Yesterday I enjoyed a Christmas in July luncheon that was a bit different from the usual.  Whilst there is nothing unusual about attending a Christmas in July, this had a distinct difference and one I will cherish to remember for many years yet.

Two of my guests will be 92 later in the year, the youngin’ was only 78 and the other lady 84.  Getting in the house required a little bit of management as the stroller and walking sticks of various shapes and forms appeared and were poised to get my visitors up the three stairs to my living area.  Once inside, I could appreciate the effort each of these four beautiful old girls had gone to, to prepare for the event.  My invitation had indicated that the theme for the day was ‘blue and silver’.  The ladies were dressed in various shades of blue and aqua and you could tell there had been a lot of thought into what they wore.  One brought the most beautiful handbag in blue and aqua satin.  Goodness knows how far into the depths of the cupboard she had gone to retrieve this, but you could tell they had enjoyed the anticipation as much as the event itself.

They oohed and aahed over my table that was dressed with silver and blue bon bons that I had made myself, little place card holders with butterflies and other silver and blue decorations.  When I told them I had made the bon bons myself, they marveled with rapture, then laughed loudly as I shared that I had deliberately cleared five toilet rolls just to get the shape for the bon bons!  This of course was hilarious watching their laughter.  In each of the bon bons I had put a joke that I had typed up or copied off the internet.  The first joke read out brought so many laughs it was precious.  91 year old Mrs T was in fits of laughter as she read the joke, breaking down and almost tears falling down her face as she endeavoured three attempts to share the punch line.  The rest of us thought it was fabulous to see this old girl laughing so hard, we of course joined in.  Finally we wrestled the joke off her so that we could share the punch line with the others.  And so the afternoon went on.  So much laughter, so much innocent fun.

In my invitation I had also asked that each of my guests share a story or poem.  One lady had brought her grade reader from Primary school and shared two poems from this.  Just passing around this 80 year old text book was something that stirred a wonderful conversation about literature and education.  Another lady brought with her some creative writing – samples of her work that she had written in her creative writing class at the Nursing Home.  We shared stories and poems which was such a delight.  My rather poor attempt at roast lamb was overlooked by the rich conversation that we shared.

The pièce de résistance was when one brought out a shawl that she had brought to show us all.  Naturally, it was blue but had silver threaded through it.  We believe it may have Iranian or Indian origin but the design was beautiful and a perfect occasion to share such an item.  Like most present, it was close to 100 years old.

None of these women were in the peak of health, between poor hearing, diabetic incidents and one in hospital a couple of weeks ago, it was a marvel that they all managed to get there.    But get there they did, showing that you’re never too old to have a bit of fun and laugh heartily.