xmas day

We arrived at Ian & Jess's house on xmas eve to a very excited and bustling household. Fortunately the cats settled down nicely considering we were parked on the big grassy sidewalk outside their house, those cats are truly amazing! We were a little worried they would wonder into someone's garden, pulled by the memory of the good ol' days of a house in the suburbs with a bed in the sun...

The first thing Erin did was jump in the pool and that was the last we saw of her until xmas morning! It was so freakin' hot that the beers went down steadily and the next thing I knew the festivities had begun, way cool.

We were woken at the crack of dawn by the children with a cup of suspect 'tea or coffee' ...(I couldn't tell LOL ha ha) - but we were so finished from the previous late night, so an hour later & 2 cups of kick-ass coffee down the hatch and we were almost ready.


We had a fun morning watching the kids (and Ian) enjoying all the presents, it was brilliant. It was lovely exchanging gifts and we were loving the joy being spread around with all the laughter and joking around.

The way society is 'evolving' and big business is milking every known holiday to the advantage of making money, and Christmas being the biggest of the year, I think the significance of xmas is lost on most of today's kids, which is sad because it is really about giving a part of yourself, your time and most of all your love. I know we all give in different ways, our hearts, in gifts, donations, favours, to the poor or whatever suits our nature at the time of giving but ultimately it is to give with unconditional love and 'without' expectation. The happiness of this festive time has quickly changed to the happiness of 'getting lots' of gifts. Come on parents, lets go through a xmas without a 'gift list' and so many gifts... ja right says dad! LOL

Oh man we had some stunning laughs throughout the day!

Of course, we had a beautiful lunch which we ended up having for dinner... after a couple of rounds of shooters (that bottle didn't last long heh guys!?). It was well worth the wait though, Jess and I cooked a wonderful feast! We had such a blast swimming and lounging round the pool the whole day, that I totally forgot to take pictures and these are just a few that were snapped. They really don't do justice to the really cool day we had.

Needless to say by 8 o'clock we were pretty worn out and already one casualty down for the night - even the kids voluntarily went to sleep! Oh my hat, by the time Andrew and I tidied up and finished showering were like walking zombies to our van.











By the next day we were already getting itchy feet and were ready to hit the road, although we knew it was not going to be an easy one ahead of us... 30kms of harsh dirt road awaited us and no electricity for 4 nights! So Andrew instead played Wii golf with Ian all day, he insists it was only one game however 18 holes goes a freaking long way especially only after practice... LOL

Ian and Jess thank you for your genuine hospitality and the continued use of your washing machine, you guys are fabulous!