Christmas and New Year's Celebrations
With such an auspicious date, I felt I should write about our Christmas and New Year's celebrations. These have been very nice family celebrations.
Dave's last day of work was Friday, 24 December. He worked a 1/2 day. Friday night, Clara and I went to the mall for the last bit of Christmas shopping. I took the kids to church to see the story of Jesus' birth performed in a pageant. Then we enjoyed mud cake and opened the Christmas stockings - to reveal pajamas, our family's traditional Christmas Eve gifts.
Christmas Eve wearing their new PJs
On Christmas morning, we had a Skype video call with grandma Sorenson who was able to watch the children open their gifts. Tristan received Star Wars legos and a solar vehicle kit. Clara was the recipient of clothing, bracelets, a watch, itunes, and mobile phone. Zoe had requested and received Zoobles, and Zhu Zhu pet plus accessories. Neo received a race track, Toy Story 3 dvd, Leap Frog learning videos, Leap Frog writing handheld, and The Snowman dvd. They also received books, dinosaur board game, and floor puzzle. Dave received a watch, exactly like the one that recently broke. I received a new shirt on Christmas. We had a lovely Christmas dinner, played outside, and swam in the pool.
For Boxing Day, Clara and I went early to the mall to hit the sales while Dave and the other kids stayed home and enjoyed their new toys. We bought Clara some new shorts and tops. We bought Dave a new cooking pan. Clara spent her Christmas money on a music CD and purse.
On Monday, 27 December, Zoe finally got her wish: to take Dad to the Power House museum in Sydney. She had gone with her class during term 3, and had asked to go again with him alone those many weeks ago. While they were on their outing, I took the kids shopping to spend their Christmas money. Neo bought a plastic cricket set, at Tristan's urging. I bought an electric griddle for Dave, which works beautifully. My new laptop was an excellent value for such powerful and feature rich machine. I had spent many hours researching and pricing replacement laptops. When I saw the price for the features, I knew it was a good deal. I have been enjoying using this new machine, and the children have inherited my previous laptop. Since it was a rainy day, the boys played cricket indoors.
On another day, we went on a family walk to Mt Ettalong Lookout. Dave had never been on that walk. It's an amazing walk with Pearl Beach on one side and Broken Bay on the other side.
New Year's Eve day, Dave took a walk down to Maitland Bay, while the rest of us took a swim. In the evening, we packed a bbq supper and went to the newly opened Peninsula Recreation area. There's a flying fox, electric bbqs, covered picnic tables, skate board parks, swings, climbing walls, etc. Then we went over to Saratoga, where we watched the fireworks that were being shot off across the water. I was the only one awake to watch the fireworks on Copa beach at midnight, and the fireworks @ Sydney Harbor bridge on TV.
The first day of the year was a 90 degree F day. We spent some time in the pool. Dave and I enjoyed a walk on MacMasters Beach.
Happy New Year, 2011!
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