Tom's hospital hat trick

Tom has achieved the ultimate hat trick of 3 visits to the emergency department of Mona Vale Hospital in one year.  The first was for his broken leg in March, the second was the week before Christmas for a splinter that got stuck deep under the nail of his thumb and needed to be removed with the help of laughing gas and a local anaesthetic.  The third visit was on Boxing Day morning for an incredibly swollen foot and potential broken toe.  Luckily an x-ray showed that the toe wasn't broken but several days after the hospital visit the toe continued to swell and then turned a scary purple colour.  We have just come back from seeing the doctor who pierced the swelling and released the most revolting amount of pus.  We're now off to see a radiologist for an ultrasound and CT scan to see if we can find any foreign bodies in his toe that might be causing the pus and swelling.  The poor boy is a bit fed up - "why always me?". 

Tom under the influence of laughing gas

Christmas Eve started with Jules on surf patrol in the afternoon whilst I had a cheeky champagne at Kara's house.  The Jamieson's arrived at about 6pm and the holidays started.  Christmas Day was the sunniest and warmest we've experienced in a long time.  The dogs woke us (Edgar was staying the night) at 5.40am and poor Jules was up at Tania Park walking them at 6am.  The kids didn't wake up until 6.30!  We opened presents and then headed to the beach for a couple of hours.  Tom and Jules did the Club swim with Tom claiming to have beaten Jules.  

The Rivers plus Trudie's mum, Rhonda, joined us for the rest of the day and it was fantastic.  Lots of eating, drinking, table tennis, hunt the thimble - everything that makes a perfect Christmas.  The only downside was that Tom's toe really began to bother him so once we were home he actually spent most of the afternoon in bed not even able to join us for Christmas dinner.  

Salads in lieu of cooked vegetables this year - will definitely do that again

Lenka, Rhonda, Julia

 Sienna, Maggie, Tess, Ruby

Tess and Olivia in Tess' new Egg Chair - a real hit! 

The rest of the time we've been hanging out at the beach, by the pool and enjoying the fantastic weather.  There's something about having guests that makes you really feel like you're on holiday.  Julia is also a Thermomix owner and fan so the two of us have spent quite a bit of time playing with the machine.  One favourite recipe was for Froses which is the "It" cocktail this year - it involves frozen rose wine and a strawberry sirop whizzed together in the Thermomix.  We went out to dinner at Hugo's and noticed it on their menu so had to try it for comparison purposes - we declared ours the winner!  

 Jules and Julia at Hugos

 Lenka and Michael at Hugo's

 Jules and Michael did the Bold and the Beautiful swim early one morning

Sheldon turned 50 on the 28th and the Rivers had a party at their house to celebrate.  It was an awesome evening with far too much food and wine and quite a bit of dancing much to Tess and Ruby's embarrassment.  

It really is my favourite time of year - I just wish Tom was able to enjoy it more.  We're determined that once the Year of the Monkey is over life might get back to normal for him.  Fingers crossed.