In 1983 Prince Charles and Princess Diana toured Australia.  My university friend and now brother-in-law Nick was 12 at the time and he was in a marathon, blah, blah … and specially chosen, blah, blah, blah … and somehow HE GOT TO SHAKE DIANA’S HAND.

‘I remember her hands were sooo soft’.

If I’ve heard this story once I’ve heard it a thousand times. Whenever there is any mention of Charles, Diana, Will, Kate, the Queen, Dodi, Fergie, royal tours or England this tale gets rolled out and we all imagine how soft Diana’s hands were.

So, you can see why I was so thrilled when I was looking for presents for our ‘second hand Christmas’ last year to stumble across this commemorative cup and spoon at the op shop.

I know they commemorate the wedding 2 years prior and not the tour itself but they are super fun in themselves.  When I saw them I immediately pictured myself having a laugh as I prepared and drank my morning coffee, but then I thought of Nick, and how much HE might LOVE them, and how he could take them to work and think back to the soft hands every time he had a coffee in the day.  And remember his brush with royalty as he went about solving Brimbank Council’s waste collection issues.

So, being self-sacrificing, I gave them to him for Christmas.

He did have a laugh when he got them, but he hasn’t taken up my hint to use them at work.  Never mind.  Maybe he doesn’t want to share this particular story with everyone he meets in his professional life?!

But it was still a good present.  And very personal.  Which is why I like a ‘second hand Christmas’.