBQ toga party. My toga is a very poor effort but it doesn’t last long because we are all in the pool soon enough. The parties do not stop there. Saturday night, one of the doctor’s hosts a Christmas party at his house. It is green and red dress up (I had found a bright green wig at a garage sale that morning and some flashing earrings which were perfectly annoying for anyone who spoke to me). He has decorated the house amazingly with fairy lights and bon bons and balloons. We bring a plate and a secret santa gift. There is lots and lots of food – three roast chickens and a ham. There is a blender and endless cocktail ingredients on a table for ‘you’re your own cocktails’ (my ultimate demise). Dr J dresses up as Santa Clause and hands out the secret santa gifts and they are cool and silly and entertaining. Sunday brings the worst hangover I have had in a long time. I am vomiting/in bed feeling wretched and sorry for myself until midday. When I can finally get up, it is to head to the café to see if a coffee might be a good idea. Could go either way really… but fortunately it is an asset. In the afternoon we head back to Dr J’s to wrap presents for the Mowanjum Christmas Party. Dr J organized the Christmas Party for the kids of Mowanjum Community because he is the founder of a charity called Fair Game who collects donated sports equipment and give them out to disadvantaged communitites. So Sunday arvo we sat nursing hangovers and wrapped 140 presents in Dr J’s lounge. Leftovers and Love Actually on the television were major contributors. By Thursday the 19th of December Christmas is fast approaching and it is very noticeable because everyone has left the department for their Chrissy holidays except me and two others! Lonely oh so lonely. That night is the Mowanjum Christmas Party so Dr J and I head out to the community after work bringing with us our giant santa sacks, 200+ sausages and a Christmas tree I stole from the department for the occasion. We round up the kids in the community and host a few games of basketball. I cook 200 sausages and die in the heat of the BBQ. By the time I get them to the kids, I am sweating sausage juice and I don’t think I can ever look at another sausage. The kids love them though, they come back for seconds and thirds. But not as much as they love my flashing earrings- what a mistake that was to wear! When we bring out the presents – the kids go mad. There are about a hundred of them ripping open wrapping paper and admiring their footy boots, jerseys, balls… it is a lovely site. By dark we are absolutely knackered and smelly and dirty so it is pack up and home to a cold shower! Friday is yet another Christmas Party- hooly dooly. Santa comes to this one- he’s pretty cool. This is the hospital Christmas Party at… you guessed it -the hospital pool. Lots of food and drink and families. The weekend passes by in a blur- most people are heading away to their respective homes for Christmas so it is very quiet. My housemate bought us a present for Christmas- a blow up pool and slippery slide. So we spend the arvo literally blowing up the pool and have fun with our new presents. Back at work Monday is quiet but I am not lonely for too long because Tuesday comes and it is Christmas Eve which means I am flying to Perth to spend Christmas with my darling sister in Freo. It has been a very stressful lead up though- I had no way of getting to Broom for my flight. Back up plan was to borrow my boss’ car and leave it there. And that is what I had to do in the end. And I ended up taking a random person with me who was also in need of a lift. He was going to hitch hike so he was very grateful and provided good company in the end. Christmas Eve was one of the longest days ever- work, 2 hr drive, a friend’s BBQ in Broome while I waited for my flight then a flight to Broome where beautiful Christian and Brig met me and drove me back to Freo!