Christmas in Ubud

The young ones arrived here in Ubud, on schedule, at 4.00pm on Christmas Eve - to great excitement. It was a perfect day in Bali to greet them - blue skies and no rain. Our lovely, family run hotel was looking its best and Nyoman and all the staff were very welcoming, as they do......

Abi, avoiding a smile for the camera .....

Pool time is the best way to adjust to a new timezone in this part of the world.

The girls were into the spirit of the holiday right from the get go.

We woke on Christmas morning to grey skies but an oh so happy vibe. We enjoyed a long leisurely breakfast together at Cendana and a coffee afterwards at old fave Cinta Grill where one of the staff members remembered Josh, Jody and the girls from previous visits.

Christmas is not a thing for Balinese people - apart from those working in hospitality who understand the needs of their visitors. so as we were planning our lazy fun filled day it was a day of hard muddy work for these farmers working the rice fields next to our hotel.

We had a Christmas lunch booking at The Indus to look forward to..........

The girls have experienced a few Christmas lunches at The Indus although Abi was probably too young to remember their first one there. It was a busy day for the restaurant but the staff always handle everything in their usual calm and good good humoured way, even though there were a few tiny glitches today with the set menu on offer. 

Ella and Abi got right into the Indus experience right from the start........

......... and a few minutes later ..............

The twice cooked duck, salmon pepes, roast chicken, and babi gulung were our main course picks but it was probably the starters that were the stars of the show for us: gyoza, mushroom pate and udon noodles - beautiful food!

Pavlova and creme brulee were our dessert choices, accompanied by some very Christmassy after dinner cocktails (Christmas Alexander and Mint Snow - wow!)

It was such a lovely, long, relaxed lunch together in this stunning setting. it was getting towards 4.00pm by the time we were done and no one was in a hurry to leave.

Nyoman drove us back to Cendana through Ubud's afternoon heavy traffic (it took over 40 minutes to travel the 2.8klm distance).

We finished the day with more pool time ........

We exchanged presents last night in a hilarious get together in our room at Cendana. We did a Secret Santa (organised by Abi) process, just like we usually do at home with extended family ..... but with a limit of $10 (100,00 IDR), to be purchased at the local convenience store. It's quite a revelation how much snackfood, skincare and even footwear you can buy for $10 in Bali, especially when you are as creative shoppers as the girls are. Such a fun thing to do!!

Rob and I broke the Secret Santa rules for our giftees. We got the opportunity to order some Christmas goodies from Janet de Neefe's Honeymoon Bakery, the perfect gift (IMO) for Josh (who always enjoys a Christmas fruit cake) and Jody (who deserves a delicious Christmas mince tart after all those years when she couldn't tolerate much gluten). 

We ended a perfect Christmas Day together in our big old Cendana room with the rain pouring outside eating Christmas goodies, Balinese convenience store snack food and laughing over funny school and friend stories - Owen the third was definitely the catch phrase of the day!