So it's Christmas Eve and i'm in Narara, Australia. As we spent last year with my family it only seemed appropriate that we spent this Christmas with Matt's relatives. Combined with his Aunt's 50th birthday it only seemed right that we take a 2.5 week holiday. But let me start at the beginning just over a week ago.

Thursday night (the 13th) i decided to take the holidays in to my own hands and have a Christmas party. We had about 10 people around (maintaining the max for our apartment) and had Christmas Carols, drank (i even made eggnog!), ate nibbles and drank more. It was really lovely. Something i think i feel really blessed for is having a great group of friends in my life. The other bit that i tried to touch upon in my last entry is that i feel as though i've been lacking the Christmas spirit in my life. I guess i never realised how much of Christmas came from my parents and now that they aren't with me this Christmas i'm forced to make the magic happen for myself. I suppose it's just really growing up. In any event i decided to go to work for a half a day on Friday morning on sheer principle. Didn't accomplish much but i did manage to get my Christmas gift (nice plates, dips, crackers and table cloth), confirm that i was getting a Christmas bonus (a huge deal for someone who isn't a permanent employee) and find out that i am shortlisted with one other candidate for an internal position i've applied for at work. That afternoon we headed out to Sydney and were met by Matt's cousin Jo (and her mates). Saturday was a big party for Matt's aunt Karen who turned 50. Everyone has come to town (relatives from the UK and Ireland even!) so with 14 people around the house it's a bit crazy. It was a lovely party and i had a great time (i will post pictures shortly). Sunday was spent recovering and Monday we went to the Reptile park (snakes, koala's, kangaroo's, etc). Tuesday we headed off to Adelaide to stay with Matt's other relatives-his aunt Jenny and Rod and cousin's Alex and Ali. As we did Adelaide last year this year was really about seeing the family and between Tuesday and Sunday we also saw Matt's dad Peter and his brother Sean.

On a side note i love that there is a blurred line between the zoo and reality in Australia. Things like kangaroos, koala's and cockatoo's that you see in the zoo we saw in the wild in the backyards of various people's houses.

Sunday (yesterday) we flew back to Sydney and took the train home. Some really nice scenery around here. We spent the rest of the day soaking up the sun, riding the waves and playing some beach cricket (i know - me play cricket, who would have thought?)

Which brings us back to today, Christmas Eve. I spent the day shopping with Matt's cousins Andrew and Lisa. I've never left shopping so late and i can see why not! A bloody nightmare! Matt and i had our turn at cooking dinner tonight (veggie lasagna and salads and garlic bread and strawberry cheesecake). Now it's just the waiting until tomorrow.

I think i'm struggling a bit. I want it to be a bit more festive but and i'm not sure if it is just that it's not my family (although they are so welcoming it's practically like it's my family (with just a bit more craziness)) or if it's being where it's warm and having spent the day at the beach and not freezing my bum off and eating mashed potatoes and opening presents on Christmas Eve.

In any event i wish all of you out there reading this a very, very Merry Christmas. I think one of the reasons i really am into Christmas is that i think it's about hope, and i feel like i have a lot of that for the world.

So Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night. :-)

We're in Adelaide at the moment. If you look closely you'll notice my last post was made just a few hours ago. Actually, i wrote it last Thursday but haven't posted it until now (just over a week later). Oopps.

Will post tomorrow when we get back to Sydney. In case i forget, Merry Christmas.

Due-do-dew-do-due-do


As I mentioned before, November was Movember here in New Zealand (and in many other places). Matt grew a Mo for the whole month and one of the reasons I put up with it (aside from the fact that it was raising money for charity and awareness) was that there was a big party at the end of the month to celebrate for it. 2 days before said party however we found out it was a fancy dress party. Black tie you think? No no. Fancy dress to just about everyone except Americans means “costume”. With little time to think and put together costumes (Guys were meant to come dressed “supporting their Mo” and girls supporting their “mo-bro”) Matt and I whipped up some awesome costumes.


Recognize us?







I think we did a pretty good job

We’re Mario and the Princess from Nintendo’s Super Mario video game! It gave us the chance to dress up and be super geeky all at the same time! There were some people there who had some pretty spiffy costumes! Part of the fun bit was getting to go in a limo! We went with our friends Megan, Evan and Penny from quiz night. Megan’s dad owns a strech limo company and in return for going a bit later we got to go in ultimate style!







All 5 of us decked out





Do you like my Mo?



The downside for going later in the evening was that Matt and I missed out on being nominated for the costume awards which considering how proud we were of our costumes was a bit of a bummer. We did separately run into 3 of the judges who said had they seen us earlier we totally would have won! Oh well. Next year maybe. I like the idea of costume balls for charity. But really I think I like anything that gives me an excuse to dress up.

We're in Australia at the moment for Christmas. As for Christmas down under, I’m sure it will be great but it’s still a bit of a strange idea. The fact that it will probably be like 90 degrees outside on Christmas day is a bit odd! I'm still excited to get away tho. Something about getting away and on a plane, even if it’s not anywhere new, is still thrilling. We watched this kiwi movie on Sunday called Kombi Nation that was more or less a Kiwi version of the film Road Trip. Highly recommended but like anything having to do with traveling (and Europe) it’s made me want to travel again.