I love my job. Love. But towards the end of the year I start to get a little exhausted. Working with 23 young children will do that.
It also means the house looks like a lot like a tip. And while it will all be cleaned and polished before Christmas day is here, at the moment it is just piles upon piles of stuff. Once work is finished there will be a concerted all hands on deck effort at sorting and scrubbing, polishing and folding.
While you read this, I am at work. Cleaning. Ah, irony. The sniggering lovechild of Christmas and employment.
Exhibit A. The kitchen table. And yes, you see before you my nutritious lunch. Mmm, chicken chippies. Water counts as nutritious right?
Exhibit B. Washing piled on chair. Not high enough to collapse onto the un-mopped floor, but too high for the dog to sit on.
Exhibit C. Because when you haven’t folded the dry washing, it’s best to abandon all attempts at washing dirty clothes.
Yes, that is a butter knife on the floor. I needed it to drain the washing machine. Which also explains the empty juice bottle. Obviously.
See also a blur of dog as he attempts to make like he wasn’t sleeping on the pile of washing.
Exhibit D. Actually, I have no comment for this. Sometimes a picture says it all.
So there you have it. My pre-Christmas house. So warm, so inviting. So pinterest ready. So full of mess and tired people. And a fast depleting cocktail cabinet. It is the storm before the calm. But please don’t wait for the after photos. I will be far too exhausted from the cleaning and cajoling of teenagers to help clean to take them.
Bring on the holidays. And perhaps a cleaning elf. And a really big bottle of gin.
Do you remember how it felt as a child to listen to a story being told? How it unfolded in your imagination, whole worlds being created from the words the storyteller spoke? I do, and even as an adult I love the magic of it.
Storytelling is an art form. Not all of us can do it well. If you were to ask me, I’d tell you the best storytellers are the people who still have some of that childhood magic. Are still able to unfold an imaginary world and bring it to life with nothing more than their voice.
Many a childhood interstate car trip was held together by audio cassettes in my family. Wind in the Willows, I am sure, I could still recite to this day. My own children were often lulled to sleep with audio books on CD. There is not a Roald Dahl story they do not know. And while I love that when we travel now both children have headphones and iDevices to keep them occupied in the back seat, there are still audio books. I’ll also admit to a love of late night radio and a weeknight book reading. Although I am often asleep by the time the reader says their last words, being as it is 11.20pm by the time they finish.
So you can imagine my excitement when I found out about a one man show in Melbourne this Christmas. Charles Dickens Performs A Christmas Carol. This is a true storytelling event. Phil Zachariah brings to life the characters and story of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. In his later life, Dickens himself gave reading of this well loved book, and indulged in amateur theatricals. In this recreation, Phil Zachariah takes on not only the character of Dickens himself, but those of the story. The characters Ebenezer Scrooge, Jacob Marley and the ghosts of Christmas past, present and yet to come, have been created for this production using Charles Dickens’ original prompt copy, which includes directions in the author’s own hand writing.
As an aside, this year marks the 200th anniversary of Dickens’ birth. Celebrations are taking place worldwide and this unique local production, after performing each Christmas for the past ten years in Melbourne, is now touring the world to rave reviews.
If there’s anything I love more than my city at night, it is my city at night during Christmas. I am, if you like, the anti-scrooge. There is something magical about warm, not yet dark evenings of Melbourne City. I often invent reasons to be there during December. Now I have an actual reason.
The combination of storytelling, Christmas and Melbourne is too good a pass up. I miss good storytelling and cannot wait to see this performance. But you don’t have to miss out either. I have a family pass of four tickets valued at $160 to the opening night of Charles Dickens Performs A Christmas Carol to giveaway.
So, if you will, or can be in Melbourne on Wednesday 5th December at 6.30 pm then this is for you.
To enter please be sure to like my facebook page, and leave a comment on this post, or on facebook - just click on the giveaway tab on the page, telling me about your favourite part of Christmas.
Entry will close WEDNESDAY 21st of November at 7pm. At this time comments on this post will be closed.
Winners will be notified via email on Thursday 22nd November and will have until Sunday 25th November to contact me via return email or tickets will be re-drawn.
Disclaimer: I received a family pass of four tickets to the opening of Charles Dickens Performs A Christmas Carol.
It’s not enough days to Christmas. I have a gazillion things to finish this year and some to get going for next year. I am mainlining coffee when I usually go days at a time without any. I am in a daze of tired and crap food with a side of not nearly enough exercise. I crawl into bed and remember that I still haven’t changed the sheets. Any day now they’ll be able to change themselves. Hardly bears thinking about.
My mantra is a mix of just keep swimming and some manic mumbling about the universe, putting it out there and praying to the god of funding grants. I have the attention span of a oh! Tinsel…shiny! gnat.
But.
I have a home. I have food. I have money. Not heaps, but enough to buy food and gifts. I have a roof over my head. I have family and friends near and far. Not everyone is so lucky. There are giving trees, donation boxes for non perishable food and Christmas appeals in all local areas. A donation doesn’t have to be big or grand to be appreciated. A few cans of food won’t break the bank, either will a five or ten dollar donation. Below are a list of a few…
