Days of Christmas

It's the thirteenth day of Christmas, or rather, the first day of 2009 that is not a day of Christmas. Hooray!

The song about the twelve days of Christmas chases me round the country every year. It sticks in my head incessantly and won't go away for around a fortnight. Every year I find myself wondering which day of Christmas we are on. I suppose I am slightly fascinated by the possibility of having a song that develops over the course of almost two weeks.

Also, I am always curious about the song and the gifts themselves. Why did my true love stop at twelve days? Was that the plan from the start, or did it just seem like a good place to finish once everyone is having a nice dance at the end? It annoys me that there is one more Lord than Lady. Surely the Lord is a little annoyed that he doesn't have anyone to leap for. Perhaps the recipient of the gifts is intended to be the missing Lady? In that case, is the giver one of the Lords as well?

At which point did the recipient realise that they were going to receive a partridge in a pear tree so many times? And how was the giver so sure that the partridge would stay in the tree long enough to give it? He must have ordered these things a fair while in advance for them to arrive on time. He was lucky that it all went to plan, because it sounds like a logistical nightmare. Perhaps the song is just badly phrased and my true love only actually gives the pear tree on the first day. It could be that in later verses the previous presents are mentioned simply as a reminder of what has been given already. Who knows?

All of the gifts are a bit silly though. Swans seem fairly normal, but they belong to the Queen so unless my true love is the Queen, they are not my true love's to give. Maids-a-milking are also crazy. To have eight of them for the last five days means forty maids, which must be most of the professional milking maids in the county.

The "proper" meanings of the song you can read here

Anyway, these thoughts keep me occupied through the coldest, darkest days of the year, but that is over now, and I will have to find something else to occupy me

The fact that the coldest night of the year is TONIGHT (it's supposed to get down to minus 10 in some parts of the country later) makes the loss of the song a little harder to bear than normal. So forgive me if I shed a tear as I head to bed

Ruth's wedding and things

I never mean to have opinions of other people's boyfriends and girlfriends, but as some of my good friends know, I can become troubled by my friends' choice of partner and then moan about it lots. I'm sure that never used to happen, I was much more easy-going. I'm just hopeful that being opinionated is an isolated rarity. It's a puzzling question worthy of many hours on Radio 1's "Sunday Surgery", how much can a friend have opinions before it counts as interfering? I won't answer that because... well, because they spend enough time discussing it on the Sunday Surgery.

Anyway, I have been to several weddings this year and they have all been wonderful. I have approved of all brides and grooms, which has made the day easier. But weddings are wonderful. They are really special and romantic, also a great time to catch up with old friends and make new ones. The most recent one was of Cousin Ruth, who married Mark. Mark is an excellent bloke, and Ruth is wonderful too (not sure I have mentioned her on here before so it's worth mentioning that she's cool). So there is a new person in my ever-expanding family. I'd better get married quickly because the larger the family gets, the less likely any friends will be able to fit in the wedding venue!

At Ruth's wedding there were all the usual wedding things like a church service (talking to people afterwards, everyone seemed to have had tears in their eyes at some point, whether during the choir singing, the with-gusto-sung hymns, the vows or when various people walked up and down the aisle) and a reception. Also photos cake cutting speeches ushers first dances confetti bouquets nibbles champagne dancing veil bridesmaids you get the idea. It would not be our family if it were not organised with military precision and involving having large numbers of people at our house for drinks or food. At various meals around the wedding we managed 25 people, 14 people, 12, 22 (I think) and probably some other large numbers. So we were able to celebrate the wedding for several days, including after they had gone on their honeymoon. It was awesome fun and a good substitute for being in work.

Christmas happened too? Apparently. Merry Christmas!

My holiday to Malaysia

Hey, I went to Malaysia over the holiday and I can honestly say it was the best holiday I have ever had. The whole family of us went and it was actually really good to see everyone, and there were hardly any arguments in the trip.

What happened was this:
We flew to Kota Kinabalu, one of the main cities on Borneo (or at least the Malaysian bit, which is the top bit). There are two malaysian provinces in Borneo, Sabah (containing Kota Kinabalu) and Sarawak (not containing Kota Kinabalu)
We stayed in a hotel until 31st December, with the exception of a 3 day trip into the rainforest, travelling up and down the Kinabatangan river and a 2 day trip to climb Mount Kinabalu.
For new year we flew to Kuala Lumpur and met a family who we know because my aunt went to school with the mother. They showed us round and gave us a good time
Then we came home

So it was unlike any Christmas I have ever experienced. I can completely recommend getting away for Christmas, because I reckon that 12 months is not long enough between Christmasses, particlarly because we start hearing Christmas carols around the place from October. And it was a great trip