And so happy Christmas to near ones and dear ones. "I love everything about Christmas!" sings my daughter, who is 13 going on 5. "All of it. Not just the presents! Family. No school. Even the smell of it. Christmas has a smell, don't you think?" I think she has in mind a hedge on the corner of our street; it flowers this time of year, little white flowers that seem to have two scents, a light, cheerful scent by day and a stronger, darker scent by night. Its aroma carries the memories of Christmases past – I can measure my daughter's childhood in Christmases, her waiting in line for Santa upstairs at Smith & Caughey's, her Xmas Eve tradition of watching The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, her lovely, pretty face, getting older but no less radiant.
And so happy Christmas to those in need. I tagged along on the election campaign trail this year to the mall in New Lynn to watch whatever mania Jacinda Ardern might stir; it was certainly very exciting, there was singing, there were hundreds of people, I got in close, I stood on MP Deborah Russell's foot, I got in closer, I stood on the Prime Minister's foot; and afterwards I walked outside, and saw about 50 people waiting in a line. They were Chinese, Māori, Pākehā, Pasifika, African. They were sober, drunk, patient, scowling. I said to a passerby, "What are they waiting for?" And he said, "Food parcel. Same thing every Friday. Only one thing different." I said, "What's that?" He said, "The line keeps getting bigger."
And so happy Christmas to Richard Wong She, the clinical leader of National Burn Centre of New Zealand, located at Auckland's Middlemore Hospital. Neil Reid conducted an incredible interview with him in the Herald on Sunday earlier this month. It was to mark the anniversary of the White Island disaster. Wong She worked on the frontline. He spoke at length in Reid's story. It was as though he couldn't stop talking, that he felt compelled to describe and remember what it was like at Middlemore. He said, "It really is miserable. But it is interesting what you ignore when there is a task at hand and the task at hand is your patient. It is an arduous operating environment. And I keep having to remind myself that I chose to do this as a career. And I take my hat off to my colleagues who didn't choose to do this but actually they did, when push came to shove, when we needed the help, they came in and did what needed to be done in an environment that nobody would really want to work in." We talk sentimentally of Christmas miracles; Wong She and his team performed real miracles for the survivors and the victims of that terrible event.
And so happy Christmas to Lausiva, Nina, Wei, Dominic and the rest of the gang at Roseridge Rest Home in Rathgar Rd, Henderson. I've been spending a bit of time there recently and always look forward to my visits. The staff are great, too. Together, the residents and their caregivers form the best thing about Christmas: a family.
And so happy Christmas to Eric Watson. I know, I know. But we must forgive the sickeningly wealthy or all is lost. He got sentenced to four months in Pentonville Jail in England in October. It was expected he'd be out in time for Christmas. That'd be nice. Give him a break.
