December

We've had some wild weather in the lead up to December - wild winds, heavy falls of rain and storms, hot weather, cold weather - but Rob scored the jackpot in capturing this double rainbow shot from our winter garden windows last week.

We celebrated the Canberra family early Christmas on Saturday - Maxie's birthday and almost the birth day of dear little Vincent boy in Seoul, South Korea - so we had plenty to celebrate and a lot of food to eat (especially with the unavoidable absence of Ollie and Jeremy due to illness).

I gave the girls their Advent boxes too on Saturday - which just proves there are only 24 days to actual Christmas Day. The girls are always happy to get Advent underway although it took a while to convince Abi that it was a bit early for her to get the rest of her Christmas presents on the same day.

Christmas 4

We'd all been looking forward to this Christmas celebration SO much. The London branch flew into Canberra yesterday so we all pretended today was the 25th and celebrated the whole Christmas thing all over again, but this time with ALL of Maxie and Rod's family together - just amazing!

Eddie's been to Australia before of course (in September 2011 when he was just a baby). This time with the benefit of age and experience he's really looking forward to seeing some cockatoos the most. So he was thrilled to find these cockatoo print boardshorts under the Christmas tree, from his cousins Ella and Abi.

Eddie's found two wonderful playmates here - his two big, handsome boy cousins: Ollie and Angus.

This is Ivy's first visit to Australia - and she can't decide who is her favourite big boy cousin just yet.

But she does like the selection of toys Abi left for her, as well as all the new toys under the Christmas tree.

After lunch Eddie shocked us all by voting to join the big boys (in the charge of Jeremy) to head off down the coast for the night. It's such an Australian thing to do that (he'll be ok Mummy and Daddy)!

Ivy was happy to stay behind  and catch up on some quality time with her Nanny (they'll head off to the coast in the morning).............

 .. and wear this beautiful hand made dress (exquisite work by her Nanny).

We'll be catching up with this branch of the family again, and another branch too, over the next two weeks - stay tuned!

Christmas 2 & 3

We've had one of our busiest Christmas weeks ever: dinners and drinks with various friends, a spectacular Indian themed party on Friday night, breakfast with neighbours here at Saint Germain on Saturday...... then our traditional pre-Christmas celebration at the vineyard near Murrumbateman on Saturday night..... and then actual Christmas Day of course

We took these two gorgeous young women to drinks at the Hyatt on Wednesday night, a great way to kick off a busy week of revelry.

.... and out to Murrumbateman on Saturday night........

 The vineyard looks particularly lush and beautiful at this time of day.........

Our meal was another triumph: Clyde River oysters and Riesling , slow roasted pork belly (with potatoes and cabbage) served with a very special French cider and a delicious tea smoked duck (with bok choy), followed by Anke's chocolate cake from Berrima and hand dipped chocolate strawberries - YUM! Another wonderful night at Murrumbateman!

We were lucky enough to be invited to actual Christmas day with my dear friend Irene and her family and friends.. Irene found lots of necklaces under the Christmas tree this year and wore them all for this pic......

We started with oysters and sashimi in the garden (served with a beautiful Joseph sparkling Cabernet Merlot from MacLaren Vale) before moving inside for lunch: stuffed veal roast, ham and pork, lots of vegetables and my mango salad. It was a big happy crowded table with lots of laughter and a great mix of generations .....

 Rob was best mates with Kim (two cool, old dudes) by the end of this beautiful, happy lunch.............

Christmas 1

We had our first Christmas celebration here at Saint Germain last Sunday. There were all the traditional elements: the Canberra clan together, a glass of Majella on entry, Christmas carols on rotation (groans from Ella), Secret Santa presents to open (yay says everyone)..........

Abi's present struck the right note: a squeaky toy for her Sniffy dog and a new food bowl for him too (apparently Paddy the dachshund gave it his seal of approval too after quite a fuss!)........

We were so lucky to have Claire and Angus with us - despite Angus's surgery a few days before......

A beautiful late lunch: turkey, ham, prawn salad and creamy potatoes, following on from Josh & Jody's yummy canapes..........

Ella was the star turn at lunch: a 20 minute tour de force of her free form social commentary complete with cockney accent - hilarious!! How does she do it?

A game in the park then icecream dessert and the rare treat of chocs and licorice allsorts: a perfect day, though somewhat tiring by the end! .............................

And so it is Christmas

Feels strange to begin with - J&J & baby E away doing their thing with cousins Charlotte Rose and Amelia, all the Lawrences away at Emerald Beach and Davey away in the UK celebrating Christmas with friends in Bristol. Rob and I start the day quietly with a long walk and Rob digs out really old family videos from Christmases a LONG time ago, the ones the kids hate but which are looking better with each passing year!

He burns a couple of them to DVD and we play them for big O before lunch. He is mesmerised watching Josh & Davey cracking their early adolescent phase jokes and having after Christmas lunch water fights in our GREEN front garden (this footage at least 16 years old).
We noticed that as a rule Ollie loved Angus' presents the best, and Angus loved Ollie's the best.

Although Ollie thought his Tyrannosaurus Rex hand puppet was pretty cool.

Angus really loved Ollie's new bike.

And they both loved Jeremy's "wocket launcher" the best of all.

Angus had a fall soon after arriving for lunch, which explains the red mark on his forehead. Ollie scraped his shin hard as he came off a chair at the wrong angle. Overall it was a pretty exciting Christmas for the boys and for us.

Our thoughts are with all our absent family members. We missed you and wish you a lovely Christmas celebration too.