Christmas and Boxing Day 2016

Suddenly, it hits me that tomorrow’s the last day of 2016 and I realise I’ll haveta be penning (well, typing XD) my reflections for the year that was when I remembered I haven’t even shared about how I spent the two public holidays just this week!

Well, what can I say? That was arguably the worst Christmas and Boxing Day I’ve had to live through since the cruel and unfaithful God so wantonly destroyed my life with the disabling brain tumour back in 2007. *sigh*

Let’s start with Christmas. Obviously, I attended church on Christmas Day. Actually, even people who aren’t Christians go to church on Christmas Day; I wonder why?

The day started well; after bidding my teddy sweet dreams the night before, I fell asleep and didn’t wake until 6:25am.

When mother came into my room to get me up, she immediately started bitching sth crazy @ me and threatening that she wouldn’t take me to attend English service at 11am. Whatever. *sigh*

Anyways, after getting myself kitted and brushing teeth, I head outside to the dining room for breakfast. Surprise, there’s a mug of white tea waiting for me! Taking a sip, I immediately notice that mother hasn’t put any sugar into it, and get the sugar jar to add two teaspoonfuls myself. Suddenly, mother swoops over, seizes my cuppa and pours it all down the sink! “Woah!” I look up, surprised. “What’s with you?” I prefer my tea with two teaspoonfuls of sugar; for mother, who considers one bowl of plain rice too sweet and one slice of plain bread too salty, obviously takes her tea without sugar. XD Not sure why she’s imposing her tea preferences with me, but hey, no biggie. After she makes me another mug (again, obviously without any sugar) and leaves for the Cantonese Christmas service that starts at 9am, I re-fetch the sugar jar and re-add my two teaspoonfuls of sugar in. Ah, now that’s how tea should taste~

Over breakfast, I watch some Christmas cartoon. Once I’ve finished, I pop online for awhile until mother returns from church to pick me up. Funnily enough, she won’t lemme turn the radio on while’s she’s driving. I mean, I respect her wishes and leave the music off while she’s driving to church (she says she ‘wants to prepare her heart to worship God’, whatever that means) but seeing as she’s already attended service and come back, why can’t I turn the music on, because shouldn’t she have already finished ‘preparing her heart to worship God’ yet? Respecting her wishes, I leave the music off and instead start singing five secular Christmas carols (because obviously we’ll only be singing Christian ones at church), only for mother to snap at me to shut up! Dunno what’s gotten into her this morning but fine, whatever. Instead, for the short drive to church, I just sing those five Christmas carols inside my head and mouth them.

Dad’s waiting to escort me into church when we arrive; Christmas Day has unfortunately dawned cloudy and drizzly.

When I exit the car, who should I find waiting for me but Samuel Enderby, with a minion gift-wrapped present waiting for me! Obviously, anyone who knows me even mildly should know that I am totally besotted with these plump, yellow, jellybean-shaped creatures; I am profuse in my thanks~

Huge thanks to dearest dad who waits for me while I’m using the bathroom and sees me safely to my seat before leaving. Shows he’s much more caring than mother, who just dumps my bag in my usual spot on the most left, then races away to join the other aunties who can’t be bothered attending Bible study like my dearest dad does for their very informal ‘fellowship’. Not exactly sure why she calls it that; I’m pretty certain they don’t sing hymns/pray/read the Bible/anything like any normal fellowship does. Nope, I’m pretty certain they just drink coffee together and gossip. XD

Once I’m seated, I grab out my folder, notebook and pen and start writing. See, I’ve realised that if I don’t keep a written record of who’s preaching, sermon points, etc. that I’ll likely  forget everything that’s been said that day. Random people wander pass; we all exchange Christmas greetings.

When service does start, I’m very relieved that I get to remain seated during worship.

Speaker for the day’s Pastor Chris; his sermon topic was ‘The Gospel of Santa’. There’s communion after the sermon, and before service is closed, Pastor Chris extends an open invitation for everyone to come to his place for Christmas lunch. I’m excited and hopeful, because this lunch was originally hosted for the ‘orphans’ (people who’s parents have returned to Hong Kong and left them by their lonesome) and horrid mother had earlier already jeered at me that I wasn’t welcome to attend because both she and dad were both in Brisbane with me. Now, perhaps my Christmas is looking up!

You can understand how pissed I was when awful mother wouldn’t lemme attend, instead driving me home for a bland, boring lunch of last night’s dinner leftovers with dad. *sigh* She’s always looking for opportunities to deny me social interaction, that woman … ><

After lunch, dearest dad goes out to play baddy with his mates, mother hits the sack upstairs and after crashing on the sofa for 1.5 hours (dad for some reason wouldn’t lemme online yet, saying I was to watch television till 2:45pm) to watch random You Tube videos, I plop online.

Awhile later, when mother tumbles downstairs from pigland, she immediately and gleefully forces me offline. First, I have to let her gleefully force mostly my poor demented left hand fold the day’s clothes. That’s fine; I’m seated and can fully concentrate. Next, I have to let her gleefully force my demented left hand feed me one yummy banana. Again, that’s fine because I’m still seated and can fully concentrate.

Unfortunately, dad chooses that time to return home from playing badminton; he immediately orders that I let him gleefully FORCE L me to plod 400 steps on the bloody cross trainer for him. Usually it’s 800; dad was considering himself such a saint because he was giving me a fifty percent discount but I was like, “WTF, today’s a freaking PUBLIC HOLIDAY; why the heck are you still demanding I use this stupid machine for you??”

Afterwards, I take a shower – obviously, I wash and rinse my own hair today. It takes longer for me than the average able person: (1) I’ve only got my right hand to wash my hair with and (2) I can’t fully close my right eye, meaning whenever I wash my hair I’ve gotta duck my head under the water while using my right hand to hold my stupid right eye tightly shut. I also dry and rekit myself; mother seriously just sits there and smugly watches me struggle. Luckily, although I’m slow, I manage. Oh, mother has recently found a new way to make my life for me even more difficult than it already is: she demands my left fist take my right foot’s sock; after my right hand removes the sock, I’m not allowed to shake the sock off and grab it again; I’ve gotta put it straight onto my foot. Not sure what kinda satisfaction she gets outta being able to exert even more power over me than she already has, but like I’ve already said twice this post, it’s no biggie, coz I’m seated and can fully concentrate. Oh, but mother does help me put my AFO back on.

Dinner, although lonely (just the parents and I), was novel: we had a BBQ! See, when my Aunty Sally (who normally lives in Canada) came to Brisbane for a short visit (slightly less than one week), she brought us a present from my cousin Ching Ying: I think it’s called an air fryer! However, I’m a rice bucket (say ‘farn tong’ in Canto) and need rice for dinner, so thanks to mother who microwaved me literally one mouthful of rice to have dinner with.

Dinner was washed down with one mug of coconut water. I decided that coconut water with pineapple flavour tastes alright, but plain coconut water by itself tastes pretty feral. XD

Returning online after dinner, I use the bathroom myself once @ 9pm. Unfortunately, mother chooses that exact time to order me over to the kitchen, and I haveta let her gleefully force mostly my poor demented left hand wash the day’s dishes; argh, I HATES standing practice! >< Just because standing’s like second nature to her, not sure why she can’t understand how bloody difficult I find standing! Why does she so conveniently forget that after the cruel and unfaithful God had so wantonly destroyed my life with the disabling brain tumour, the doctor had told her, “Sorry, your daughter will never be able to stand or walk again. At the very most, she will transfer from the car to her wheelchair, then the wheelchair back to the car.”?? *sigh*

So ‘twas a miserable end to Christmas Day for me, but I hit the sack with the hope that Boxing Day would be much better.

Well, the day started good, with another awesome sleep for me. Have I said before? Almost my favourite thing about Summer’s how early the sun rises! I have a big analogue clock mounted on the wall in my room and while during the middle of Winter, you’ll be hard-pressed to figure out the time before 6am, but during Summer the sun’s shining brightly well before 6am!

Anyways, I slept straight through till 5:25am before waking. Falling back asleep, I’m awakened by dearest dad several hours later when he comes into my room to kiss me goodbye before going somewhere to do some painting. He promises to come back to take mother and I to the Boxing Day sales, so yay for that~

After he’s left, my teddies and I snore, me waking again later when mother starts a-THUMPING around upstairs. Soon, she’s downstairs and I’m told to get up. That morning, mother requires me to do shoelace tying practice for her. I’m fine with that, because I’m seated and can fully concentrate; besides, I know what a kick she gets outta from being able to boss me around and tell me what I’m doing wrong, etc. I mean, it’s not like I dunno how to tie shoelaces at the tender age of almost thirty; I know what needs to be done but unfortunately my demented left hand just doesn’t get the message to move! *sigh*

When mother first came downstairs into my room, I’d immediately asked her could I please open my Christmas presents from Santa first. She says get up, get dressed first. Fine, once that’s done, I ask her may I please open them now? She says no, brush teeth first. Fine. Teeth brushed. I head outside and am more than ready to get into present opening but mother says no, eat breakfast first! Argh!!

Breakfast was about one bowl of plain porridge with one slice of unbuttered toast torn into it. True, I had to let horrid mother gleefully force my poor demented left hand hold onto the slice of toast before she ordered my right hand to tear it into chunks but that was okay coz I was sitting and could fully concentrate; besides, my right hand kept her promise to my left hand by later combining with the spoon to tear the pieces into bite-sized, more manageable chunks. Oh, I also drink one full mug of water to wash down all my usual drugs :P and also drink one full mug of milk. Earlier this year, mother would pour me half a mouthful of milk to wash breakfast down with, but this year she’s decided that’s just one more way she can gleefully make my life harder for me and says if I want milk, I’ve gotta pour it myself. Fine, but in that case, I’m pouring myself one whole mug of milk and not just half a mouthful; in fact, my only regret’s that this year, mother has converted dearest dad to drinking light milk also and that I can no longer pilfer cups of his full cream milk! XD

After breakfast, I FINALLY get to open my presents! Alas that awful mother deviously thinks of a way to make even this highly pleasurable task difficult for me; she gets me this low stool to sit on. *sigh* Nowadays, I prefer seats with backrests and seeing that the stool was so close to the ground, I’d require help getting back upright again. The only bright side to sitting on that stool was that I decided were I to lose balance and tip off the chair, I’d already be close enough to the ground that I wouldn’t consider that a fall, merely a sit down.

Traditionally, I open one present carefully, peeling away the sticky tape so as not to rip the paper just to show that I am, indeed, a civilised human being, but then the rest (there’s not usually too many, despite the detailed list I compose to Santa at the beginning of every December! ) I just rip into with gleeful abandon. XD

I think the present I was happiest to receive was the one I got from Leanne, a hardcover copy of an illustrated version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets!

Dad arrives home sometime while I’m opening my presents; once they’re all opened and squeed over, I use the loo once, we all pile into the Camry and dad tootles us to the Boxing Day Sales!

He’s chosen the Hyperdome for our shopping trip. We park somewhere near food court, but only after getting out do I get mightily pissed: the parents won’t lemme use Sparkless 2 (my manual wheelchair) to go shopping with! I’m mightily pissed because (1) I’ve explained before that when I’m standing I honestly can’t concentrate on anything other than staying upright and not falling over and (2) the wheelchair’s JUST SITTING IN THE BLOODY BOOT!! >< *sigh*

Anyways, once inside, both mother and I visit the bathroom once, while dad heads over to food court first to see if he can grab us an empty table. Sure enough, he finds us one; the parents them both leave me seated at the table to secure us food. When they return, I’m mightily disappointed: I’d been hoping for some Red Rooster, but dad comes back with a footlong beef sub and mother comes back with three sushi rolls. The parents share dad’s Pepsi, while I just drink water coz I got dropped on my head as a baby and don’t like soft drinks. XD

After lunch, mother heads over to Myer by herself while my dearest dad takes me to Mr. Toys Toyworld, the ‘country’ where my beloved Bear Bear came from! XD Before she goes, mother reminds me that I’ve still got a little red pocket money left, and maybe I’d like to go shopping?

At Mr. Toys Toyworld, dad and I find the teddies, but I’m very disappointed to discover that there are only small teddies for sale there; there’s hardly a medium-sized teddy my Bear Bear’s height (40cm)! Before we leave, though, I spot a board game on sale – The Game Of Life – MINION version! I immediately decide that’s what I wanna buy with my remaining red pocket money, and dad and I hike all the way back to Myer to find mother, who’s also visited other clothes stores and bought some items of clothing along the way.

Mother goes back with me to Mr. Toys Toyworld to buy the board game; afterwards, we sit outside at food court with dearest dad and share a donut and cappuccino.

And that’s the shopping over with for the day! Dad tootles us home; I use the loo once then pop online, while mother hits the sack upstairs.

She comes back downstairs about 1.5 hours later and orders that I go shower. Actually, for this shower, mother helps me slightly more than usual, coz when I start getting myself rekitted dad calls out to us, “Hey, are you guys done yet? It’s time to go!”

Lol, the parents often joke that we’ve arrived @ the Cheung’s place before the car even heats up, because seriously, they’re only three streets away! XD

Inside the Cheung residence; I crash on their recliner chair; thanks to Uncle Colbert who pops up the footrest for me.

While dinner’s being finalised, Uncle Colbert shows mother, Aunty A and I photos from their recent New Zealand trip. I ask Uncle Colbert how come he didn’t bring me back a pet sheep, and Uncle Colbert replies, “All the ones I saw were already cutlets!” XD

For dinner that night, I have rice, carrot, BBQ pork and teriyaki chicken! Aunty Winnie’s an awesome cook~

After dinner, dad’s made red bean dessert soup and Aunty Winnie’s made creamy birthday bikkies for everyone!

We even get Christmas presents! After PIG mum gushes over her new handbag, I ask Aunty Winnie, “Um, may I please rip mine? It looks like it’d take ages if I delicately opened it.” Aunty Winnie laughs. “Go ahead.” XD I got this really adorable teacup set!

And thus ended Boxing Day! In retrospect, it wasn’t probably as bad as I’d lamented it to be, even though there were several moments of considerable frustration…

Next post here… well, it’s gotta be my Reflections For 2016, coz tomorrow’s the last day of the year! I’ll try my hardest to get it written and published before 2017 arrives, but it may not get published until a day or two afterwards, if dearest dad decides to take mother and I out somewhere to watch the countdown; last year, we had a grand view of the Story Bridge! Anyways, until then~

Cheers,

Em. ^^