Monthly Archives: Dec 2024

Christmas time memories…

Posted on by
Reply

This Christmas I was reflecting on the family tradition of lunch on Christmas Day.

It is a day when everyone who is available on my Dad’s side of the family comes together and celebrates Christmas.

The tradition started before I was even born as out of my cousin’s, I’m the third youngest but this tradition has been going for over 60 years with my older cousin’s.

When I was born, we’d go see my Mum’s family for Christmas lunch and then go to my Dad’s parents, my Grandparents house, for Christmas Dinner, which was always a bbq cooked by Grandpa and being Australia, we would eat outside in the backyard and then after eating some Christmas pudding (Grandpa would put sixpences in the pudding too) and custard, we’d even get a bottle of Coke from Grandpa to drink in glass bottles, not plastic bottles like now and you needed a bottle cap opener because there was no screw top cap. After we had our bottles of Coke, my cousin’s and I would go for a walk around the area and wish everyone we saw a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year as we walked the streets going to one of the many playgrounds in the area. Thank you Daylight Savings time as well for the play time at the playground!

As time went on and Grandpa and Grandma got too old to host the family Christmas Dinner, an Aunty and Uncle took over. They only lived 3 doors down from my Grandparents home, which was convenient as their fridge was used to store some of the food to be eaten on Christmas Day.

As the years have gone by, the family Christmas Dinner has now become the family Christmas lunch with everyone who is available comes for lunch.

My Uncle and Aunty, they hosted all of us for Christmas Dinner, which one year turned into Christmas lunch and from that Christmas to now, it has remained Christmas Day lunch, for many years before my Aunty decided she had enough and felt someone else should take it over.

Another Uncle and Aunty, they hosted all of us for 3 Christmas Day lunches before one of my cousin’s said they will hold Christmas lunch at their house.

So now Christmas lunch is rotated around the homes of 3 of my cousin’s as they have the indoor space and backyard space to have us all there.

When my second cousin’s were born, that started new traditions in the family as they grew and embraced what is family Christmas lunch and now they are adults, I hope they continue keeping the lunch as a tradition, especially when they meat future partners and start having children of their own.

Over the last 53 years, the time I have been alive, we’ve had loved one’s pass away, there has been family breakdowns and family separations where some members of the family no longer come to family Christmas lunch but I still think about every single person not there joining us.

I think about the people who have passed away; Grandpa and Grandma, both my parents, 2 of my aunties – one of them passed away earlier this year and this is the first Christmas without her, a “cousin in law”. I think about those who don’t come to Christmas lunch even though they have a long standing invitation but don’t join in – family breakdowns can be a bitch but in this situation, I completely understand why and I hope all the people involved are happy with their chosen families, that’s all I ask for.

On Christmas Day, I love cracking open a bon bon to read the bad jokes, wear the paper hat and see what crap toy there is. I love eating Christmas pudding with custard and ice cream, I love singing along to the music playing as we gather and getting into a singing war with who can sing a song better, my cousin’s and I or the younger generation, especially the song, Do they Know it’s Christmas?

I remember when my Aunty and Uncle took over from Grandpa and Grandma having the family at their house for Christmas Dinner and all the cousins, we’d be in my cousin’s bedroom singing along with the songs playing loudly on her record player. Do they Know It’s Christmas? was a favourite when it first was released all those years ago and we cousin’s sang it loudly.  Sorry Next Gen Cousins but we’re always going to sing that song better than you ever will!

I hope that when my cousin’s and I are no longer around, that their kids and future generations keep the tradition of Christmas family lunch going and I know they will because they are tight and best friends.

What family traditions do you have at Christmas time? Let me know in the comments.

Merry Christmas everyone from my family to yours.

Until next time

Kaye x

Social media…

Posted on by
Reply

I come from a generation who lived before social media was even thought of. Our social networking was talking to our next door neighbours, actually going to visit people at their house, speaking with people in the supermarket aisles or in the checkout line, conversing with the people we bumped into regularly in the street, or picking up the landline phone to call someone. We didn’t have social media and we didn’t have mobile (cell) phones back then, so I got to do all my crazy stuff without it being posted on social media for the world to hear about it.

My first plunge into social media was with Facebook in 2010, then a few months later I created a Twitter (now X) account and over the years I have accounts on many social media platforms. Some social media platforms, I have multiple accounts.

So here in 2024, I have social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter (Dear Elon Musk, I hate the name X and so I refuse to call your app that, signed me), Instagram, Threads, Snapchat, Bluesky, Clapper, Twitch, Rumble, YouTube, Discord, WhatsApp, Tumblr, Linkedin, Pinterest, Reddit, Messenger, Favorited and of course TikTok.

Some of the apps you probably haven’t heard of as some of these apps are relatively new and others don’t have the huge number of users unlike the mainstream popular apps have.

Why do I have so many social networking apps I hear you ask? Well, I wished I had a great answer but I hear about an app and if I think it’s interesting, I have to find out more and the best way for me to do that is to create an account for that app. I can only learn so much about the different apps by listening to other people talk about a particular app, or find out what information there is from Google.

There is however a content creator on TikTok who does livestreams and he’s on multiple platforms and he challenged his regulars to follow him on at least one other platform, or to follow him on all the platforms he’s on. Several of us regulars opted to follow him on all the platforms he’s on as he thought no one would take him up on that challenge, so he made it a dare to follow him on all the platforms. Apparently there were a few of us who if you dare us to do something, it’s game on, we’re going to do it! Lol

I’ve met some really wonderful people from all over the world through social media, so much so that they have become family. I’ve also met some of the most entitled, toxic, drama filled a$$hol3s as well on social media who have earned their rightful place on a blocked list but the good people outnumber the bad ones.

I enjoy learning about people, I enjoy seeing the parts of the world they live in, I enjoy talking to people and it’s all in real time. Whether I’m watching a livestream and typing comments in the chat, or in a guest box talking with people, it fascinates me as social media in general has made the world a smaller place to live.

There are however some aspects of social media I do not like. I detest the keyboard warrior’s who hide behind their keyboards, the trolls, the bullies, toxic people who love to create drama that break friendships or groups. What happened to simply agreeing to disagree about something? Or just being kind and respectful of other people’s opinions? Or be open enough and willing to see another person’s point of view without forcing your own point of view onto others?

When I joined TikTok in June 2022, TikTok was still a great app, then in 2023, TikTok went down hill big time as more people were doing battles by then and people opted to give up their jobs to make a living doing battles because it’s easy money, all you need is big gifters to support your battles. There’s now more bullies and keyboard warrior’s who hide behind faceless profile pictures on burner accounts. Toxic people are on the rise as well on the app.

One of the things that makes me always laugh though is how many people want tons of followers because they think that having a large number of followers makes them look popular. They post nothing, they follow no one, they aren’t known people, they contribute nothing in making the world a better place to live or contribute to making people’s lives better, they just want followers for clout in feeding their own ego’s all because they think that having a large number of followers makes them look impressive as a status symbol.

One thing for me about social media, I have never been about how many friends I have on Facebook or how many followers I can get on any of my socials. I don’t even follow everyone back who follows me. I don’t accept all the friends requests I receive on Facebook either, well the legitimate friend requests mainly, not the scammers or fakes as I remove them automatically. I have never been about winning any kind of popularity contest and never will. I’m about quality over quantity and making genuine connections with people. Even when people unfriend me on Facebook or decide to unfollow me, my attitude is “it’s their loss”. I simply don’t have an ego, I don’t do drama, I don’t do fake friends, I don’t do toxicity (okay, we can all exhibit toxic traits but if someone is totally toxic in how they interact and engage with people, I’m definitely out as I have absolutely no time for toxic people). If someone unfollows me, I will unfollow right back. I do have my boundaries that I will not compromise on.

There are people I have made true friendships with on the socials and those people are on my Facebook. Facebook is my inner sanctum as that is where I share parts of my life I don’t share anywhere else. It’s where I have my family and my real life friends and if a social media friend makes it into my Facebook feed, then they know they are family and I trust that person just as they trust me when they share parts of their life.

I’m a big believer though of the age old adage of don’t post on social media anything you don’t want the world to see. That works for me as I’m never going to post anything that I don’t want to share with the world because once it’s on social media, you can delete a post but somewhere on the internet, that post will still remain.

I love social media for not only connecting with people from around the world but I also love it for finding out what is happening in the world. I enjoy social media and finding some sleep sounds, quiet music or watch something relaxing on nights when I am unable to fall asleep. Social media has it’s advantages along with its disadvantages.

Whether you’re on social media yourself or not someone who does social media, whether you like social media or not, it is definitely something that will be staying around for a long time to come.

I’m kayezee71 on all my socials, maybe I’ll see you all soon somewhere in Social Media Land sometime soon, you never know.

Until next time

Kaye