December 22nd to January 2nd
I (Karen)am not a huge fan of Christmas decorations but the one thing I do love to do is put the tree up. So Nat was more than happy I offered to do it this year too. Not used to doing an artificial tree and boy does it take longer but at least you get an even spread of branches! It was Maddie's turn to put the star on the top so job done.
December 22nd - Georgia's 23rd birthday
The first of the three birthdays over the festive period. To celebrate her birthday all the family came over for dinner (Nat's sisters and their families, her father and his partner along with Rob's mum and brother Craig). Nat made Georgia's favourite meal - lasagna - scrummy! It was a lovely evening, although numpty me thought, a tray David had just taken out of the oven, needing moving and did so with my hand. It immediately blistered and so I was sat with my hand in luke warm water (apparently ice and freezing water actually sets the blister) its nice to have nurses in attendance. The next morning, Ros (one of Nat's sisters) brought over some Solosite gel (it was so good we bought some to bring home). I was very lucky.
During the day David and I drove down to a local butchers to get the pork for Christmas Day and also look at the local seafood place. Although we didn't take pictures there we had done so when we visited a big fish mongers on the Gold Coast whilst seeing Don and Marla. They put our fishmongers to shame but not surprising as the variety you get here is so huge.
December 23rd - Maddie's 21st birthday
It was a busy day as Maddie was having a party in the evening.
Her boyfriend had set up her bedroom with loads of balloons whilst she had her make-up and hair done. David set-up a video to see her reaction.
I got my first hair cut since we had been here and because I am lucky enough to have a very good hairdresser living next door to me, I haven't been to a salon in years. When they said $75 (£38) my face must have looked startled as when I went to pay I found Georgia had beaten me to it. She said she felt bad that she suggested the place and it was expensive for a simple cut and blow dry - sweet girl x.
The party was held in a restaurant Maddie used to work at. We had taken over the whole venue. As you would expect the food was delicious and the birthday cake was a carrot cake - honestly the best I have ever eaten. The only downer on the evening for Maddie was that about 16 of her guests suddenly sent excuses for their not being able to come. This obviously upset Maddie initially until she realised all the people that really mattered to her were there. David wasn't able to wear his kilt because although women dress up, men don't - very odd. It was a great evening and Maddie, Linkin and their friends went out into the City after and got back home about 5am - as you do when you are young!
December 24th
Christmas Eve we got storms. I could not believe how quickly the rain came down and then stopped. It was all over in the space of 30 minutes and then lovely sunshine again but boy did we get some water. As Rob had only just had his new lawn laid - it was welcome.
December 25th - Christmas Day
Christmas morning was quite civilized really even with so many presents being opened by so many people. The children coped with it all really well - even the younger ones! Kids do the cutest things, Verity was trying to put her new sandals on her dolly and Addicus got given a Kawaii and called "Karen" which we all found funny.
David was charged with organising Christmas dinner. In addition to the 15 people staying in the house we had Rob's mum, brother and sister as well as Linkin's Aunt and Uncle whom he lived with, when not at Nat & Robs. So a total of 20 people. We had - Salmon, prawns, Morton Bay bugs, pork belly with crackling, cold beef, cold lamb, Caesar salad, noodle salad, Waldorf salad, coleslaw, roasted brussels, braised red cabbage. It was a veritable feast - David did us proud. I love seafood Christmas dinners.
December 26th - Boxing Day AND Nat's birthday
This year was extra special as their niece Sarah (Addicus, Everett and Verity's mum) was also born on the 26th. So we had a double birthday celebration. Rob always makes pancakes for Nat's birthday breakfast. Quite a tall order with so many people in the house but he did well and none were left.
Mid morning all the families travelled home. They had heard on the news that the Sunshine Coast/Tamborine area had been hit with an internal cyclone so trees were down and a lot of flooding. Fortunately their homes were ok.
In the evening Nat's family and Rob's mum and brother came by. One of the nephews once said to his mum - is this the week we spend all our evenings at Aunt Nat's?!! Again a great chatty evening was had by all.
December 27th - A visit to the Oxenfords
When Georgia came over to stay with us in August she brought with her a friend - Alistair Oxenford. Alistair's parents own a farm called Anabranch near Toogoolawah. It is about 400 acres and they have beef cattle and grow what we call rapeseed (I forget what they call it) to make hay. It was quite fascinating listening to Alistair's parents (Jamie and Andrea) about farming changes in order to ensure profitability. They live in a green area where lots of people keep horses. Horses need hay. Horse owners usually have good incomes and don't worry about what they have to pay for good hay. Therefore you get more profit from selling good quality hay; than you do beef. They still run between 40 - 60 cows and 1 bull. They keep the new calves for a year before selling them on and any cows that did not calf. Some they keep to ensure stock numbers. If the new cow hasn't calved by 3 years they then sell them on too. They have found a system which works for them.
It is a beautiful spot. The farm has always been in Jaime's family. They took over running it from his parents. The farmhouses - two linked Queenslander buildings - have been lovingly restored and they have the most amazing verandah which looks out over the acre garden which is Andrea's joyful pass-time. Although she is a teacher working at a school in Esk she is currently taking long-service leave before she retires. The garden is so quirky we loved it. They recycle old pots and glass use silicone to stick them together to make garden ornaments. My favourite was the old bicycle wheel structure - looks much better in real life.
Alistair's sisters were home too - Jacinta and Courtney. Jacinta works as a cotton picker driver for an outfit based in Emerald whilst Courtney is a nurse in Brisbane. Although we later found out Courtney trained as an orchestral trumpet player but there were no vacancies when she graduated. It was a lovely afternoon. David and I really enjoyed being shown around the farm and the surrounding area. We are planning to go back to the area as it is gorgeous.
On the way home a storm hit in the distance. We did get some spatterings of rain but the sheet lightning show was quite spectacular.
Friday, 29th December
We have been here since September and we haven't once made it into the pool. Georgia had bought lots of blow-up toys for the kids when they were here over Christmas. Today David and I decided to be big kids and play in the pool - it was good fun and boy was I shattered at the end of racing around the pool after a ball whilst laid on a lilo.
In the evening, Rob's brother Craig and his mother invited us over for a thai curry. They have a lovely garden. Craig is trying to get bees from a log to re-home into a more conventionl beehive which was interesting to see. Their garden is home to all sorts of birds, especially rainbow and green parrots. They don't seem to even mind the dog and cat.
New Year
It turned out to be a very quiet affair. We were invited with the rest of the family to Linkin's Aunt and Uncles house for a New Year's Eve party. A couple of other families had also been invited and we decided we weren't up to the noise levels involved so instead stayed home alone watching movies which culminated with Christopher Robin - got to love Winnie the Pooh (David "No! I love Eeyore" ).
Again New Years Day was pretty quiet as I recall. We started to think about what we wanted to do with the remaining 6 weeks of our holiday. Tasmania was too expensive this time of year, so David and I planned to go into Brisbane the next day to the tourist office to get some ideas.
2nd January
It poured hard all day. It was the wettest we have been since Port Fairy but we didn't let it stop us from doing anything even with soaking wet feet. After the tourist office we decided to go to the museum as at least we would be dry. Of course it was the holidays and they had a Brickman's Jurassic World exhibition on which meant it was heaving and next door was the new 'Bluey' event was on so lots of parents bring their kids to both events. We weren't willing to pay $30 each to see lego so we went around the Mephisto exhibit. I didn't know there were tanks in the first world war let alone the allies managed to capture one.
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