Merry Christmas

Well our first Christmas away from home and away from NZ went by at a rapid rate. Thankfully the morning started well with a sleep in until 9.30 am when Keelia hopped into bed with us (much appreciated after only arriving home at 2am that morning after our long drive back from Sydney) She happily stayed in bed with us til BIG brekkie time (bacon, eggs, etc.) at 10am :o) What's more - there was not even a squeak of complaint out of her about the fact that the lounge (& Christmas Tree + probable presents) were out of bounds til Nathy woke up (at 11am).

Big brekkie came and went and finally she was allowed outside to see if the reindeer had eaten their carrot and then into the lounge to see if Santa had drunk his water and eaten his cookie (can you tell our little girl doesn't like milk?). Much to her delight Santa had filled the two stockings with pressies. Let the games begin! Paper did fly pretty thick and fast for a while, til half way through unwrapping Nathy's Santa pressies, she uncovers a Wiggles DVD. "ummm.... (silence) umm.... I think Santa got this wrong, I think this one is meant for me". Enter Daddy with "No I don't think Santa got it wrong, he never does, HOWEVER, I don't think Nathy will mind if you share it with him". Problem solved - phew! Nathy sits there happily watching the goings on from the comfort of his "lazy-boy" til he's finally given some paper to chew on and crinkle - woopee!

After the tiring morning shenanigans, Nathy pretty much slept the day away. Nothing more exciting for a baby than to watch his sister delightedly unwrap almost every present under the tree and exclaim every time "wow, I LOVE it!!" followed by a "what is it?"!

Before we know it it is time to head off to Simon & Rachel's for lunch with 15 other kiwis. Five hours later, fill of turkey & ham and plenty of bad food, we perform a quick pit stop at home before heading to Charli-Rose's house for supper & coffee. Finally about 10pm we drag the two kids home and put them to bed, with smiles still on their faces.

Christmas didn't stop there for the kids though - packages continued to arrive in the post a few days later from Poppa and also Grandma. Then Sam & Laura arrived with more presents from friends in NZ on New Years Eve.

I simply cannot believe our families carried on their family Christmas traditions!! There were rumours of fun & mayhem galore, despite my strict instructions that no one was to have fun with us not there!

We definitely missed the church family part of the occasion. It really was sad to miss the traditional Christmas Eve service at MBC. We even missed our (Crossway) church's Christmas services (travelling to Sydney) and the big Hillsong one (travelling back to Melbourne). Although despite the huge expense at both of these events, neither would have come close to the fever & excitement (& nervousness on Glen's part) of being at our beloved MBC church at 11:15pm Christmas Eve.

Maybe next year...? God bless.