Today, Christmas Day, is the big one. Brother Graham has gone all out with preparations and food. Should be a great day. I believe there are around 20 guests and I will take a group photo when everyone has eaten.
We gave each other our gifts after breakfast. As usual Joan is the one with the creative ideas and she gave me a book, another of the series by local chap, John Dowson called 'Old Fremantle Children'. I taught with John at Willeton SHS and had contributed some old photographs to a major project he completed a few years ago titled "Old Fremantle'. Thanks Joan.
The other present was a solid silver chain for a coin that I wear around my neck. I noticed it went missing a couple of days ago after I had left it on the basin after showering. She had whisked it off to a jeweller to have the chain fitted. That coin is a South African 2/- piece my grandfather Maurice Lee brought back from the Boer war. He wore it as a watch fob and promised to leave it to me when he 'coughed it'. Thanks Joan.
I 'gave' Joan a new handbag and wallet. Naturally she selected both as I have no clue about these things. When she opened her present I was pleasantly surprised that I had selected well.
Christmas Day morning is a bit stressful for Joan as there is no newspaper delivery. She purposely set aside a portion of yesterday's paper to read today. Joan devours the paper and books at a great rate. I reckon she even reads the page numbers. She is a good reference to refer to if I have occasion to remember some detail that I skimmed over in the daily.
