"Buzz!"

We all emerge from the coma of Christmas night ready to assault our tummies again. That is, except for Maggie, who regretted last night's excesses more than any of us because of her gluten intolerance. Breakfast was Erika's Santa Lucia buns that come with a romantic and sordid tale.

Santa Lucia was a girl (woman, lady, female, whatev) who really REALLY liked a guy who didnt reciprocate. So as girls are wont to do, she poked her eyes out and gave them to the object of her affections. Now, I wont go into how it ties with the buns or how she became a saint but you must admit it'd make you want to eat more buns! If you really want to know the story NOT as told by Erika, read up more on Santa Lucia.


Beth, Tilly and Magy rehearsing "Shine the nose of Rudolph". Midway through "fill his sacks with presents..." Tilly starts to play the trombone, which coincidentally, is lying around the house.





Regretting now that we forgot last night's regrets, we sat down, stuffed, in the hall to watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Lets just say it brings more irony to the term Happy Belly. All hibernated, we load the Christmas gifts under the tree into the cars and head off for Beth's sister's place where there was a clan reunion and Christmas lunch(!)

'Twas a beautiful house which would typically have cost, oh, 5M back home but they had built it themselves instead. That explains why they'd stay home to defend it from the encroaching bushfires just last week. Beth's 17-year-old nephew, Henry, was a sight and I spent most of the afternoon flirting with him over pool and music talk. This of course simultaneous with the 101 other female cousins and my growing attraction for 23-year-old cousin Molly who came back from working in the circus.

So presents were exchanged, I gave Beth a congkak board and got nuts and curry and chocolates in return. How apt, for I am prone to starving myself on the road. The day ended with a bizarro Christmas medley by Tilly and Beth and a Donnie Darko-esque dance by the other baby girl cousin.

I can only buzz that the buzz was really buzz.