Christmas Games!

On Christmas morning I didn’t wake up to any snow or a little brother pulling me out of bed, I woke up to a warm day surrounded by loving friends.  The morning was slow and we had breakfast before sitting down to open presents, when we did sit down Fee called into the kitchen saying that I was waiting to open presents and that I was getting impatient…. things are going to be blamed on me a lot now because no one can get mad at the guest.

Lyn and Sharon soon rushed out of the kitchen and gifts were handed out.  I was expecting absolutely nothing, I was just happy to be spending Christmas in Australia but Fee handed me a little box… then is was Lyn and Vince that handed me a card.  Fee got me a beautiful gold bead bracelet that I put on right away, I knew that I would be sharing this bracelet with Devi when I got home but I would have it to myself for quite some time.  I was so happy to get anything this Christmas that I almost started tearing up but when I opened the Christmas card from home that I’ve been carrying around since the beginning of my trip, I defiantly started crying.  It was just from mom and dad but I was so happy to finally open it.

This is the dream catcher I made for Robin and Sharon.

I Skyped home later that morning and started crying the moment I saw my mum and dads face.  Even though it was Christmas here, back at home it is Christmas Eve and apparently everyone was missing me… don’t really blame them though, it’s my first Christmas away from home.  My dad said I have to have Christmas at home from now on and that I have to live close to home as well, like walking distant from my parents.  I guess I’ll have to take my parents with me whenever I go off on another adventure.

Fee and I organized the tables so everyone had a designated place to sit.  Made tons of punch and did as much prep as we could.

Punch!

There is much more chocolate than this.

How cute are the tables!

Christmas cake

Santa was here...

Soon Tara, Joe, Mason, Indigo and Isabella arrived and then the party really started.  The girls were really excited to see all their presents and Indi got a new bike from Santa!  The girls tore open there presents and I started preparing lunch in the kitchen.  At one point Bell came in to throw away here garbage and that’s when I moved in to make a new friend.  I commented on her lovely Frozen pajamas and how much I loved Frozen and that my sister and I watch it all the time.  She told me Anna was her favorite and then she took my hand and asked if I wanted to play with her and Indi… I casually said yes like I hadn’t achieved something great.  The three of us painted the plastic charms with sticky color glue for what seemed like the whole afternoon.  They kept giving me new charms to paint, giving me ones they had painted as presents and asking for ones that I had painted.  Then I got to watch them race around the driveway with their new bikes and helmets, Bell is only a year younger than Indi who is 7 but she is tiny you would think she is much younger.

Indi is on the left and Bell on the right.

What we did practically all day together.

Sharon and Lyn’s sister Janet showed up with her kids and husband and soon after that it was time for lunch.  I filled my plate with frittata, beans, peas, carrots, crunchy yellow potato and cauliflower with a delicious creamy cheese sauce baked over it.  I most defiantly went back for seconds.  After course 1 we got to open our Bon Bon’s, which are presents that look like the surprise Christmas crackers on the dinner tables at home.  Except these Christmas crackers were much bigger and had the best kind of goodies inside them.  Mine had Haighes chocolates, Dehydrated socks, a cute little makeup bag and two felted penguins in a nest… they are by far my most favorite gift.  For dessert we had Sharon’s pudding with homemade custard and double thick cream… I did not feel guilty having a second one of these Christmas puddings.  Only when Christmas games started did I start to regret having that heaping second serving of dessert.

Bottle feeding Mason before the games.

Christmas games here is a very big deal… there is a trophy and the two winners get their names put on it.  Janet’s daughter Mel was my partner for the games and we stared with playing mini golf against Joe and Indi.  My first hit of the ball sent it way too far into the trees… Joe and Mel laughed at me but Indi was the only one who appreciated my golfing skills.  We played two rounds at each station and every second turn I got better.  First time I played golf I sunk it in 6 hits but the second time I did it in 4!  The next station was netball, it is kind of like basketball but the net is much higher, there is no backboard and you have to stand behind the rope around the net.  Indi distracted by counting every time I missed which was 9/10 times… I am sorry to disgrace my family so much.  Next game was darts and we absolutely sucked at this, the object of the game was to hit each number in order… we only got up to 3 where as the people (Sharon and Lyn) who spent their free time in bars playing darts got up to 15 and 17.  After darts it was bocce!  I rock at this game and we scored 7 points in one game and whooped everyone’s bum.  When we played ping-pong we won the first round but as soon as we played Sharon and Vince the game got serious.  Sharon was whipping the ball from side to side always on her toes with a serious face on, if you can imagine that.  She turned into an absolute lunatic and it was the funniest thing to watch, even funnier when her and Lyn played against each other because they both turned into crazy women.

Such intensity!

Who do you cheer for?

We took a bit of a break after this to tally up the scores to see which two won the trophy.  Lyn and Jan’s husband won the trophy this year… sorry I let you down Canada, maybe next time.

Then it was dinnertime, a variety of different salads and a bit of leftovers from lunch.  This was still really good but I was waiting for dessert… the ice cream cake Sharon and I had worked so hard on.  It was finally time to serve it up and I cut as much fresh mango as I could to dump onto the tops of each slice.  It tastes absolutely amazing!  My favorite bit was the mango and coconut layers… not so much the middle, it had a funny taste to it but I loved it all.

Half eaten ice cream cake.

       

Look at those layers!

For some reason there were still presents being handed out and my presents weren’t finished either.  Janet and Merve got me a lovely box of chocolates and their friend that I’ve only met once got me chocolates as well!  It was so nice to know that I have such good friends over here.   

Soon everyone left, Jenna and I cleaned the kitchen and then settled down to wait for everyone before we watched Miss Congeniality.  I was excited to watch this cause I’ve never seen it right from the start before.  The movie took us to about 11:30 and everyone couldn’t get into sooner, we were all tired from a big day but tomorrow awaited.