We are having a fantastic christmas which started with Christmas Eve at Ken and Emma's house - a delicious meal followed by a boisterous game of hunt the thimble - Jules brought his glasses so was able to find it this time and Kat found an incredible hiding place that had us searching the house for about 15 minutes. We walked home singing "The Twelve Days of Christmas" in a round and one person we passed asked if he could join our party! The local paper on the 23rd said that the weather on christmas day would be cold and cloudy but fortunately, regardless of where you are in the world, the weatherman gets it wrong! Jules had us all out of the house and down at Manly beach by 9am - the kids were horrified that they only had time to open one present but Tess loved swimming over the waves and playing in the surf which compensated for the lack of present opening. By 10.30 the clouds were coming thick and fast so we headed back home for champagne, smoked salmon and present opening. Our friends Julia and Michael turned up at lunchtime to spend the day with us and we had oysters and prawns to start followed by Turkey with all the trimmings. We were in a post-prandial stupour when the kids started clamouring to go in the pool which was fantastic as it perked everyone up for the next round of food.
Boxing Day is the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race and Jules took Kat, Robert and two friends John and Liam out on the speedboat to watch the start and follow the boats out through the heads. I opted for baby-sitting duties, choppy waters and speedboats not being my thing, and had the other wives and their children round to our house for a swim followed by a dash up to the park near our house from where we could watch the start of the race. The weather was beautiful and it was the most spectacular sight. Jules et al were in the boat somewhere on the left hand side of the picture amongst all those other boats and white water.
For the rest of the time we have been either on the speedboat or in the pool with the exception of one quiet day where we attempted to recharge our batteries! With our new kitchen and large dining room area we have been doing lots and lots of entertaining which has been fantastic - our biggest party so far was 10 adults and 10 kids last night - chaotic but good fun. Our old friends John and Katy with children Indigo and Olly arrived yesterday to stay with us (or rather at Hotel Mennie next door - Craig and Lisa have gone away leaving us the keys to their house!) and we have all sorts of activities planned mainly involving boats and water although as I write this on Tuesday morning the sky is decidedly overcast!
We hope you all had very happy christmases and I shall write again in the New Year!!
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