While the rest of the universe probably woke up on Xmas morning to beaming kids eagerly waiting to open their pressies, I woke up to a purring furball pawing at my face, demanding his breakfast. And by furball, I do mean my cat Max. Never mind that it was just past 6am and I was a little under the weather, my little King of the Castle gets what he wants, when he wants – even Poss doesn’t enjoy such privileges.
As I reluctantly kicked back the covers, the Princess in me still managed to do a little leap of joy, because being home means no cooking, cleaning or ironing required for at least a couple of weeks … ah bliss! That doesn’t mean that I’m completely off the hook though – I still have to play lackey to both Max and my Father.
My Dad has an uncanny knack of always needing me to do something the exact moment I walk through the door. It doesn’t seem to matter what time of day it is or if I’ve literally just arrived from the airport, every time I go into his room to say hello, there will undoubtedly be a food tray that needs clearing, a coffee to be made or some other trivial thing that requires my immediate attention. It’s like he checks ahead with some kind of time police and just sits there waiting for me to make my appearance, all the while having a little giggle to himself. It’s good to know he hasn’t lost his sense of humour in his old age!
Lackey aside, our 3 week holiday was pretty much spent with family and friends, overindulging in Nasi Lemak, Roti Canai and everything else on our “grub” list 😋. Yes, holidays home often revolve around food. Xmas day was a bit of a bust for me having spent it in bed with the flu. But on the bright side, I got my lovely pressies without having to pop another button over the smörgåsbord that is Xmas lunch. See? Again we’re back to food, so no guesses where those extra 2 kilos came from! It’s not just my luggage that goes home heavier, which it does, because it’s always filled with … yep, even more food.
New Year’s Eve was spent with Sveltana and a group of her friends in a small restaurant in town. I can’t remember the last time Poss and I spent NYE in town – we even got a room! Woot! Before you get too excited, it was more to do with traffic than anything else. Unlike a pair of loved up teenagers, we spent the afternoon napping so we would last till midnight lol! Hey, we even managed to make it pass 1 am, at which point, we left to have a quick nightcap at the hotel bar, ordered room service and crashed out. Age and marriage really do wonders to your love life 😉
While it was great being back, our holiday was also bittersweet. Amidst it all, we had to deal with the loss of a very dear friend and a rather worrying diabetic episode with my Dad, both of which hit home pretty hard. In light of a New Year, perhaps it’s a sobering reminder to not take things for granted, to not sweat the small stuff and to always be thankful for all that is good, even if it may be far from perfect. So let’s do this 2018 – you be happy & kind and we should get along just fine.
Diva Does Domestic 