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| Christmas Extravaganza |
In actual fact, I had to prepare my mum and dad - weeks in advance - who were both happy we were having a holiday but also terribly sad we wouldn’t be gorging ourselves on both food and love with the whole clan.
The other challenge I had was to have all my Christmas
shopping done, presents wrapped and somehow hidden ten days before the big
event. I’m a Christmas Eve shopper, so having all this done was no mean feat.
The three little misses all had their individual concerns.
Miss 11: “Mum, is there going to be Mass? We can’t miss
Mass, we have to go to Mass. Can you find out? If not, we have to our own Mass.
Mum, Christmas is about Jesus, we can’t miss MASS!!!”
Miss 10: “I know there’s no Santa, so just give me my
presents now. Actually, I don’t need anything, the cruise is more than
enough."
Miss 8: “How will Santa find us? Are Reindeers afraid of
water? How will Santa get into our cabin? Will I be able to get a carrot from
the kitchen? Where will the sleigh land? Can we take a mini-Christmas tree? I
need to leave Santa a treat…..” and on and on for hours. I zoned out and just
nodded.
Anyway, I successfully had all the very badly wrapped
presents hidden in the garage (I am the worst wrapper, ever) and, as the kids
were carrying their luggage out to our shuttle, I dumped the pile under our
Christmas tree and shut the door behind me.
Mission completed. As I was unsure what type of festivities
the Eden had in store for the kids, I reassured Miss 8 that if Santa couldn’t
deliver on the cruise, he’d probably leave them at our house. I was happy to go along with this ruse, she’s
a child and this might be the last year she believes in the magic of Santa.
I hope I haven’t lost you after that long-winded intro, but
it sets the scene, expectations and hopes my family had for our Christmas cruise.
All I wanted was a relaxing day and hopefully my kids would not be missing
their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Many people asked why we didn’t
book a holiday after Christmas. The simple fact is that both my husband and I
work for ourselves, so this was the only time we could take a break and not let our clients down. School holidays are hard to manage at the best of times, so
this cruise ticked all the boxes for our family, and I’m sure for many other
families.
N.B I will be elaborating on all the different festivities
organised for Christmas in other posts otherwise this one will be way too long,
so this post will focus on Christmas Eve.
I must point out here, that when we embarked, we noticed all
the Christmas decorations around the ship. Christmas trees, baubles, wreaths,
tinsel… it was lovely and really set the mood for the cruise we were about to
depart on. To the disappointment of Miss
8, there wasn’t a Christmas tree in our cabin, but she came prepared with her
little trinkets. I also saw other cabins (remember, I’m a sticky beak) were
decorated with Christmas cheer.
| Gingerbread display at the Waterfront |
Speckled throughout the day were various Christmas themed
events and also the Christmas Extravaganza Show (6:30pm and 8:45pm). While we were waiting, Miss 11
and I decided to try our hand at Bingo. As we took our seats, the gorgeous
Marius asked who were first-timers. I put my hand up and stated quite
arrogantly that I was going to win. The crowd laughed and booed (in good fun)
and the first game started.
“BINGO” I squealed and the crowd groaned. As I made my way
up to collect my $53 – I danced around the stage just to embarrass my daughter
– and my glow stick “All the way from China” I felt rather smug. Beginner's luck
though as I didn’t win ever again!
As Miss 8 and Miss 10 were off at Kids Club and hubby was at the gym, I thought I’d get a couple of pressies and sneak them into the cabins. Miss 11 and I bought a few tins of M&Ms, wrapped them and hid them under the beds. Mummy points gained! I was feeling pretty chuffed at my ingenuity. This was soon to unravel though, I’d fail miserably as a spy.
After dinner, we headed to the Marquee for the Christmas
Extravaganza. Glow sticks were handed out and young and old waved them along to
the beat. A sweet choir made up of passengers
kicked off the night, which I thought was a lovely addition. The show was
exactly what I expected it to be, full of clichéd carols, witty jokes, a few
sombre moments and kitschy backdrops. Don’t misunderstand me, it was the perfect
family show and it was thoroughly enjoyed by one and all. The entertainers were
bubbly and Alun was the perfect host. The night culminated in a grand old
sing-a-long in probably the most depressing way possible; Band Aid’s 1984 Do they know it’s Christmas? I’m old enough
to remember the horrendous pictures of starving children in Ethiopia, so my
mind automatically replayed these for me in bright technicolour. I’d suggest a
more upbeat song for next year!
We headed off to walk around the ship in an attempt to keep
the kids up for Midnight Mass and happened to stumble upon Karaoke. Wannabe
singers dressed in elves costumes and $2 Shop Christmas t-shirts blasted our
eardrums – it was pretty funny and something I’ll soon not forget. There was
the young lady who was utterly tone deaf ploughing though a song I did not
recognise while her husband stood beaming with encouragement clapping
on the 1 and 3. This explained to me quite clearly why these two were a perfect
match. Then there was our new friend
Phil who sang What a wonderful world to a standing ovation.
By 11:30 the kids were virtually asleep standing up, but we
successfully kept them awake for Midnight Mass. I was surprised how many people
were actually there: families, teenagers and older passengers. The priest was friendly
and there was a beautiful, peaceful feeling around the Marquee. Mass at sea was
a first for me and a memory I will always treasure. I got lost in the moment
but then was dragged back to the reality of being aboard a ship when, as Father
was consecrating the Host, announced to us all that he’ll be wearing a
glove to distribute Eucharist, due to Red Alert. That was a first for me AND him! Passengers
wished each other a Happy Christmas and we carried our little ones to the
cabins.
Now, remember how clever I thought I was buying sweets and
hiding them under the beds? Well, I had to find a way to get into Miss 8 and hubby's cabin once they were sound asleep to leave them under her makeshift
Christmas tree. She had left a can of ginger beer (just in case Santa suffered
from sea sickness) and some crackers. By 2:30am I snuck out of my cabin
carrying the brown paper gift shop bag filled with the goodies. I was half
asleep and not wearing my glasses. Hubby had left his cabin card so I entered
the room as quietly as possible, knocking into the table and falling over. As I
was already on the floor, I crawled over to Miss 8 who was still soundly
sleeping. I took out the presents, placed them on the bedside table, took a
glug of ginger beer and shoved the crackers down my gob. I then reversed out and
went back to my room. Mission completed.
The next morning, Miss 8 comes bounding in with the
chocolates. Her first words were not “Merry Christmas” rather:
“Mummy, Santa used your Cruise Card to pay for these chocolates.
He’s really lazy and a thief. He copied your signature!”
I was confused? What was she going on about?
Apparently, while I was congratulating myself on being super
awesome, I left the brown paper gift bag WITH the receipt on the floor of her cabin.