Merry "White” Christmas!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

This is officially the first Christmas that I’ve spent in this country where we’ve actually celebrated the day.  We haven’t decorated, outside of a wreath on the front of the house and displaying the Christmas cards, but we’ve certainly got plenty of “festive” real icicles hanging off all the guttering outside.

Yesterday was fun, after a sleep in we re-fueled the car (fuel is running low here because of the snowy conditions) and stocked up on groceries (we needed them, and it’s nice to have food in case the unexpected happens, whether it be guests, or even worse weather conditions), and then returned home where I dug out the driveway and paths again.
Admittedly it was much easier this time because less snow had fallen, and we’d had some rain which made it a little less also.

A couple of friends dropped by in the afternoon who had become Christmas orphans due to the weather.  Their plans to travel to be with their families have been cancelled as the distance is to far to travel in bad snow in a car, while they were watching television I tried my hand at assembling my very first Gingerbread House.

Urgh!  The icing must have been a little runny, despite following the instructions, the fact that I was rushing it didn’t help any either.  The roof panels kept sliding off as the icing wasn’t setting, and in the end, I had a “Christmas Tantrum” and decided it would be a Gingerbread House post earthquake, and it’s since been partly devoured.  I think only two walls remain standing the rest of it is lying on a plate.

The highlight of the evening though was attending a friends Christmas Eve Drinks party.  We met new people, had a couple of drinks, tried some traditional mulled wine, and generally had a great time.  It really felt like Christmas, for me, that was the first time since I’ve been in this country.

There were children, snowflake balloons, a Christmas tree, gifts, and smiling faces everywhere, and all the children were completely obsesses with a fantastic website called www.noradsanta.com that let’s them track Santa as he travels around the world delivering gifts, along with sneak videos of him in key locations, such as the North Pole, Sydney, Auckland, Seattle etc.   Even as an adult, it was a complete joy to view, more so because of the pure excitement it elicited in the children themselves.  Whoever designed that site is a genius.  It even has some Santa facts, my favourite one, and please don’t quote me, this isn’t verbatim was:

Santa’s snow is the fastest moving thing on the earth.  However the speed that he travels at is classified.

What a brilliant way to give a fact and then negate the need to elaborate on the answer.  Genius I tell you.  Genius!

Thank you Millers, we had a great time!   Happy Birthday to the lovely Alexandra who turned 10 yesterday too!  Two days of presents for this young lady.  Good work! 😉

Once we arrived home, I phoned HOME.  Not like E.T., my finger doesn’t glow.  I actually dialed up my family back in Australia.  Admittedly I did this feeling quite a bit guilty as I’d meant to do it earlier in the day while they were all together having Christmas lunch.
As it turned out, a minor Christmas Miracle, they were all still together as they were having a Christmas Leftovers Dinner.  Brilliant.  I got to talk to everyone, Mum, Dad, Nan, my sister Kate, brother in-law Trevor, and my nephew Jack.  Well Jack and I didn’t really talk, I talked and he made some very amusing noises back down the phone, but that was more than enough to make me laugh.  It was still a little bittersweet though.   But my family did have an early Christmas for me in November while I was visiting, so I had the actual experience a few weeks ago to compensate further.

After all that, it’s relatively redundant to say that I slept well.  But I did.  The only thing waking me this morning was a certain grey kitten called Annie.  She spends every evening asleep on the bed, until morning where she climbs on my chest, stares at me with her big orange eyes, and “Wills me awake!”.  When I do finally awaken, the excited response makes me think that in her mind, I was actually dead overnight, and have just arisen purely for her enjoyment.  My little girl is so excited she starts purring (loudly enough to wake Mark who grumbles.  Who grumbles at a kitten’s purr?  Scrooge!) and excitedly runs up and down the bed grabbing my hand with her paws and putting it on her head, licking and nibbling my fingers until I get up, at which point she runs down the hallway barely 10cm in front of my swinging feet, jumping up periodically trying to grab my hand with her paws.  Every morning it’s a cute display.
Generally it ends around the same time I feed her.  *laugh*  I see right through her scheme.
Oliver on the other hand, lifts his head, looks at you, and then snuggles back into the bed for the long haul.  It’s not unusual for him to be “made into the bed” when I straighten the covers each morning, and to rise sometime in the early afternoon.  Spoilt!

Now, on to Christmas, as today is Christmas morning, and it’s snowing.  It’s a true white Christmas, there’s snow in abundance and more falling as I type this.

Ok, that’s enough typing from me, I’m going to have a lazy warming enjoying the heater in my pj’s before we meet some friends at a restaurant for Christmas lunch.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!  and HAPPY CHANNUKAH!

Be safe and stay warm, or cool as the case may be! 😉