On Behalf of Tammy...

First of all, Tammy's not dead. I thought it was important to put that there, because if she were dead, that might be the title of a blog I'd post on her blogspot... especially because now that I know her password.

This is her personal assistant, phone-call screener, room-temerature-water-fetcher, door-opener, window-opener, lunch buddy/eater, AKA sister. Sadly my actual job description does right now involve doing basically eveything she tells me too, because she is a high-powered producer and I am the part-time receptionist on my days off from uni, but it just mirrors the roles she forged for us when I was born. This is okay because the pecking order flows down throughout our family and I have a little sister who does the same for me, but that's another story. Just know that Tammy was a very shrewd little 3-year-old, and planned things out very clearly and satisfactorily in relation to future siblings...

Obviously Tammy's been beyond slack with her blog, and since she's rushing around working like mad and I'm sitting at my great glass escritoire wishing businesses closed when schools did for Christmas holidays, she asked me to post for her, and tell you what's going on in her life.

CHRISTMAS PARTY: Every year for as long as we can remember, whether or not to have a Christmas party has been a generally debated topic leading up to Christmas.

Arguments FOR: It makes people happy, we enjoy it once the guests arrive, we learn to cook and work together, we get heaps of leftovers for Christmas Day, it gets us 'in the spirit'
Arguments AGAINST: We go nuts with preparations for weeks before, and every year we say 'never again' as we shake our heads with fatigue and clean up.

Last year my big wedding a month before Christmas ruined it for everyone, so this year it was a hotter-than-ever topic. Dad said 'Not even a topic of discussion' all the way up until 3 days ago or so when he approached mum about having it, much to almost everybody's delight. So it's tomorow night. Which is short notice. But when you're mother is superwoman and she has the kind of first class help you only get when you've given birth to it or married it, we hope we can pull it off!

In past years we've tried to 'downscale' to make ourselves think we won't go overboard, by calling it a 'gathering', holding it on Christmas Even in hopes that nobody will come (apparently nobody has anything on that night), etc., but it does nothing, and they are growing, as old friends are as dear as ever and new friends pop up each year. This year's tactic is to just not to stress, and to focus on 'yay, we're having a fun party' instead of 'okay we have 2 days to do the kind of extravaganza only mum would imagine normal and expected'. (These parties are HUGE, and involve hundreds of people, decorations and food that you see at classy weddings on movies).

Tammy's Christmas presents have gone to hell (haha - sorry, I just said that cause I know this is basically a 'Northern Hemisphere'-audienced blog and I know Tammy would want me to..) because now every spare second is cooking etc, but we are very excited. Speaking of Tammy's Northern Hemisphere friends, if you ever decided to be here around this time of year, we'd totally have this party, so you could come. We wish you would! :)

What else is new in Tamster's world? On Sunday at church she sang 'O Holy Night', which my Dad makes her do every year, so he can cry and be grateful for her beautiful gift, and help him think of the Saviour. We love it, if you haven't heard her sing, because in America she was 'film girl' instead of 'singing and piano girl' when it came to general perception from what I gather, you should hear it. We are blessed to have her and her wonderful talents in our family!

Okay, I just called up to Tammy's office to see if there was anything she actually wanted me to write about, and she said there are tons of things she's been meaning to write about but hasn't gotten onto it!

Here are some of them, as far as I remember them from her telling me over the last little while...

1. 'Manhole' - Okay Tammy fell down one. Yup, legitimately, fell down a manhole. It boggles my mind, it's amazing and funny and I love that story. Unfortunately, I forget every single portion of detail. Maybe ask Tammy...


2. 'Body Lotion' - So Tammy wanted some new body lotion, she went out and bought some nice Dove lotion, went home and began using it. She was especially generous around her knees and feet, because these are the dryer parts of one's legs. One day, Tammy was in the shower, washing herself, when she noticed she couldn't get her feet very clean. After a little while, Tammy noticed other dirty spots on her knees. I can't remember how it all came together, but if the brown bottle, and brown 'lotion' weren't enough to tip her off, and Tammy never did notice the 'a soft glow will develop after multiple uses' label, or become aware of the fact that she was shopping for moisturiser in the 'tanning lotion' section, maybe it was the 'dirty' knees and feet that did the trick. Hahaha. My favourite bit is when she quite seriously asked mum (who was nearby, convulsed with laughter) if she should 'redo' the normal parts of her legs so they all looked the same colour. Bless Tammy!


3. 'Jenna is soooooooo Cute!' - Tammy was going to rave about how cute our niece is, and how we have the cutest niece in the whole world, and she was going to be right. Jenna is adorable! She grows every day and becomes more aware and cute and gorgeous, and is bringing our whole family so much joy that you can only know if you are part of a big family who had for a long time only 1 second-generation member to 'coo' over for hours at a time. If you are on facebook and this works (I don't know anything about facebook) look at Jonathon or Jessima's page (her parents) - you'll find them amongst Tammy's friends, I'm sure, but they have pictures up. She is so grumpy, and when you try really hard to make her smile she looks at you with one eyebrow up like a schoolteacher who is beyond, unimpressed, but then she'll break out in a big grin a second later. The other day Tammy was holding her and her nappy exploded down her legs. The look on Tammy's face was priceless, as she fought herself over whether to hold dripping with poo baby over the carpet or over her dress!


4. 'Christmas Day' - we had a 'home-holiday', which means we saved the money from accomodation and did fun stuff with it, like go on high ropes courses and ate yummy big dinners etc. Tammy wanted you to know that her favourite day was the 'Christmas Day', when we dressed Christmassy, baked cookies together, learnt 'Ring Christmas Bells' in 4-part harmony (go us!), watched Fred Claus and went carolling. It was really nice and fun and Christmassy and yummy, and we were all a little chuffed by ourselves with our 4-part harmony


5. 'Can't Wait!' - for a break. Work is obviously very busy for Tammy

Okay you must all be sick of reading - what a long blog entry! But just think of all the time you've saved not reading any blog entries in the past few weeks!

Tammy will, I'm sure check the comments on this blog, so just write like you're writing to her! I'm sure also that she wishes everyone a very Merry Christmas - I'll crack my little and somewhat insignifiant but well-meaning whip and see if I can get her to post a Christmas entry... wish me luck, have a great season!

Abby xo