How do you celebrate the life of a woman who was fanatical about food and crazy about Christmas?
With a “Christmas in July” themed memorial service and wake, of course!
When Chantal Gibbs’ mum, Arlene (Arla) Gibbs, died on 25th July this year, Chantal couldn’t believe the timing.
“Mum died on the actual day of Christmas in July, the 25th,” explains Chantal. “This was incredibly appropriate for Mum as she truly embraced everything Christmas.
“While we were planning her celebration of life, I spoke to my brother, Anthony, Mum’s partner, Leigh, and some of Mum’s closest friends about the idea of creating a Christmas-themed farewell as a tribute for Mum and they all liked the idea too.
“But it wasn’t until we found our wake caterer and organiser, Heavenly Catering’s Karin Slade, that we realised exactly how we could bring this idea to life and really farewell Mum in an incredibly personal and meaningful way.”
Anything was possible with Karin
“We were feeling so strange and still grappling with the loss of Mum when the St Vincent’s palliative care unit told us we needed to get in touch with a funeral home to start organising Mum’s funeral.
“Originally we were looking at traditional funeral homes and we were not happy with the options we saw, so I googled alternative funerals and found Picaluna Funerals. Greg from Picaluna was fantastic and both Greg and Sarah Foster, our funeral celebrant, recommended Karin for catering. When we looked at Karin’s website, we absolutely loved everything she said on it.
“There was so much we needed to organise in a short period of time and we were feeling very overwhelmed, but right from the start we knew we were in good hands with Karin.
“Anything was possible with Karin … we knew we had finally found the right person to help us farewell Mum in the way we wanted to. A weight had been lifted off our shoulders.”
Arla was known for her wonderful catering and quest to find the perfect dishes
After living in the UK for 9 years, Arla’s daughter, Chantal came home with her young family to discover Arlene had not only developed an obsession for food … she had also become a really, really great cook.
“When we were growing up Mum actually wasn’t a great cook or that fussed about Christmas — it was later in her life that she developed a talent for cooking, a passion for food and for all things Christmas.
“Because of her Malay Chinese heritage, she especially loved savoury Indonesian and Asian food such as Chinese dumplings, noodles, Char siu barbecued pork, and we went far and wide, sampling these dishes too.
“Mum was constantly on her Ipad, subscribing to food bloggers and getting notifications about new cafes and restaurants. She was taking cooking lessons to find out how to make the dishes she loved and one time Leigh and Mum even drove all the way to Canberra to try out a new restaurant!
The magic of the Christmas markets in Germany and France
Arla’s other passion was Christmas, and according to her partner, Leigh, it was a trip to Europe in 2011 that ignited Arla’s love of Christmas.
“When I met Arla 20 years ago, she liked Christmas, however, it became an obsession after we went to the Christmas markets in France,” says Leigh. “We both fell in love with the Dickensian, romantic tradition style of a snowy, picture perfect Christmas.
“After that first trip, Christmases at home became more and more abundant and decorations started going up earlier and earlier in the year. In 2016 we went back to Europe and visited the Strasbourg Christmas markets — Arla had been planning this trip since we got back from the last trip to Europe. Everything was just perfect, with snow covering the ground.
“We were almost at the end of our trip when we finally rediscovered the stall after devoting a couple of previous days to looking for it and failing. Arla filled a second bag and was so thrilled. On the second last last day of our trip we returned to the stall again after Arla decided she still didn’t have enough bauble. She knew very well where the stall was by this stage and she filled a third bag!
“There were so many baubles I had to clear out my suitcase to carry them all home! It was amazing that we managed to transport back to Australia without breaking a single one.
“It was just perfect and exactly what Arla would have wanted us to do.”
Karin cooked dishes that Arla loved using Arla’s own recipes
Because the food served at Arla’s wake was just as important to Arla’s family as the Christmas decorations, Karin suggested to the family that they bring these two important aspects of Arla’s life together with a “Christmas in July” themed wake.
“For Mum, Christmas had become an opportunity to cook as much food as possible,” says Chantal. “She would cook up a storm: creme caramel, tiramisu, trifle, coconut macarons, bread and butter pudding with croissants, French madeleines, cupcakes and, of course, her famous fruit cake.
“Mum’s last fruit cake we call the ‘drunken’ Christmas cake because she accidentally added one cup of brandy a day, instead of 1 tablespoon. We all agreed it was the best fruitcake ever!
“Karin helped us to make the food at the wake very personal by cooking Mum’s favourite dishes and desserts using her recipes, such as her famous creme caramel. Karin used the recipe from one of Mum’s original, basic, staple bound Australian Women’s Weekly Cookbooks that Mum had learnt so much from.”
A full Asian banquet that everyone could enjoy, including vegetarians
“Together we planned the entire celebration with Karin, featuring all these fantastic foods that connected us to Mum. Karin kept coming up with better and better ideas and nothing was a problem, including half of the guests being vegetarian.
“We wanted to honour Mum with a full Asian banquet, which Karin was more than capable of cooking for us, even though she had not cooked some of the dishes before. Karin cooked the most incredible Hainanese chicken rice (simply superb), beef rendang, dumplings and many of Mum’s other favourites. It was totally delicious.
“Charlie, one of my sons, really loves cakes and he couldn’t stay away from the dessert table Karin had created, especially the Australian Women’s Weekly choc chip cookies – we had to hide them from him!”
Karin inspired us with many unique ways to personalise Arla’s wake
“Mum loved and collected native flora,” says Chantal, “and even though she and Leigh lived in a flat she was still a keen gardener with a beautiful lush garden growing in planter boxes and spilling over her balcony to the neighbour’s place below.
“Karin styled the Christmas in July farwell beautifully with native flora and herbs Mum would grow. It really looked amazing.
A lot of the props were Arla’s too, such as her traditional tablecloths, Christmas serving dishes, copper pans and other things Arlas always bought out at Christmas.
Karin showed us it really is possible to “go your own way”
There were only 10 people allowed in person at Arla’s farewell due to Covid restrictions at the time, so Karin and Sarah organised a professional live stream webcast with a photo montage for the service. This was followed by a zoom session during the meal to allow friends and family who could not be there to join in, interact and share stories, including guests who were overseas.
“Karin could almost have been a guest, she fitted in so well,” says Leigh. “Karin is an extrovert
without being an extrovert and we will definitely stay in touch with her.
“Thanks to Karin, we are now planning an annual Christmas in July celebration and it will become both a family tradition and a way of honouring and remembering Arla. I’m sure we will be asking Karin to cater for this event as well.”
“Karin understood exactly what we wanted and she showed us that it really is possible to ‘go your own way’.
“Even though it was not a traditional wake, I just know Mum would have been thrilled with the way we farewelled her with a Christmas in July celebration of her life.”
