Dum-de-dum ... ho ho ho .... Merry Christmas!

First off, Merry Christmas, folks. Hope y'all got what you hope for under that Christmas tree.
(Side Note - I now am officially POed at my brother-in-law. He got me a flask for Christmas. Granted, its engraved and all, but still ... )

Christmas in Australia isn't quite the same, as, say England. I went there once for December, and I think it snowed. Well, I remember the rain, at least. Here, in Perth, it's about 30 degrees or something.

Plum pudding, turkey, potatoes, what not - my mother's out done herself. Course, its fun to watch the two matriarchs fighting for superiority in the kitchen. At least the patriarchs have the right idea, each in his armchair by the fire, reading the West Australian and giving their spirited opinions on everything from Kevin Rudd to the war in Iraq to the colour of my Christmas stocking.

Yep, it's always fun when our two families get together.

As for my wife, she got me a membership to the neighboorhood gym - good for five years. I was just working up my happy face when she sprung the 'real' gift on me.
The entire boxed set of the Left Behind series by LaHaye and Jenkins.
I love this woman for this very reason. I assume she saw me bitching away to the librarian last week about how books were never in series in their library, and for that reason I couldn't enjoy my reading as I should.

I got her a book on motherhood. She got all teary eyed.

I'm not going to list all the gifts I gave and recieved, cause that's just a side-effect of Christmas. Giving doesn't need to mean giving something material. It could be just love and kindness and all that jazz, and this Christmas, I got a little bit of everything from everyone (and sure hope I gave twice as much back.)
Even my in-laws were bearable on the day, what with my father-in-law dressing up as Santa and all.
Except ... A FLASK, I ask you. What a sense of humor.