Tag Archives: my story

Christmas time memories…

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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

Making the most out of it…

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Recently I had to do a sleep study… I had no actual symptoms but the doctor I see thought it would be a good idea after I marked high as a candidate for sleep apnoea on a check list… the questions asked could have covered basically anyone as having sleep apnoea as most people would fit into the categories asked but hey, the questionnaire said I had symptoms of sleep apnoea, so I had to undergo a sleep study.

I saw the sleep specialist a couple of weeks after being referred by the GP and they arranged for me to take an at home sleep study. I booked a date and time to pick up a sleep study kit for the at home sleep study.

The day of the sleep study, I went to the medical centre and picked up the kit and took it home.

That night, I followed the instructions on how to place all the wires and electrodes on my body before going to bed. I looked and felt like a lab rat once all the wires, electrodes and electronic devices were attached and ready to collect the data from my night of sleep.

I am no stranger in doing a sleep study as I’ve done one previously a few years ago, a hospital sleep study, which involved a night sleeping on the narrowest and hardest hospital bed I think that they could find for me to sleep on. There were more wires and electrodes attached that time and the wires were connected to a bigger box I had to wear but the memory is still in my mind like it was yesterday.

The following morning before 9am, I had to return the sleep study kit back to the sleep specialist centre, then wait for the results which were given several days later by the sleep specialist.

At the appointment with the sleep specialist, I was diagnosed with having severe sleep apnoea and I would need to have a CPAP machine. Oh joy… not.

I then had to book another appointment with another person who would help me choose a suitable face mask and CPAP machine for me to use.

I went home with a CPAP machine, an Airsense 10 Autoset and a full face mask. The first night using the face mask, a Resmed Airfit F20, I couldn’t stand it… I couldn’t stand the air blowing straight on my face, the feel of the full face mask on my face. That night was a interrupted night of sleep. In fact, I hated the mask so much, I took it off, turned off the machine in the very early hours of the morning and left it off to sleep.

That first night while struggling to get used to the machine and battling with the full face mask, which was a losing battle, I thought of giving my machine a name as something fun. Since this machine was going to be my new sleeping companion I have to sleep with, I had better get used to it. I also decided that the machine was a He as well as it looks like a male. After much thought, not really, I came up with the name “Colin” for my CPAP machine… call me weird for naming a machine if you must… but Colin is named after the inventor of the CPAP machine, an Australian by the name of Colin Sullivan in 1980, a fitting name I thought. Here’s the funny thing, now I can talk about Colin, my machine and have people think he’s my partner haha.

After having a word with the company I obtained the CPAP machine from, they provided me with 3 other masks to try in the hopes that one of them is more suitable for me.

The face mask I have been using is a nasal pillow which just sits under the nose, which is perfect for me as it’s not a full face mask, I don’t have air blowing on my face and I’m not feeling as though I’m suffocating. I’m also a person who sleeps with their mouth closed, so I don’t need to use a full face mask to cover both my nose and mouth.

It’s early days with using the CPAP machine but I hope the set up I have now with the face mask I am using, I hope I feel the benefits of it soon and get a better night of sleep than I was having after receiving the results from the sleep study.

Until next time

Kaye