Reference :- Sky News has had nothing to say for days , so we have little to do at The Sky Reply .

Reference :-   The Sky Reply is enjoying a Christmas break . 

 Although we are not religious here at The Sky Reply , we do enjoy observing some  religious festivals . And Christmas is one of them  .  We tend to avoid the festivals that involve fasting or abstaining from alcohol and pleasurable pastimes. 

 Ken junior is currently baking a batch of his special herb cookies , and we have been exchanging gifts .  Mostly jars of home made jam , since the mulberry tree was particularly fecund this season . 

 Gabbo found a good second hand sheet of corrugated iron  and gave it to me so we can fix the leaking roof , but it wouldn't fit under the Christmas tree .  

Monte bought a spray can of silver paint , and we used it to touch up the rust on the Christmas tree . There is still enough left to paint the sheet of corrugated iron  as well , so it was a perfect gift . 

We prefer to have a big Christmas breakfast here in Kooralya , before the day gets too hot .   We do have  have an air conditioner  but it is so old it sounds like a diesel generator , and nobody is convinced that the air it blows out is any cooler than the air it sucks in .   Monte reckons it makes the place smell funny , and Ken junior reckons it's probably full of something he calls Legionnaires Disease , whatever that is . 

 So anyway , while the saveloys were boiling we got to talking about how lucky we are .  There are folk all over the world in dire circumstances and we should spare a thought for them .   Gabbo reminded us that some people will be hungry over Christmas . That started an argument with Monte over the inequality manifest in the capitalist system .  Monte slammed  his fist on the kitchen table , breaking my favorite tea cup , and stormed out of the house .  Ken junior  rushed outside to calm him down . Monte reluctantly came back  , trampling mud all over the rug .   I reminded the lads , sternly , that we had promised nobody would dust anybody on Christmas Day .

That left Ken junior in an agitated frame of mind , and when he pulled his tray of herb cookies out of the oven he set it down on the kitchen  table by mistake and melted  the laminex. 

 Anyway , after awhile everybody calmed down . Gabbo , hoping to start a less political conversation , reminded us that some folk will be spending Christmas all alone . 

 "  Do you ever spare a thought for old folk who are spending their Christmas all alone ? "    Gabbo said . 

   "  I sure do ,  and it's hard not to feel jealous . "   I said . 

  Merry Christmas  to one and all . 

   Your comrade , Ken