Friday, December 26, 2008

Christmas 08

At 5am the party awoke,
except for dad, who needed a poke.
Santa had come and presents abound!
The gleeful joy a wonderful sound.

Having 3 kids in the house for Christmas changed the feel of it again this year. We had decided to donate to a charity instead of the usual present giving among the family, but somehow Mum disappeared a couple of days before Christmas and there were presents for everyone under the tree again. That started the floodgates as Dad and Matt headed out Christmas eve to match the effort. Cameron, Rachael and Rebecca had the lions share of the presents, but after all the paper ended up in Rebecca's clamshell pool, the pile was enormous.

We'll still be donating to Fred Hollows Foundation. On a mowing trip earlier in the month with Cameron I was idly thinking about how he looked in front of me with his gumboots, miner's hat and safety goggles. Safety goggles. Sandy's insistence he wore them as the dirt can swirl up a bit against the shed. What would you do if you lost your eyesight? Of all the senses, eyesight would be the most vital, followed closely by hearing & speech (too bad I've destroyed my eardrums frontlining speakers on many techno nights). My thoughts turned to the Fred hollows foundation and the ability to restore sight to someone for a mere $25. That's got to be one of the best investments ...