The Queen's Christmas Message

Dear Loyal Subjects

Happy New Year! We hope that this letter finds you all well. We do apologise to all for the tardiness of this letter. The bureaucratic efficiency of the Empire is not what it used to be. Our very best wishes for 2007 – We’re hoping that it surpasses this past year for you.

The year that was has been quite a novelty. We have moved from the immaturity of infancy to the wisdom of toddler hood, along with its requisite responsibilities for establishing Our unique stamp on the Empire. This has resulted in some interesting times for the Royal household, the least of which has been the introduction of a “thinking throne”.

We are now extremely verbal and no longer require Our servants to speculate on Our every whim. Instead, We now enjoy conversing with them and Our ‘Council of Friends’ at length about the matters of the day. Although they only understand every other word, they are slowly improving. Our most preferred method of communication is “librarian style” – showing the book pages as We read to all the surrounding subjects. We also have a new hobby of labeling things and people - red is a particularly prevalent colour in the mid-West!

Now that We have come of age and are more aware of the state of Our affairs some subtle changes have been made to Royal protocol. Contrary to earlier protocol, pink, lip gloss (thanks Aunty Chelle), and handbags are now required accoutrements for all outings and We require that Our servants are dressed more modestly than We.

We have also enjoyed our debut at the start of the social season. As is appropriate for a young woman of Our station, We attend at least four Royal balls a week. We are still quite the social butterfly although some of the lesser nobility are having trouble understanding the concept of royal sovereignty over all We survey! These trips are essential relief from the tedium of the Royal Palace. Servant no. 1 enjoys the ancillary benefits of making new friends with some wonderfully talented women.

Servant no 1. has been keeping herself busy through her Community Aide position in Family & Graduate Housing as well as with several volunteer positions in various organizations. We are the unofficial patron of F&GH and enjoy excursions to the office to charm various staff. There are all manner of toys and stickers in the various offices just hoping for Our royal patronage which We occasionally indulge.

We deign to spend some time with Servant no 2 on Saturdays overseeing the laundry which until now has rarely been done to One’s satisfaction. Between hanging clothes on the rack and putting away dry clothes, We practically do it Ourselves. This does give Servant no 1 some much appreciated “me” time that she’s yet to learn how to make the best use of. We also enjoying swimming with Servant no 2, blowing bubbles, jumping into the pool and going under the water. We can climb out by Ourselves but do not feel comfortable floating on Our back. Royal floaties have been requested,

Servant no. 2’s studies are progressing well (so he assures Us). Several of his classmates are to spend the coming year in different countries or states within the US continuing their studies so we are sad that they will no longer be around to visit with.

It seems that this past year has been the year of babies, both here and in Australia. A dozen of Servant no. 2’s classmates had babies (or their wives did) whilst in Australia several of Our friends had new babies. We are truly ahead of Our time.

After an enjoyable sojourn to Australia for Christmas last year, We had some bad news about the Queen’s great grandmother being sick with cancer. We and Servant no 1 made a quick trip to Australia in August and managed to see her for a couple of hours before she died. While it was great to see people (albeit briefly), it was a sad reason to be back in Australia.

We had a number of visitors this year, Grandma and Grandad in Summer, and then Aunty Chelle in Fall. We almost don’t miss not being in Australia for Christmas – ok, that might be a slight exaggeration. Given the questionable judgments of Servants 1 and 2 concerning Royal protocol in Our formative months, We deem it necessary to visit the colonies in March and April 2007. One hopes that Her subjects in the colonies have not experienced the same restrictive treatment that She has experienced at home.

Wishing you a festive season and a New Year filled with opportunity.

HRH Queen Alexandra