My First Aussie Christmas

Pics:

1) Santa on a firetruck

2) Tree on Christmas morning

3) Shae, Miia and Lena on Christmas morning

4) Aussie animal chocolates with real bits of Emu, Kangaroo, Koala, Wombat

5) Christmas Morning: Shae and Miia bought me Home Alone!!!

6) Shae's Christmas Cake, Miia's Gingerbread house, and my little snowman in a stubby holder

7) The lunch table and Les getting excited

8) Me at the lunch table

9) Shae's Family: Luke, Les, Julie and Shae

10) My Aussie Christmas: Shorts, 'thongs,' and a can of VB in my nice Australia stubby holder

11) Nothing brings families together like poker on Christmas!

My first Christmas in the sun. Well it wasn't as sunny as I'd hoped, but it was still an overcast day at about 25 above or so. Not too shabby. I made sure to where 'thongs' and shorts, and I kept my beers cold in a stubby holder. Seriously though, Shae's family was great. They made me feel very welcome and at home. Shae's Mom Julie asked me at one point if it felt like Christmas, and that's when I realized it did. Sure I missed all of you back home, but they really made the day special. We woke up early Christmas morning. Shae, Miia and I exchanged gifts. Miia's friend Lena was also there for Christmas, so that was nice. The more the merrier after all! We drove off to Shae's folks' place, had a gigantor Christmas lunch (lunch is the big meal in Oz), and everyone was pretty impressed at how much I ate. I explained that not only do I do that normally at home, but I'm also travelling, so when I get an amazing meal like that, I take advantage of it. The day was great, more gift openings, drinking with the boys, walking the dogs, etc. A nice Christmas dinner with the famous prawns followed by the big poker game and goodbyes. All in all an amazing and memorable day. No doubt about it, as long as you spend Christmas with good people, it makes all the difference.