Life has been building up to the Chaos of Christmas.

The joys of the holidays have not been a deterrent to the criminals in the bay however. Or maybe the holidays were the impetus? The need for festive cash? Or maybe there are some humans who are nasty year round as there was an attack on our local little gem, the World of Birds. World of Birds is a local tourist attraction and sanctuary. They have cute little monkeys and reptiles as well. It has been in Hout Bay for 45 years. Before we emigrated back to SA, whenever we would come on holiday we used to always take the kids for a day out to let the little squirrel monkeys climb all over them in the Monkey Jungle.

The venue has been struggling financially as animals are expensive to maintain, especially exotic ones. Last weekend after a busy weekend of visitors the 81 year old owner was tied up and robbed of R70k worth of takings.

The crime around the ongoing bus strikes has also resulted in more chaos when last week the police used tear gas and stun grenades on the protesters who were causing disruption near my office.

Meanwhile life carries on for those just trying to get shit done.

I presented to my UCT project clients last week. I decided to wear a dress as it was very warm and I was facilitating.

Norm cooked for us a few nights this week and I cooked a few nights. One night we had chicken sausages and the poms love chicken sausage.

On Thursday after work I collected Norm and took him to collect his car which has been in the garage for 6 weeks. It cost us R20.5 thousand rand as it had some major things wrong with it. I left him at the garage and drove home. I had just changed into my pajamas when I get a call from Norm saying the car had broken down again on the way home from the garage! It has been there ever since with the only info we have been given that it might be the fuel pump. It is so incredibly frustrating.

When I arrived back home I saw that I had a big parcel waiting for me and when I unwrapped it, it was a box of goodies and treats sent from our company directors. There was a bottle of bubbly, some chocolates, nougat, nuts, biltong and other treats. The company who produced it is called Gift Lady which is an awesome online gift service where you can choose your own hampers or order flowers and other goodies.

On Friday we had take out sushi from K1 sushi in Hout Bay.

I had my usual order of salmon roses, bamboo roses, prawn roses and prawn tempura. It was all delicious.

On Saturday night we went to the Artscape Theater to see the musical Matilda.

I had bought tickets for Caitlin’s birthday months before and we were so excited to finally go.

We met Caitlin for dinner at Col’Cacchio at the foreshore before hand.

I chose it as they have low carb alternatives. Saying that, both Caitlin and I had a pizza 🙂

I had the Smokey Babe with Asian deboned smoked pork ribs, red onions, corn, spring onions and coriander. I asked them to hold the mint. (Who TF puts mint on a pizza??)

Caitlin had a half and half: half Brie and half Sedriano (sesame seeds, tomato, avocado  and some sort of salami-ish something which I cannot spell or understand and the silly website restricts you from copying text).

Norm was a good boy (who left hungry due to just a single bit of chicken in his dish). He had the Zuchetti Verde Rosso which is chicken parmigiana over zucchini noodles. He did say it was very tasty but they should have the choice of a half portion or a full portion and the size he ordered should be the half portion.

After we ate we drove over to the theatre and parked up and just had time to grab a bottle of water and get seated before the bell rang.

The show was an absolute delight and we loved it so much.

The children were incredibly talented and it was amazing that they could remember the sometimes complex lines!

But the little actress who played Matilda was just incredible. Three different actresses share the part and I do not know the name of the one which was starring the night we went but it is the little one on the left.

We had such a brilliant night!

The rest of the weekend was relaxing for me as Norm was working on writing  report so I was just keeping myself amused. I watched a few Christmas themed comedies yesterday and an old but cute Susan Sarandon film called The Meddler. I also enjoyed Four Christmases which was silly but funny.

Pixie has been my sidekick.

Today is a public holiday in South Africa. It is the Day of Reconciliation. It is a day to commemorate the end of Apartheid. The actual holiday occurred on Sunday the 16th but the day we were given off of work was Monday. However as my annual leave starts on the 19th I chose to work today, take tomorrow as the paid public holiday and start my annual leave on Wednesday.

I am working from home surrounded by the animals. Blue is on the balcony next to me enjoying what little breeze is available.

I have a busy week planned as it starts to ramp up to silly season and we prepare for our trip. I have my annual gynae check up on Tuesday morning and a friend’s drinks party on Tuesday evening.

Wednesday I am at the hairdresser early in the morning and on Thursday evening Norman and I are invited to the British High Commissioner’s residence for Christmas drinks.

It is such a gorgeous venue and they always throw an amazing bash with open bars, delicious canapes and live music.

I may be going out on Friday night to see a friend who is over from Canada at the moment but as Norm and I fly early the next morning it cannot be a late one or a very alcohol fueled one. Our flight is 33 hours and that is a challenging enough expedition without being tired or hungover. But my friend who is visiting has a packed itinerary travelling around SA and I do not know if she will be able to fit me in any other time which makes me really sad as we have been friends for almost 30 years.

This year has left me evaluating so many relationships in my life. It has been a sad and emotional year for me, a year of pain and transition. But with growth comes pain, with transformation comes pain and as I have seen, often with awareness comes pain.

I can attest to all of these. As I am becoming more spiritually aware and ‘conscious’ of the sincerity and energy of others and more trusting of my instincts I grow. With this growth comes the growing pains. I hope I will come out of this year a stronger person or at least more aware and trusting of my intuition.

I am really looking forward to spending time with my Mom and with Joy (my second mom who is too young to actually BE my mom). I have not been back to the US since 2007 and have not seen any of my cousins or other family members since. I am very excited to see my Mom’s new house as well. I am so happy that her house in Atlanta finally sold and that she is settled back in North Georgia near where she grew up as she is near friends and family. Her old home was too large for her to cope with and this new one is a bungalow so she can get around easily and manage much better on her own.

Joy has organised a NYE party for us and we are driving up to stay at her lake house for a few days. I am sad that I will not be able to see my children for the holidays but they all have their own partners and are generally scattered all over for the holidays.

Life changes and we have to change with it.

If we are lucky we might get a bit of snow for Christmas, if nothing else it will be nice to not be cooking in the brutal SA heat.

Mom has offered to host an afternoon tea one of the days we are there and I will invite some of my old school friends around for a catch up.

If I do not connect with any of you again before the holidays I wish you all a happy Christmas and New Year.

Kisses from the Kitten x0x0x0x.