I promised though to first paint the picture of my holidays from day one - and will bring you up to speed through to today where I not only quit my job (to start my new job in less than a month!), and finally received the go-ahead from the Doctor to walk without my boot, but am now back to the grind (minus the public holiday, Australia Day, aka "Australia's 4th of July" this Thursday.)
But first, Rewind to Christmas Day:
Woke up early at Emily's (Bec's friend from work back in Toronto) house to sneak downstairs and finding stockings filled with presents underneath our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. In good fashion, we waited for everyone to wake up, cooked brunch, then around the brunch table, all opened our stockings at once. We enjoyed soaking up some morning rays on the back patio as the sun climbed higher in the sky to reach about 95 degrees.
After admiring an assortment of presents including: socks, a mini champagne bottle, chocolate and chewing gum - we all changed into our swim suits and Santa hats to head down to the beach for a little Christmas Day R&R (notice the lack of cast/boot!)
After some quick showers and a Mario Kart Championship match on the Wii, we headed to our friend Adam's house for Christmas dinner. When we arrived (after maneuvering the black spray painted truck sitting in the front yard and admiring the 3 more "in progress" cars in backyard), we were given the task to bring the house up to proper Christmas decor standards and this was the result from the materials we were provided:
I must admit, I was not too sure I could give up Southern fried okra and mashed potatoes with gravy for a "Christmas BBQ" - but since I no longer eat meat, the array of grilled veg and salads was more than efficient in satisfying my Christmas dinner cravings.
The night ended with the opening of more presents (one being a picture of the cat who belongs to Adam's housemate Dave. This cat is all black named "Whitie" and creepier than any other cat I have ever seen -which is exactly why Dave took a picture of him and framed it for Emily to keep forever.) We had chocolate trifle for dessert and wrapped up the evening with a round of flip cup and a punching bag show-off between the two "local" girls at the dinner. (Yes, one of them was showing off her kick boxing skills while wearing a red maxi dress). Blaming this end-of-the-night behavior on the fact that we were in the middle of "bogan" (Australian for "redneck") country - I justified this abnormality of a Christmas Day as to why it was ok to not be with my family. I did Skype with the fam when we got home on their Christmas Day to help satisfy some of the homesick pains.
I must say - celebrating Christmas with a complete group of strangers, in a polar opposite atmosphere and climate, really helps you appreciate your home traditions, though I would not take this Christmas Day back for the world. I am so happy I was able to experience how an entirely different part of the world celebrates this special holiday and now just have a story to tell for years to come. The Christmas Day where I looked to Bec and asked "where the h*ll are we?!"
No comments:
Post a Comment