Happy Christmas!

Happy New Year everyone! 

We have had a busy couple of months, including a trip home to Canada and my parents coming to visit in Brisbane, as well as a trip to the north island of New Zealand. Where has the time gone? I may get around to posting some pictures from all of our adventures, but until then, let’s get on with it, shall we?

As we experienced last year, Christmas in Australia is a bit strange. When you grow up accustomed to a cold, North American Christmas with chestnuts roasting on an open fire, and Jack Frost nipping at your nose, it’s more than a little odd to be surrounded by sun, heat, sunscreen, sand, heat, and insects. Oh, and did I mention that it’s hot?

This year we spent Christmas in Byron Bay with our good friends Jackie and Chris, and my little buddy Cohen. We rented a house in Suffolk Park, which meant that a patrolled beach as well as a dog friendly off leash beach was 100 m away from us in either direction. Having spent last Christmas in the ghost town that Brisbane becomes over the holiday season, we were really happy to get out of town, and spend the holidays with our de facto Brisbane family.

Jasper: I see they gave you a silly hat too...

Alan is getting ready for Santa!

On Christmas Eve we were on the lookout for Santa, and his six white boomers. How cool would it be to see them? What we weren’t expecting was to be visited by the three wise men instead. But in Australia, they aren’t in the form of men exactly…

Melchior - Gigantic prehistoric helicopter bug thing. Alan captured it once and led it to freedom (and almost got lifted off the ground in the process). But then it came back, so I killed it.

Caspar - Gecko. The most tolerable of the trio.

Balthazar - Mr. Huntsman spider. I found him in the kitchen, and didn't scream or anything. And then Chris killed him (thank god!), breaking the broom in the process and sustaining a minor knee injury. But we think it was worth it. 

 We think the huntsman spider may have had a son out for revenge because a few nights later we found another one. And Chris, the spider killer went to work again. But no brooms or knees were harmed this time. 

Santa?

Despite our attacks on the three wise men-sects, Santa was able to track us down in Byron.

Presents!!!!!

Do you think the lady in the swimsuit may have been an attraction for Santa Claus?

 We successfully repeated our transcontinental baking adventures this year, tackling not only the classic cinnamon bun, but also gluten free cinnamon buns and butter tarts. I was anticipating disaster when it came to making gluten free buns, but surprisingly, they weren’t bad! Our Christmas morning tradition of cinnamon buns and mimosas continues!

Cohen's first cinnamon bun!

Jackie and Chris

Alan with mimosa

Merry Christmas everyone!

Santa even had a present for Jaspah

Call us traditional, but we decided to stick with the familiar and make a turkey dinner, complete with pumpkin pie for Christmas dinner. Having done so, we have a better understanding of why a traditional Aussie Christmas meal usually consists of seafood on the BBQ. Having the oven on for the better part of the day sure kept things nice and toasty in our little house. We had quite the feast, including a turkey breast roast wrapped in a bacon blanket, and a gluten free pumpkin pie. Yum! And while everything was delicious, I think next year we may try to adopt the Australian tradition instead. (And do Christmas in July!)

Having the beach close by was really great. We even got a chance to put a new beach cricket set to use! (Thanks Jackie & Chris!)

Trying out our new boogie boards

Wicket!

Cohen is a cricketer in the making!

Alan missed his calling in life. A bowler.

And Jasper loved his daily walks on the beach. He would run down to the water and lay down to cool off. I did tell you it was hot out, didn't I? 

Tallows Beach

Selfie!

He also loved having a backyard for a few days.

A few more Canadian friends, Bob and Mardell, joined us later in the week and we spent a few days further south in Lennox Head which was also beautiful. There’s a great beach for boogie boarding and surfing, as well as a fresh water lake that is great for swimming. 

Bob and Mardell catching a wave!

Bob is the happiest SUP'er ever!

Lennox Head

Mardell went hang gliding from here about ten years ago!

Thanks Jackie, Chris, Cohen, Bob & Mardell for sharing your Christmas with us. We had a great time killing gigantic bugs, playing cricket on the beach, and building sandcastles with the “digga”. To all of our family and friends back home, Merry Christmas from Alan, Jasper and me! We miss you!