Monday, December 5
Home, 14:35
We woke up to the start of a long weekend. Independence Day falls on a Tuesday this year and almost everybody has decided that Monday should count as a bridge between the weekend and the Tuesday holiday. We have decided to use this for our early Christmas: the family tradition that we began when we started going to Kerala for Christmas and New Year.
By the middle of the morning the disco Christmas tree lives in the corner of the living room. I have put all the presents around it. Sunshine has walked around the pile sniffing suspiciously.
Irma has collected Naa and gone to pick up her father. I sit with Sunshine awaiting the arrival of Irma’s mother. We will have an early Christmas coffee afternoon, with Christmas crackers and lots of sweet goodness. I will especially like the mince pies we found in Stockmann last week.
We will follow this with the official exchange of gifts.
I will get Irma a scarf, a book, a candle, and three gift vouchers for Indiska, Marimekko and Stockmann. I will get trousers, aftershave, chocolates, and a t-shirt.
Irma’s father will declare himself very tired halfway through the unwrapping, and so Irma and Naa will take him home before reappearing to continue opening the presents. Eventually, when we have unwrapped them all, Irma will leave again to take her mother and Naa to their respective homes.
Finally the two of us will sit down with a glass of chardonnay.