An unorthodox festivity

The Silent Night was broken by the dawn on a cold and rainy morning. I dragged myself out of my warm bed and staggered to the bathroom to shower. Welcome to Christmas 2006.

A long distance phone call was made to the family to wish them festivities and say goodbye to my sister departing overseas yet again. The sound of the family enjoying themselves only made the distance seem further than it really was. I kinda wished that somehow they would show up on my doorstep to suprise me, but knew this would not happen.

The streets were devoid of the usual morning ebb and flow, as people spent treasured moments insdie with their families. I walked in eerily silence to the bustop and caught a ride into the city. Against the grey city outline I sought out the sandstone cathedral dwarfed by the surrounding skyscrapers.

With each song, the choir turned well loved meoldies into muscial poetry. The small gathering were reminded both in song and word of the hope that Christmas brings to all of us in Jesus. It was nice to just be alone for once and be anonymous. To sit and drink it all in. To thank my Lord for this day.

When I got home, I started to get ready to cook my traditional roast dinner when my phone rang. It was my intern buddies from other hospitals, fellow Christmas orphans in need of company on this Christmas day. And so my well planned out dinner was shelved and I found myself in the city eating Yum Cha and celebrating with good friends. It was a far cry from my desired turkey... but far more enjoyable than eating alone.

Finally the clock ticked over to 2pm and I found myself in the ED on Christmas. It was not too busy, the nurses were decked out in tacky $2 Santa hats and there was so much junk food we could have had an infarct ourselves. Some bored nurses started playing Christmas CDs over the ED intercom just to annoy everyone and one fo the specialists donated 2 bottles of champagne for us to crack open in celebration.

The atmosphere was jovial, the registrars were casual and it was great. We even had our own Rudolph the Red Nosed Drunk*

One lady came in with a head injury from a flying shoe (that her adult daughter had thrown at her) One girl came in with a black eye (that her drunk grandfather had inflicted on her) One guy came in vomitting blood (after he'd binged on alcohol for a month).

Amidst the celebrations, the awfulness of life sat side by side with the joys of life. Whilst some partied, others suffered. It was a far cry from my family based traditional Christmas. But it was a Christmas to remember.

* A rounded German man who was a Nazi sniper (apparently) and now spends his life getting drunk and wanting to commit suicide and frequently fronting up to ED.