In even years, like this year - 2008 - we celebrate with the whole family on Boxing Day. It used to be Mom, Dad, Noreen and I spending a quiet day at home while Carmel and Shaun celebrated the holiday on the 25th with their in-laws. These days became known as "A Stoneman Christmas", a reference to one of Dad's records from the 70s.
I can't even believe I was able to get an image of this album, but here it is. Apparently the Stoneman family were reknowned country singers. As kids, we grimaced when Dad played this record. I can remember the nasal twang of "We'll have a Stoneman Christmas".
So since then,"Stoneman" in our family vernacular became synonymous with pathetic, in an Eeyore-kind-of way.
On those quiet Christmas afternoons, Noreen and I needed some way to amuse ourselves and a new tradition was born. We would count and sort a tin of Quality Street Chocolates, a family favourite. You couldn't get more "stoneman" than that.
Julia has joined in on this fun over the years, and this year was begging during our Christmas dinner if she could please go and count the candies.
After counting and sorting, this year a new activity was born - candy design. Here is Julia's floral creation. For the record , this year's container held 93 candies.
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