Christmas morning

We had a beautiful Christmas morning.  It wasn't too hot, there were clouds blocking the sun and when we left home at 6.15am, there was the promise of a wonderful day ahead.  Hanno and I drove to the Centre where, along with a few others, we packed our cars with tables, chairs, equipment and food, and headed off to the local park.

 Hanno and some of the volunteer chefs cooking up a feast for everyone.

The Centre where I work as a volunteer invites the town to share breakfast every Christmas morning.  For the past few weeks I've been organising this and I wanted it to be the best yet.  Santa had contacted me to let me know he'd be there, we had a lot of volunteers to help set up, cook and tidy up, all we needed was a crowd of people.

Well, they didn't let me down, I think we served about 700 breakfasts.  The toughest part of organising such an event is that you never know how many people will come along.  We ran out of bacon late in the morning, but had sausages and eggs left over.  We also served cooked tomatoes and mushrooms, bread and butter, fresh tropical fruit, organic muesli and yoghurt, cereals with local dairy milk, fruit juice, spring water, tea and coffee.  I've already bagged up the leftover sausages, they and the eggs and bread will be given out to people needing food assistance over the holidays.

It was a lovely morning.  Homeless people mixed with business leaders, children came along with new toys, people who might nod in the street during the year, sat down and ate breakfast together.  I feel blessed being part of it.  As usual, my faithful sidekick, Hanno, was with me to help.  He loves cooking the sausages so that is where he was for the first few hours, then he had a break and sat chatting with a paramedic under a tree, sipping coffee.

There were a couple of short downpours of rain but no one cared.  It's all part of living in the subtropics at Christmas time.  Many people came over to me to thank the Centre for hosting such an amazing event, we received lots of donations and Hanno and I came home happy people.  It really is the best part of Christmas for me.

I am taking a break for a short while to rest and get ready for a busy new year.  I have a few ideas for the blog in the coming months and I'm eager to share them with you.  Thank you for your visits here during the year.  It never fails to astound me that people keep coming!  Thank you for the warm friendships many of you have extended to me and for the many wise and wonderful comments.  A special thanks to Sharon who helps me here, the forum and at the simple, green, frugal co-op blog.   Warm hugs, Sharon, I appreciate you very much.

I hope you're squeezing every bit of joy out of the festivites and that your new year opens with optimism, hope and desire for continued change.  I know mine will and I want as many people as possible to be walking along this chosen road with me.

Take care, friends.  I'll see you soon.

ADDITION:   There is an online sale at American Yarns - 20% off everything in the store.  Starts 26 December and runs for five days.  Use the code 'bdaysale09' at the checkout to get your 20% saving.  Click here to go to the store.