Boxing Day 2022

Well Christmas is all over and I for one am looking forward to the new year. I have American brownies just out of the oven, so the house smells good. I haven’t had anything sweet in the house for ages as my personal trainer at gym suggested I lose a couple of kilos which I have now done. So the brownies will be a treat and then out it all goes again.

I got a light hearted book to read this week. It’s Australian but I’m not familiar with the author. It’s called Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson. It is a mystery filled with dark humour. I have only started it but have had a few laughs. It begins with him having to dispose of a criminal body his brother accidentally ran over with the car. The brother didn’t want to save the man because the man was wearing a balaclava and had a bag with $280,000 of cash in it. Once our protagonist got out of that situation he is obliged to attend a big family reunion in the mountains run by an aunt who organises everything in spreadsheets. The company, the meal, the accommodation and the relatives get memos related to the spreadsheet that drive all of them nuts. Of course there are those spouses that marry into the family who are seen to speak,out of turn. Two of the attendees are participating in a private bingo game unknown to those who are the butt of the game.

A paragraph: ‘Glad you’re finally here. I was waiting for you to rescue me- I knew you’d distract everyone. Here.’ She handed me a small, square piece of cardboard, which had a grid printed on it. Inside each box was a short phrase, relating to different family members: Marcello shouts at a Waiter; Lucy tries to SELL you anything. I spotted my name- Ernest ruins something- in the middle of the left column.

I can see my family having participated in a game such as this in the past. I only wish I had thought of it. Mr Penguin and I had a family very similar to Clark Griswald’s in the film Christmas vacation with Chevy Chase. It has long been our favourite silly Christmas movie along with sharing jokes with my brother.

All of this happens in the first two chapters.

Now we have wrapped up the holiday season quickly I look forward to our reading groups beginning next year as well as my photography groups getting active again. I have joined a second one also and look forward to seeing what they get up to. Stay tuned.

I look forward to hearing about new books out there exchanging hands and a clean slate of a new year beginning. I’ll have a toast that all of us have a good year.

9 thoughts on “Boxing Day 2022

  1. I’m totally English when it comes to cakes, Christmas starts and ends with fruit cake and mince pies. Ok, Anglo/Australian, with lots of pav in the middle.
    No, I haven’t come across that author either. Not xmas, but at mum’s 90th earlier in the year, it felt really odd to be one of, the oldest of, the great uncles after so many multi-family christmases in the 1950s and 60s at my grandparent’s.

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  2. Are you as picky about your brownies as I am? Mine must be fudgey, not cakey, and must have nuts and yes I do prefer the corner pieces with the crispy edges. Frosted brownies are fine as long as they meet all the other criteria.

    I too am looking forward to a new year with a clean slate. Let’s do this!!!!!

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  3. Ah, I don’t want to sabotage your healthy eating habits, but I have found a recipe for Brownies that claims to be only 90 calories. I suspect that it’s only true if you omit the optional extra choc chips, which I did not do.
    They are totally delicious, and they pass the Taste Test with our American neighbour who loves it when I bake Brownies or pumpkin pie!
    https://thebigmansworld.com/wprm_print/24750

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