All the Trimmings

well, christmas fast approaches. my brief employment stint is over and i have been chillin with the leclaires.

yesterday matt and i trimmed the christmas tree. an amazing sight to behold. looks more like a christmas bush really. its very rotund and full. a fat little tree. i couldnt believe the amount of decorations we crammed on there. boxes and boxes of them.

i got to see all the homemade decos as well. some very cute ones matt made when he was five, paper reindeer heads with his little hands used to make the shape of the antlers. very cute. also a card to his parents with a picture of a blue beard santa smoking a cigar, with the message in french: so that your heart will flower, i will tell you i love you. the message was typed so we suspect he didnt actually come up with such a poetic piece.

apparently its the first time matts mum has completely relinquished tree decorating. i said it was because she knew i was there, and there would still be a womans touch. i think arlene is starting the christmas baking today. she is making a special batch of shortbread just for me with no almonds. i get a little worried sometimes about how much effort they go to for me. last night at dinner they were checking with me about what to cook for christmas dinner, and can i eat turkey, and do i prefer cranberry jelly or sauce? they are so adorable. last sunday they cooked a roast leg of lamb for me. arlene saved the menu in her cookbook as 'roxanes australian dinner'. (they're not big on lamb over here)

i do feel for matt sometimes though because they always yell at him to do this or that for me, or if he is being a bit of a jerk, but just play fighting, his mum will tell him off for hurting me or something. but really he doesnt need to be spoken to like that. unfortunately its one of those vicious circles where the more they treat him like a child the more he behaves like one, and vice versa.

they bought his sister a $300 digital camera for christmas. matt wont be getting anything like that. not that he deserves it. he owes his parents over $1000, not to mention his school tuition fees, or the fact that he lives with them rent and board free. he didnt take the job at oreganos. he needs to get school finished with, and try to focus on getting things back on track.

he wants to leave for australia as soon as possible. he wanted to go january first. he doesnt even have a passport right now, let alone a visa to get to australia. but it shouldnt take too long to get that sorted out. once he sells his motorbike and pays his parents back the money he owes them, they might think about helping pay to get him to oz.

i have little daydreams about traveling around rural australia fruit picking or something with him. helping him get out of this headspace, find some direction. get healthy. have fun.

only one slip up so far, but its been a week now since that happened, and i'm pretty sure he's doing good.

i love him so much, and every day i'm grateful that he loves me -sometimes i cant believe how much.