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Published: December 30th 2006
Once we were all moved in to our flat, Christmas started happening very fast. There was lots to do and we were also busy setting up house. We had been finding it a little hard to get into the Christmas spirit that we are used to. We actually missed the cold and snow...and the feeling you get from being warm and cosy inside. As well as the lack of Christmas lights compared to what we have at home. Of course even the houses that have them, you don't see until after 9 PM when the sun sets because it is summer here. Also, spiced rum and egg nog (egg nog doesn't exist here, and try explaining it to someone that has never heard of it, exactly what it is really) Just little things like that. And of course, the rest of our famlies and friends.
One of the best "Christmas-Y" things we did was "Christmas in the Park" They hold it every year in the big, main central park of downtown Auckland. It is basically a free concert with all kinds of bands and singers singing Christmas carols. It was PACKED, we found out the next day there was
125,000 people there! You were welcome to bring all your own food and drink, and everyone just had chairs and picnic blankets set up everywhere. They had a HUGE tree, which they don't light until the end, right before the fireworks. This is also the night that they light up the Sky Tower red and green for the entire Christmas season. So, the first half of the show was mainly carols and seemed more aimed at kids and families, but the second half had a lot of big kiwi bands and it had more of a concert feel to it. It was a really fun night. We had about 45 min of light rain, but then it cleared again right after. I can say I have never sung Chrismas carols outside, in the rain, tucked under an umbrealla before!
Getting our tree was another adventure...all I can say is that when you bring a tree into your house in Canada, it is the middle of winter. This mean ALL THE BUGS ARE DEAD! Little bit of a differant story here. When spiders, caterpillars and beetles started falling out of it, it almost had a new location in the yard!
But we gave it a good shake and got most of them out. Still find the random caterpillar scooting across the linolium from time to time, but it hasn't been too bad.
Christmas day was a very fun, busy day...just like we are used to back home. Paul's daughter, Jody is here from Australia and has 14 month old baby-Emily. She is so so cute. So after breakfast and opening stockings at home in bed, we spent Christmas morning at Paul's opening presents with Jody and Emily. Then we packed up and went to have Christmas lunch with Sally's family. They are such a nice, warm group of people and we felt right at home. Christmas lunch consisted of ham, turkey, salads, potatoes, deserts....we were wondering..."if this is LUNCH what will DINNER be?!" We'd soon find out. Dinner was at Pauls...and he had lots of people there...including his son Ryan, Ryan's girlfriend Suzanne and Suzanne's parents... as well as Jody, Emily and several of Paul and Sally's other friends. It was a great night with lots of laughs and more presents! We had quite the toast to all the countries that the group of us were representing..."Cheers to...New Zealand,
Canada, Australia, Sweeden, Malaysia & Japan!" It made for an ethically diverse Christmas, with lots of interesting conversations. For dinner we had turkey, ham, crayfish (like lobster), salads galore, more potatoes and more deserts. As they say here in New Zealand..."we had huge FEED" So other than no snow and some missing family members, our Christmas day was full of cheer and wasn't all that differant from being back at home. We missed you all and hope that the holidays found you happy and healthy. Merry Chrismas, lots of love and sunshine! 😊
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the Pirates
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MERRY CHRISTMAS
Christmas hats, singing in the rain, cool couple, partying, sharing the good life with family and friends...what more can a person want? OK OK we'll be there, NEXT YEAR.