Thursday 25 December 2014 – Christmas Day

Kate, Dylan and Pete drove together to Nikki's house late in the morning of Christmas Day. They'd had a quiet morning at home before getting organised to head to Nikki's. Dylan had cooked pancakes for them all. Pete's ute was packed with food and brightly wrapped Christmas presents. An agreement had been made amongst the group for the three of them to take their presents to Nikki's, and for everyone to open their presents there at some point during the afternoon.

It was just going to be the four of them today. Sally and Chloe were spending Christmas with Sally's family, and Andy and Lani had flown to Melbourne to spend Christmas there with Andy's daughter Jessie.

Pete pulled up into the driveway at Nikki's house and tooted the ute's horn. Nikki opened the front door and walked out onto her front lawn, smiling at the decorations adorning the ute. Pete had gone all out with decorating it for Christmas Day – he had entwined tinsel through the bull bar and up the aerial and snorkel; there was a pair of reindeer antlers which were attached to either side of the roof of the cabin; and a red nose was attached to the front between the headlights. A blow-up Santa was tied in place on the tray at the back of the ute.

Nikki's smile widened and she started laughing out loud as the three opened the doors of the twin cab and stepped out. "Oh my God. Whose idea was this?"

Kate looked at Nikki and couldn't help smiling herself as she answered "Blame Dutchy."

It was hard not to smile. All three were wearing brightly coloured Christmas Hawaiian shirts over their shorts and t-shirts. Dutchy's had a Christmas beach scene; Pete's had surfing Santas; while Kate's was printed with Santa hats.

"Don't worry Nikki. We've got one for you too." Dutchy pulled a shirt covered in prints of gingerbread men from behind his back and handed it to her, accompanying his action with a hug and a kiss before wishing her 'Merry Christmas'.

The other two were quick to also hug and kiss Nikki as they wished her 'Merry Christmas' also. Nikki put the shirt on over her t-shirt before helping to unload the car and ferry the food and presents into her house. Kate took charge of putting the presents under Nikki's tree, while Pete and Dylan went through to the kitchen to put the food away in the fridge.

Nikki had already set out finger food for them to snack on prior to lunch. She poured them all a glass of fruit punch then they each chose some food before moving out onto the terrace to eat. It was a warm day and Kate at least was grateful that Nikki's terrace was well shaded, and also had a wall-mounted fan that was helping to make it comfortable to sit outside.

"Nikki," began Kate "This pull-apart bread and melted brie dip is wonderful."

"Wait until you try the Oysters Kilpatrick," said Pete. "That's if I leave any for you."

"And then there's these sausage rolls – fantastic," said Dylan.

"Thank you everyone" responded Nikki "We can have lunch whenever you want. We only need about 15 minutes to sort the food that you've brought once we start barbecuing. You did remember to get cooked prawns, didn't you?"

"Yes" responded Pete "Large cooked Tiger prawns as requested."

"Wonderful. I also need someone to operate the barbecue for the Balmain bugs." added Nikki "Would you guys mind doing that when it's time? It should only take about ten minutes or so to cook them."

"Yeah" and "Sure" were the responses from the two men.

"Terrific. Just let me know when you're ready for lunch and we can get started."

The four of them relaxed on the terrace, chatting amongst themselves about nothing in particular, eating the finger food and occasionally singing along to the Christmas music Nikki had playing. Kate entertained Nikki by showing her photos of the house with all its Christmas decorations and telling her stories about the tourist boats that went by each night. Lately the two men had been taking it in turns to dress as Santa Claus and wave to the boats, just to add a bit more atmosphere, or so they told Kate. For her part, Kate wasn't much into dress-ups and had declined the offer to dress as an elf or Santa's helper, especially when she saw the picture of the costume they suggested she wear. Brief didn't begin to describe it.

Eventually they decided that they were ready to eat their lunch. Pete lit the barbecue and when it was hot enough he and Dylan started cooking the Balmain bugs, which Nikki had split down the middle and spread with garlic butter. Kate and Nikki went inside to prepare the salad for the bugs, as well as the dipping sauces to accompany the prawns.

Once the food was ready, the four sat around Nikki's table and took it in turns to pull the Christmas crackers and put on the paper crowns. Silence reigned as they ate their seafood lunch, broken only by occasional comments on how good the food was, or requests to be passed a particular dish. Eventually they'd had enough to eat and moved away from the table and back out onto the terrace until they felt ready for dessert.

"Presents or dessert?" asked Nikki after they'd been lounging around for a while. "It's either that or we're all going to fall asleep out here.

"Couldn't manage another bite at this point," mumbled Dutchy.

"Same," responded Pete.

"How about backyard cricket?" Kate suggested, a little facetiously.

"Seriously?!" was Nikki's response. "Presents it is then. Come on, let's go." Matching action to her words, Nikki got up from her chair and headed inside. The others slowly followed her – they were all still feeling a bit full from their Christmas lunch, the men in particular.

Nikki had set up a white Christmas tree in her living room. It was liberally hung with ornaments and tinsel, with multi-coloured lights flickering. There was a pile of presents in brightly coloured Christmas wrapping paper under the tree. The two men sat, or more accurately collapsed, into the soft armchairs, while the two women remained standing for the moment, exchanging a wry glance at each other in amusement at how much Peter and Dylan had managed to eat, and how they were now paying for it. Nikki turned up the stereo, which was still playing Christmas carols.

"Shall I play Santa's helper?" asked Kate.

"Go for it" was Nikki's response, as she settled herself onto one end of her sofa.

"Oh sure" said Dylan "You'll do Santa's helper here, but not at home for the tourists."

Kate briefly glared at him and responded with "No costume required for this" before she knelt down by the tree and began looking at the gift labels on the various presents prior to handing them out. Once the presents had been given out, she sat on the ottoman and then they started the unwrapping.

Kate had given both Dylan and Peter Leatherman multi-tools, each of which she'd had engraved with the recipient's initials. Nikki, after a discussion with Kate about what she was giving the men for Christmas, had given each man a leather sheath for storing their Leatherman. Nikki and Kate had decided on having a spa day together during their holidays and exchanged vouchers for their upcoming treat.

Kate's presents from Dylan and Pete consisted of bottles of perfume. She figured that one or both of them must have raided her room as both of the perfumes they gave her were ones which she had been planning to replace, as they were her two favourites, and the bottles were getting low. The two men had joined together for Nikki's present, which was some kitchenware that Nikki had been drooling over the last time she and Kate had had a shopping day.

After the presents had been thoroughly admired, and the wrapping paper cleared away and put in the recycling bin, they decided to go for a walk before thinking about having dessert. It was late afternoon by then: the day was still warm and sunny, but the afternoon breeze was just starting up and taking the edge off the day's heat.

The four walked down to the beach and had a wander along the sand. Families were enjoying their Christmas afternoon on the beach, and there were excited children running around playing with their new toys. The four took their shoes off and walked along the edge of the water, occasionally walking out into the shallow water, while avoiding children, dogs and the odd stray kickboard or inflatable beach ball.

They decided to sit on the beach for a while to enjoy the breeze coming across the water and wait for the sunset. They were relaxing on the warm sand when Dylan spoke "This is how I always wanted to have Christmas Day, getting to spend time on the beach, having a seafood lunch. We always had Christmas lunch at my grandparents' house. They lived in Cessnock, not too far from my parents' farm in the Hunter Valley. My grandmother, mum's mum, was English born and still stuck to all their traditions, even though she'd come out to Australia when she was eight. About a month before Christmas everyone in the family had to go to their house and stir the Christmas pudding and make a wish. Gran made the pudding, cake and mince pies every year from scratch, and then there'd be goose and baked ham and all the roast vegies – potatoes of course, Brussel sprouts, parsnips and turnips even – along with beans and minted peas, and then gravy on the table for Christmas Day lunch, even though we usually had 35 degree plus weather at Christmas. Sometimes I don't know how we got through it all without passing out from heat exhaustion. And then on Boxing Day we'd drive to dad's family in Newcastle and eat the same sort of meal all over again. It was fun running around on Christmas Day with all my cousins, playing tip and run in the backyard after lunch, while we waited until it was time to open our presents. But when I got older it was all really so much food and fuss. Today's Christmas was just what I always hoped for. No stress, enough food for everyone but not a groaning table, and hanging out with good friends."

"You think it was tough having an English-Australian Christmas?" Pete commented "Try being Polish. Our Christmas celebrations took place on Christmas Eve. We had to spend the day cleaning the house and preparing for dinner. It's a fasting day, but Mum would have been cooking all day, making cakes and stuff, and preparing pierogis. My mouth would be watering, and I wasn't allowed to eat any of it until night-time."

"What's that pergo thing?" asked Nikki.

"Pierogi? It's a kind of dumpling, usually made with mushrooms and cabbage stuffing at Christmas – other fillings when it wasn't a special occasion. They can be either boiled or fried. Mum would make beetroot soup and also a mushroom soup, and she'd prepare fish dishes, carp made two ways and also herring. Gingerbread, poppy seed cake, and kutia for dessert – and before you ask Nikki, that's a wheat seed, poppy, honey and dried fruit dish that's soaked in port and has nuts mixed in. A traditional Polish Christmas Eve dinner has twelve dishes and there's no red meat involved, just the fish, and vegetables of course, like sauerkraut and cabbage rolls. Some people say that there's a dish for each month of the upcoming year. Other people prefer to say that it's twelve dishes for the twelve disciples. And then after eating all that food, we'd have to stay awake long enough to go to midnight mass."

"Midnight mass. Is that where you went last night?" Kate asked. Pete had gone out about 11.30 last night and hadn't got home before Kate went to bed. She'd wondered at the time where he'd gone so late.

"Yes, it's a holy day of obligation. It's one of the only times in the year that I manage to get to church, Christmas and Easter. I'm not much of a believer these days, but I do it in memory of mum. Then on Christmas Day we'd visit relatives and eat more food with them. Made for a long couple of days."

Nikki chimed in, "Maybe it's a European thing, but it sounds like some of your Polish traditions aren't so dissimilar to our Italian and Portuguese ones.

"You're Portuguese as well? I thought you were just Italian Nikki," said Dylan.

"No. Caetano is a Portuguese name. If we were Italian, it would be Gaetano. Dad's Portuguese and mum's Italian, but we tend to keep the Italian traditions mostly. Anyway, we also have a meatless Christmas Eve. That's both an Italian and Portuguese thing. We have seafood. There can be as many as seven different types of seafood for our dinner that night; some people call it the Feast of the Seven Fishes. Pasta dishes of course, to go with the seafood. And panettone and pandoro – you see them in the shops nowadays. Mum and Nonna make their own sweet breads. They'd die before they'd put a shop-bought one on the table – it'd be considered a huge loss of face not to make your own. Midnight mass of course – and yes, I went last night also. And then more food on Christmas Day."

"What? Two days of eating?" asked Dylan.

"More than that" smiled Nikki "On Christmas Day there's another huge meal, but with meat this time. Antipasto first up, followed by pasta dishes, then the main meat dish. That could be either veal, beef or chicken, or all of them even. Dessert could be a panforte, with more panettone and pandoro of course. And then on the 26th, Australian Boxing Day, we have the feast of Saint Stephen, which is basically an excuse to eat the leftovers. Except if you are expecting visitors, in which case there's more cooking."

"I'm glad I'm not Italian or Portuguese," commented Kate "With my cooking skills you'd all go hungry if the Christmas cooking was up to me." She followed that comment with a wry grin.

Nikki looked as if she was about to ask Kate about her family's Christmas traditions, but Pete caught her eye and slightly shook his head at her. Nikki subsided and instead lay down on the sand.

It was dark when they eventually headed back to Nikki's house to eat the pavlova that Kate had brought for dessert. Never a great dessert cook, Kate had ordered one rather than try to make it – at least that way it was pretty much guaranteed to be edible. Kate's day-to-day cooking was fine – it was dessert and sweet dishes where she came to grief. The guys still joked about the last time Kate had attempted to make a pavlova from scratch, when the uncooked mixture had failed to keep its shape and had spread out across the baking tray and then dripped onto the oven base during cooking, much to Kate's horror. Dessert was followed by coffee before they decided to call it a day.

Back at their home, Kate poured them all liqueurs to round off their day. They took the drinks out to the terrace, where they sat around the table, sipping at their drinks and enjoying the peaceful end to their Christmas Day. The boat cruises were running, but neither of the men could be bothered dressing up tonight. The lights for the decorations were on and the Christmas music was playing – that was enough for tonight.

"Guys. I had a great day today. You know how much I was dreading it, but it was terrific, and I love the perfumes. They were wonderful choices. Thank you both so much." said Kate.

"I'm glad" replied Pete "We know today wasn't easy for you."

Dylan murmured his agreement.

Eventually their conversation slowed, and they were all stifling yawns. Kate gave each man a hug and kiss on the cheek, and reiterated her thanks to both of them, before heading off to her room.