We thought you'd like to see what Christmas in Oz is all about. Melissa showed us this yesterday and we got a real kick out of it.
Our day was fantastic. We're sitting here watching Elf on TV. We had such a great day even though we couldn't be with our family we were taken in and treated by our new friends to a really terrific day.
We started off waking up a tad hungover. We skyped the family trees which was great! Yay internet. We heard the little ones next door outside fascinated by the rainbow marshmallow reindeer poop that was left behind from Santa's mode of transportation last night. Who knew how delightful reindeer poop was!
Here's a pic of me with the kids last night after we set out the reindeer food:
We went over to the neighbors for brekkie and broke into the toys Santa left them. One thing we found refreshing is that families here don't go over board with Christmas presents like they do in the states. Our neighbors are clearly well-off and the kids each got one (yes, I said only one) major gift from Santa and a couple of trinkets in their stockings (but their stocking weren't full, oh the horror). Thomas got a lego garage car ditty and Zoe got a little scooter and helmet. Even after the grandparents arrived I was expecting a shit-show of presents, but just one little gift each. The adults all exchanged just a book or something simple to one another. We found it really refreshing considering all the stuff you seem to accumulate on Christmas. Melissa and Andrew gave us a nice bottle of red vino, so sweet. We got Zoe this little play doh set and she was fascinated with it. She played with it the entire time we were there. We had several glasses of champagne and hung out. Melissa's parents used to own a house in Steamboat, so we chatted alot about Colorado and skiing which was fun. (Melissa's Dad is a telemark skier.)
We headed home around noon, showered, and called a cab to Rebecca's place. She had told us to expect a $30 cab ride and it hit $30 on the button. They live a few miles west of the city where houses start to spread out a bit. The cab driver dropped us off at the end of the driveway and little did we know it was almost a mile up hill to their house. When we got to the house we were sweaty and hot and Rebecca and her husband Pete were horrified that we had to walk all the way up. They had forgotten to mention the driveway and were joking about the cab driver dropping us at the end. It really was no problem but kind of funny. Leah's Special K bars got a little soft and our bottle of wine got warm. Have we mentioned that it's hot here?
On the way there we realized that we forgot to bring the camera. So unfortunately we weren't able to take any pictures today. It's a real shame too as Rebecca and Pete have a really lovely home on top of a hill surrounded by beautiful country. The air was fragrant with eucalyptus. It was great.
We met quite a few great people and sat down for an incredible lunch. Turkey, cranberry sauce, green beans, roasted potatoes and a fantastic green salad with goat cheese and fresh figs. Of course there was an appetizer of huge prawns. Rebecca is a great cook and we really stuffed ourselves. Dinner was followed up by an array of desserts that would make anyone's mouth water.
We spent hours chatting and enjoying company. The kids were all playing a game on the Wii called "Just dance" it's sort of like guitar hero but you have to follow the dance steps on the screen. It's a riot. Leah and I both took turns. I beat an eight year old at "Groove is in the Heart" and Leah beat one at "Pump up the Jam". Take that kids!
I mentioned before that Rebecca is going out of town for a few days and let us borrow her car. So we drove home. Driving on the left side is really different. It takes some concentration. I drove yesterday for the first time. Andrew let me borrow the car to go to the liquor store so I'm experienced. Thankfully the pedals aren't reversed so it's not that difficult. Both cars I've driven are automatic. We'll see what driving a manual is like at some point.
Tomorrow morning we're heading down to go camping and scuba diving for a few days. I don't know if we'll have a chance to post from the road but we will if we can.
Since we don't have any pics from today to post here's a pic of us at Australia Zoo in our $2 ponchos.
And here's Leah with some kangaroos:
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