The Contingency Plan

After living in a bubble for the past three weeks, Lucas and I had the opportunity to spend a couple of hours on our own as Mum and Natasha were looking after the bub. So instead of visiting a museum, going to a restaurant or even seeing a movie, we went straight to our nearest shopping centre for a good injection of consumerism.

And how the shops have grown! You leave them for a month and BAM!, the staff have changed, a new season of stock has arrived, and lo, Christmas carols are playing and decorations are decking the mall.

I had no idea the festive season was upon us.

In our usual spirit, Christmas was a time my family's traditions broke that bon bon in a loud and unruly nature.

The tree went up in early November and usually stayed there throughout January (our record was June), Dad left the wreath on the door throughout the year to save re-hammering it (such a tedious job really), I wrote my shopping list months in advance only to complete the whole lot in a Christmas Eve shopping frenzy, presents were opened Christmas Eve if the folks were in a good mood and Christmas Day if they weren't, and lunch was an open invitation for whoever wanted to come. And they'd always come.

Mum would cook for days beforehand. She'd bring Elaine, Nicky, Ian and Jason (Mum's worked for the same four people with down-syndrome for the past ten years and our family welcomed them more than their own) and the house would be full of around 30-40 people who'd stay past lunch and left-overs for Dad's drunken banjo sing-along at night. The crowd was always a mixture of old friends, friends of those friends and strangers. The thing we all had in common was none of us had family here - this was the closest we got.

And we would eat a huge Asian banquet that would be served alongside spag bol, potato salad, fresh seafood and pasta Mum would include for those who didn't fancy the spicy stuff. The day would be a scorcher and we'd sit in our air-conditioned goodness, gorging, talking, playing loud music, calling overseas relos and enjoying every moment. We'd all sleep in the next day, go to the beach and eat left overs for days.

The divorce of my parents is always harder to take over Christmas as all of this disappeared and nothing has replaced the people and memories we shared.

Although they mark significant milestones, Lucas and I have never been traditionists. We've never celebrated an anniversary, hell, we don't even know when it is, and for years were in such a financial spot that birthday presents weren't an option. Yet walking through the shopping centre on Wednesday, I decided Christmas would now become our little family tradition.

So Lucas and I bought some decorations, a cute little outfit for Hugo and even a little tree that sits in the corner of our living room, glowing in anticipation of the presents that will sit underneath.