Monday, December 30, 2024

Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day 2024

 Toms is NYE and I’m gonna haveta pen my reflections for 2024 when suddenly I realise heck, I’ve not even shared how I spent my Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day yet! Yeah, I’m unorganised. So shoot me. XD

Christmas Eve: I begin Tuesday with an awesome night’s sleep (when I bid my teddy sweet dreams, fall asleep and don’t wake again until the Sun has risen sufficiently for me to be able to see the time on the clock attached to the wall). After relieving myself, once I’m back in bed waiting to fall back asleep I console myself that while this year I’ve gotta endure blasted physio all the way up till CHRISTMAS EVE, at least afterwards there’ll be a pizza party! I’m also happy since I’ve just scored my 17TH week of consecutive awesome sleeps!

My teddy Pearl (he’s a soft toy bubble tea ^^) and I happily cuddle and snore again for a couple more hours until I’m woken by the sound of mother a-THUMPING noisily around upstairs. Going to relieve myself again, I suddenly discover that I’ve developed wry neck! >< (in Canto:  fun lai geng) When mother lets herself into my room to hit me with the eye goo (my right eye needs eye gel and eye ointment to keep her lubricated since I can’t fully shut the eyelid which leads  to dryness) I let her know, and she IMMEDIATELY bites my head off (thankfully not literally XD) blaming my bad posture for this developing. Yes, I’m aware that somehow I’ve developed poor posture sitting, standing and walking post brain injury, but how the heck does one SLEEP with bad posture?? Huh, go figure. *sigh*

I brush teeth, sit briefly over the loo, wash and dry my hand and then head out to the gobbling :P table for breakfast.

Christmas Eve breakfast isn’t anything special; just the usual bowl of healthy cereal – two dry (no honey) Weet-Bix very lightly sprinkled with some Minus (what I like calling the Plus cereal :P) with one slice of dry (unbuttered) toast very lightly spread with some avocado and hopefully sprinkled with some salt. I say hopefully since I can never taste any but mother insists that she’s definitely sprinkled some on, in which case I conclude that she’s got very sensitive tastebuds.  Monicah arrives two minutes late today and covers my face with sunscreen. Before leaving for physio, I sit once more over the toilet.

Actually, my last session of physio for 2024 isn’t too strenuous on my part, since I inform Winnie about how I woke with a wry neck (ow) and she spends most of the session treating me for it. I did ask her how the heck did I sleep with bad posture (like mother bit my head off for) because once I climb into bed I think I resemble a stick but Winnie immediately reassures me, saying no, you didn’t do anything wrong; you were probably just too excited about your final physio session for today plus our pizza party afterwards and just fell asleep in an awkward position. Ha, mother! XD

I finish my final physio session for 2024 with some boxing! Have I mentioned before? Last year/the year before that, the physio got out boxing gloves and pads; while I slipped the gloves  on, he wore the pads and let me box him. I had no idea how much INBUILT FRUSTRATION I hold inside until I finally got a chance to release it! For some reason, right hooks are the best way for my right side to release tension, while uppercuts have the most strength for my affected left hand. Since she’s got sh*tty co-ordination post brain injury, her jabs and uppercuts are wonky at best but it feels easier to punch straight up? One year, Breathe had a UQ physio student placement with them; I was boxing him to end one session near Christmas. After one round of punches, Eric winces and remarks, “Hey, I can feel your punches much more now. Back when I first started, they were nice and gentle but now they’ve got a real bite to them.” I laugh and continue to punch his pads while I reply? “Yeah? Well, I’ve been doing blasted physio since the first week of the freaking year, and I. Want. My. Holidays!!” Each word was accompanied with a hard punch. XD

But once physio has finished, it’s time for pizza! While Winnie supervised my exercise session, Shirley went out to a nearby Pizza Hut and brought back a vegetarian pizza, a chicken pizza and a stick of garlic bread! I thought chicken pizzas cost extra but Shirley says it was normal price? I happily munched two slices of the chicken pizza, one slice of the vegetarian pizza and chomped about three chunks of garlic bread. Originally Shirley had told me no pizza for your carer (since I wasn’t paying for this) but while Winnie and I were enjoying our pizza, I heard Shirley pass Monicah a plate of pizza too! Aww, how nice of her~

Before leaving, I asked for permission to yell; that given, I threw my head back and SCREAMED “NO MORE PHYSIO THIS YEAR! HOLIDAYS!!” Winnie and Shirley laughed, said cya next year and shooed us out the door. XD Oh, and I went to Woolies and bought Connor a chew toy for Christmas! Mother baked Shirley and Winnie a cake~

After using the bathroom once (apart from a disabled toilet, their normal ladies toilet even has an ambulant cubicle; CZ258’s the code to get in, but there’s nothing stealable inside bar the toilet rolls and the soap XD) Monicah tootles us to Pinelands plaza. Mother hadn’t any groceries she wanted us to buy from Coles, so Monicah just parks outside Pinelands Bakehouse, I head inside and buy a crunchy pork bahn mi from Aunty Lisa and hand her a Christmas card~

Back home, I shower and then sign Monicah off with my thanks and byes @ 2pm. When mother gets home from her Pilates class I ask for my bahn mi for lunch, but mother snaps no since you already had pizza at physio and that was your lunch?

Whatever. Instead, I pop online for the most important two hours of my day. After that was up, I used the toilet once and then sat at the gobbling :P table to read for one hour and wait for mother to wake from her long arvo nap and gimme my arvo tea. I was reading a fantasy novel by Kylie Chan; she’s Aussie but married a Hongkie and writes fantasy with Canto pinyin; very cool! Mother eventually tumbled downstairs from her long arvo nap and fed me some arvo tea; I was expecting the crunchy pork bahn mi I’d bought earlier that moorning with Monicah but she only cut me half, again citing the pizza I’d had for lunch as the reason why she wouldn’t gimme the whole thing now. Whatever, I replied; just make sure you gimme the other half back for dinner and don’t gobble it up yourself. Returning online, I happily watched the 6pm news bulletin for the 212TH time before having the usual dinner with the  parents. ‘twas only after I’d drunk soup, taken my bowl to the sink and returned online did I remember I’d forgotten the second half of my bahn mi! I called out to mother could she please bring me it but annoyingly she still replied no. *sigh* Why the heck not?? I wondered then decided I’d not press the issue. However, after using the loo once more at 9pm, instead of returning online I walked back to the dining table, sat down in my chair and announced that I’m waiting for the second half of my bahn mi, thanks. Phew, dad gave it back to me!

The rest of the night was uneventful; at the piss-early time of 9:45pm, I obediently went and hit the sack. Zzz~

Christmas Day: what better way to begin CHRISTMAS than with another awesome night’s sleep? Not only that, for breakfast, apart from the usual bowl of healthy cereal, mother had baked fluffy chocolate cupcakes! Fair enough; surely CHRISTMAS Day deserves something special?? XD

Christmas Day means attending church. Usually, we join the one held by Redeemer Lutheran College but since BCAC was holding a Christmas service this year, obviously we’d attend our own one!

For some amazing reason, mother helped me buckle my seatbelt to and from church today! I think that was her Christmas present to me? Usually, she leaves me to buckle my own seatbelt unless I’m going in someone else’s car; she helps me buckle it then to show off to whoever’s watching what a ‘good’ mother she is. XD

Since we arrive very early for service, there’s no need to sit downstairs in the overflow room. After using the bathroom once, I grab the most left seat at the back. Mother sits beside me but I’m unsure where my dearest dad sat since he was a parking usher this morning and hadn’t come into the hall yet. Amazingly I’m allowed to stay seated for worship! Obviously, we only sing Christian Christmas carols (so I’m unsure why mother forbade me from singing any secular ones while she drove us to church this morning) but we sang a new one I’d not heard before, called When A Child Is Born!

After service, mother rushes off to collect some mango pudding that some random church aunty has made; when we’re leaving the service hall together, suddenly Aunty Doris approaches and gives mother  a  Christmas present for me!

Once back home, I visit the bathroom and then pop online briefly before I’m summoned for lunch. Lol, originally I was slightly disappointed since lunch was just the watery pack of pasta I’d bought with dearest dad at Coles the day before (think you’re supposed to add milk to the packet contents before boiling  stove; unsure why dad only added water) since I thought the Christmas meals were meant to be something special but suddenly mother cuts me a small lump of that delicious mango pudding that some church aunty made  and suddenly Christmas lunch becomes very special indeed!

Lunch over, I plop online for my most important two hours of the day for myself before heading over to the dining table to read for another hour and wait for mother to finish  her long afternoon nap upstairs, come downstairs and gimme some arvo tea.

After that, I took one of my four long showers of the year.

The rest of Christmas passes by uneventfully, we don’t even have anything special for dinner! XD I went to bed feeling disappointed; over dinner I’d asked dad where was he gonna take mother and I to the Boxing Day sales toms and he replied prolly Capalaba Park. The good thing about going there’s that I might bump into Mrs. Hoppie but the bad thing was that the parents obviously wouldn’t allow me to use Sparkless3 (my manual wheelchair) so I can kiss window-shopping goodbye. *sigh*

Boxing Day: I begin Boxing Day with my 9th consecutive awesome sleep since I didn’t open my eyes until 5:50am. I’ve prolly said this already but the longer days are one of my most favourite things about the warmer months; during Winter, the Sun doesn’t rise until well after 6:30am!

After the usual morning routine (brush teeth, eat breakfast, etc.) dad tootles mother and I off to the Hyperdome for the Boxing Day sales and I rejoice because the parents lemme use Sparkless3 so I get to WINDOW SHOP! :D  

The Hyperdome’s barely recognisable; fair enough, next January will mark two DECADES since we moved out to Brisbane from Logan and small wonder that the place has been upgraded since we left at the beginning of 2005! Not only that, I’m pretty sure it’s had an extension, too!

Our first stop’s Big W and we all immediately buy sth! I grab a new book, dearest dad  buys himself a blanket and mother picks up … the thing that sits between the sink and the pipes and picks up all the food scraps that waah down; whatever that’s called?

I tell mother I’m hoping to find JayJays and she says she’ll keep an eye out for it. We’re just walking through the main aisle and looking around at each shop when suddenly mother excitedly *PATS ME ON THE HEAD*; even without her saying anything I know she’s found it! I head inside and take a tour of what’s inside and buy a Kirby tee! I’m a huge fan of Kirby; see, back in the days of the N64, whenever Fisobao and I bashed it out on her N64 playing Super Smash Brothers, Kirby was always my character of choice and since my  favourite colour’s blue I always turned him blue; indeed, my username for lotsa things during the 2000s was Bluekirby and the URL of the site you’re reading this post from’s actually embluekirby.blogspot.com! XD

We had lunch at the foodcourt; I was very happy to see a Red Rooster there! Would have loved a tropicana pack (forever grateful to Lams, Bee and Boris who brought me one for dinner when I was still imprisoned in the insane asylum XD) but dad only passed me a mutilated drumstick (he took one GINORMOUS chomp from it first) and only seven (not even ten ><) chips but mother was awesome and fed me two small mouthfuls of soupy udon that was much yummier than the udon we get from Underwood MarketPlace since it’s not spicy!

That was the day and dad tootled us home. After we arrived, I asked mother could I please shower yet but she replied no, I need to sleep first.

The rest of the day’s uneventful, I shower, pop online, read, eat arvo tea and dinner, but instead of getting myself off to bed @ 9:45pm like I’ve been ordered to I switch the computer off and then just play the HP version of Bejeweled until mother comes downstairs from whatever she’s doing and growls why haven’t you hit the sack yet before replying it’s time to open Christmas presents!! :D

I’m seated at the computer table and thought mother would just bring my presents over for me to open but she demanded I get up, walk over to the couch and sit down there to open them? No biggie. XD

I carefully unwrap one meticulously wrapped one before getting too excited and just tearing open the rest. XD I got some awesome presents this year; thank-you Santa!! :D

So ends the silly season for another year. I had one last Christmas party to attend on December the 27th; did you know, mother nearly didn’t lemme wear my Christmas hat!! >< I had to PROMISE her I’d not wear it again until Christmas next year before she very reluctantly relented. Somehow, she believes I’ll grow nits if I keep my other-wise empty head under a warm covering? I’m unsure if that’s even possible; do head lice really just pop into existence from nothing in a hot environment?? XD

Anyways, I had a lovely Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day; already looking forward to it coming back next year!

Next post here: well, considering it’s NYE toms, obviously you’ll hear from me again toms night with all my reflections for 2024!

Until then~

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