We had a lovely and very full Christmas season this year. December kicked off full of all the festivities. Some traditions live on strongly in our house, like slowly putting up the tree and reminiscing over all of the decoration or our annual Christmas package from the Loker's which we dearly love opening. The house was packed to the brim with gingerbread, which I spent much of the month giving away and eating. And we had our now annual dinner with the Niven's full with great food and company. I love our traditions and the energy of the Christmas season.
We had parties galore. Levi's work Christmas party is always a highlight. We dressed up for a dinner on the foreshore and then spent the night in the city. I had my work Christmas party and class party which was a nice way to celebrate and think on my first year back at work. It's been a learning curve and a juggle to manage by fairly successful over all. I organised a Christmas dinner for my bookclub which always has the best turn out and the kids have their years wrap up and lots of Christmas fun too. It was so nice to have the Parkinson's over for a special Christmas dinner, their last in Australia and they held their annual ugly sweater party which was lots of fun as always.
I took the kids to Sydney a week early to spend time with family and friends before all the family came for a big Christmas together. I caught up with my beautiful High School friends at Cassie's place again, visited my friend Jen with her gorgeous new baby and had a long lunch with Kirsty. It's always so wonderful to connect and with a year between visits there is so much to talk about and catch up on. Monique and I also got our night in together which always fills my cup.
I scheduled some must do's in too. I took Dad horse riding which although being one of the scariest two hours of my life thinking he would fall to his death on the steep trails, was also a true pleasure to do something fun with him and see his absolute unwavering nerves in action. Mum and I took the kids into the city on the train for a day on the Harbour and to see the most gorgeous production of The Hungry Caterpillar. We went to the National Library first for a little picture book display they had running and walked through Centennial Park and down to the Harbour. It was a picture perfect day for it and the kids loved the adventure.
Levi caught the train to Sydney from Bungendore and we met up in the city, one of our favourite past times. We wandered the QVB and did a little shopping, then headed down to Martin Place to see the big Christmas Tree and eat dinner. Dinner gave us some laughs and lots of discuss and then we caught the train home on that familiar route and reminisced about when that was every day life for us.
A highlight of our time in Sydney was meeting up with the Stokes at The Grounds to walk through their Christmas installation and have dinner. We absolutely love the Stokes family and we had the best time with them. We went back to their gorgeous townhouse in Newtown and the kids were surprised with the most thoughtful and fun presents. They really are quite spoilt with presents all December long by loving friends and family. The kids just loved it and it was a true joy watching them open the gifts. After presents we went for a short walk to King Street for gelato and the night was complete.
Back at the Ryan household Christmas was in full swing. All the Ryan's came together for a few days with much coming and going. Christmas Day was a Sunday so we headed to church in the morning and then home for all the presents and all the delicious food. The kids loved reconnecting and playing together and soaking each other in before the Tate and Hanna Ryan's head off on their big Europe adventure. It was nice to take a moment and have that time with them as it will be a year and a bit before we travel to QLD and see them again. Shannon had his friend Lara arrive from the US boxing day and the whole family took her down to the Needles for a swim. It was nice to take the kids to a place that I loved going to as a teenager and watch them having as much fun as I always did.
With the possibility of relocating on our brains we decided to take a a little trip after Christmas to the Hunter Valley and take a look at a few houses. We drove up to the bay first and stayed a night with the Southalls. We took the kids to Sandy Point for a swim and loved the feel of being back in a place we have such happy memories. The kids always love it up there and it was great to get our bearings and feel out if a move would be right for us. The kids loved so much about the country side and really our hearts have always wanted to head back in that direction. Watch this space.
The rest of our holidays can only be described as a mad rush to get the landscaping on our house finished. We worked our tails off. We've decided that our next holiday needs to be spent relaxing on a beach!
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