Roff Christmas - official report

You want big? Try 68 family members over seven days. All Roff brothers and many partners (Sue, Julia, Marianne, Cathie and Jenny) attended and there were guest appearances from many family members. Jake, Kelly and kids; Naomi, Tom and kids; Joe, Sara and kids; Amanda, Adam, Nicholas and Dominic; Daniel, Alaine, Milky and Harry (plus the formally pregnant Vicki); Kate, Joe and Samuel; Andrew (and Sarah) and Rowan; Cal, Amy, Luke and Lily.
Forrests were represented by Shauna, Vanessa, Peter, Jango, Paris (and the newly engaged Lara), Jessie, Shane and Jane, and Nephra with her partner, Bad Jak (he's actually pretty nice - maybe we should drop the nickname). Niwily was also there with his friend Rosie. Seages were there in plenty: Brendan and Kimi along with Martin and his kids Adam and Tania.
Special guest appearances included Mitchell Thomas, Adam's friend Sonia and special guests Pat Squires and her husband Roger. Pat was part of the family Eileen Roff went to after her mother died when Eileen was two. Forgive me if I've forgotten anyone.
The location was the Christian Brothers camp at Turros Heads which turned out to be perfect for our needs. There were 12 separate rooms for the "senior" members of the family and two dorms for the kids (anyone under 50). The camp was a short walk from the beach and the river and a slightly longer walk to the Boathouse jetty where much of the outside dining took place. It's a great location and, thanks to Marianne's negotiating skills, we're booked in again for 2015.
Many of the family members arrived on Friday. Saturday consisted of a sleep-in, beach and then a hotly contested touch-footy game. Niwily was a star.
The big event on Sunday was Stuart's 60th birthday party held at the local golf club. A great dinner was followed by presentation of his present from his brothers (a Big Bertha - see film clip below) and a few "special" songs to reflect the Jimmy Buffet and Grateful Dead theme. The after-party featured sensational performances from a variety of family members.
The concert was on Tuesday night, the tennis tournament on Wednesday (Rowan won the singles against Jake, and Rowan and Jango won against Cathie and Glenn in the doubles) and we all missed Zac as a partner. Highlighs of the concert included Shane and Jane's fountain sketch, Dom's Bob Dylan song and Lachlan's magic tricks. There was consensus agreement that the only thing missing was Annika's go-go dancing.
Wednesday night was a BIG party night and it's a miracle none of the locals complained about the noise. I blame Daniel. The sun was up before many of the cousins went to bed.
As a result, the cousins night on Thursday was fairly subdued but some of the brothers took over with Stuart and Ashley staying up until the early hours.
As usual, Marianne and Cathie accepted most of the responsibily for cleaning up but the place looked good when we all left.
What have I missed? A couple of golf games, many trips to the markets in nearby Moruya and Narooma, happy feasts on the waterfront, girls-only coffee sessions where you had to book a space to make a comment and lots of fun with the little kids. Both the new Sams are a treat. Many of us also reflected on Uncle Ken, Aunty Betty and Betty Forrest not being able to attend. Our thoughts were certainly with them.
God willing, we can all catch up again in 2015...