And more

We've had a (pre) Christmas celebration with the L and F families for almost twenty years now. They started when the L. kids were really young (about 2 in Sophie's case) and up until this year they have always been hosted by Jennie and Wayne at Murrumbateman. The L kids have always joined us for our celebrations, despite the fact they are all adults in their own right now. This year was no exception - lucky us!

We thought we'd mix things up a bit this year by hosting the celebration here at our place in Campbell. We started out with drinks in our ground floor, very spacious Common Room and then moved up to the apartment for our main meal and dessert. Judy and I prepared a rare beef roast and some salads - with sides of fresh prawns and beautiful Poachers Pantry ham. 

We fitted everyone around our table + extension and our Mt Ainslie backdrop looked pretty spectacular right up until about 9pm - on these long summer days.

We didn't feel quite as relaxed this weekend as we'd hoped with the bad COVID news coming out of Sydney - but it's all relative isn't it, compared to what's going on in the rest of the world.

Maddie brought her new puppy Poppy to the celebration. Poppy fitted in very well and spent most of the night being cuddled by everyone. Adorable!

Sophie has more than survived this challenging year too (and without her own puppy). She's worked from home most of the year and got most of her Economics degree done and dusted. Clever girl!

We had the usual Secret Santa event too. Jenny won the award for the best reaction to her gift - a case of plum size cherries from Young

Anke provided a beautiful cheesecake for dessert with fresh seasonal berries to end off a happy night of great company, beautiful food and wine and time for a bit of sober reflection on this most unforgettable year, when the love of family and good friends has been more important than ever!

More Christmas

The young ones are heading north (Byron Bay) next week so we got in early and celebrated our own Christmas with them Tuesday evening this week.

Buying presents for the girls was extra fun this year. We took them shopping with us (separately) after school a couple of days so they could show us their preferred items - Abi to her favourite Horseland Emporium (where she tried out every saddle in the shop I swear!), and Ella to IKEA, as she had some very grand plans for a bedroom makeover this year.

So they pretty much knew what they might be getting from us at present opening time ... but there were plenty of other surprises in store....

A Summer favourite emerged (to share) .........

And a new "lead rope" for Polly..........

Look at this girl's beautiful smile (free of braces at last!).............

Abi loved this unusual gift of a tin of vintage horseshoe nails .......

And this girl loves everything fluoro! ..............

There was a Polaroid camera in this parcel - great excitement!

A proper saddle pad for Polly!!!!

And Ella is already planning where those IKEA shelves are going!

Polly did well this Christmas!.......

We had a lovely meal together after present opening with all our fave Christmas treats: Majella Sparkling Shiraz, beautiful fresh prawns, ham and turkey and Christmas cake and custard. The girls had a late night but with only a few days left of school and most of the pressure off it didn't do them any harm.

Rob and Ella had the pinboard, the shelf unit drawers and the hinged door inserts successfully installed in her new bedroom layout by Thursday afternoon .... Christmas well and truly delivered and looking good!

Joshy sent us this beautiful pic of him and the girls - in the new/old Commodore VK - as he picked them up from school yesterday - BREAK UP DAY, no more school, no more work for the rest of 2020!!!

Abi had her last horse riding lesson of the year today too. It was such a thrill to see her in all her new riding gear (our Christmas present) setting out on today's trail ride on Pumpkin (her favourite horse).

Abi would have few complaints about 2020 at the moment!

Christmas is here

The joys of our extended family Christmas celebration started early for Abi yesterday, with a ride on one of her favourite ponies at Forest Park - the very photogenic Tinker

And for the first time: riding BAREBACK! So exciting - but not so comfortable apparently - Tinker has a very bony backbone!

But, back to our Christmas celebration, this year at Claire's house at Jerra... one of my goal's each year is to get a picture of the beautiful young things together.

Not so easy given Abi's reluctance to "pose"...............

but how about this as the shot of the day?

It was a rainy afternoon in Canberra, so the kids had to entertain themselves, quietly indoors.

That's no problem for these beautiful young people .......

Joshy and Angus share a love of (and conversations about) collectible cars these days ....

And then it was time for Secret Santa gift giving - Abi was in charge, especially now with her excellent card reading skills.....

Ollie was in charge of Paddy - who can go a bit feral apparently when there's a party on.......

Secret Santa chose well for Abi ......

Our Christmas feast was amazing - the best ever we thought. Peter was the chief cook - and he has really upped our standards a lot: ribs, turkey, prawns and ham, with Maxie's Pesto Pasta dish beautifully prepared this year by Jody - YUM!

Paddy stayed under control all evening with Abi and Ollie taking their supervision duties very diligently.

Dessert was also amazing!

Once again Peter delivered the goods - so professional.......

And this last picture.... just for fun...taken 10 years ago: Christmas 2010 at Maxie and Rod's house in Jerra. That's Maxie (and Claire) lighting the Christmas cake. Abi wasn't on the scene then but look at these gorgeous three kids - and see how they've grown and changed!