This has been the craziest, busiest season ever!! It's been good busy, but busy is not my favorite state of being and I'm glad things look to be slowing down a little for a week or two before school starts again.
First - Christmas. We went caroling at the hospital again on Christmas Eve after attending the family church service at St. Mary's. This year was a bit different at the hospital - there were a group of special needs adults caroling with us, and there were some people in our group that could REALLY sing beautifully. We sounded amazing walking the halls - the acoustics there are terrific, unless of course you are a patient trying to get sleep late at night and hear the constant shutting of doors, nurses chatting at the nurses station, machines bleeping, etc. However this night the patients all seemed very glad for the noise we were making - only the most ill were still in the hospital over the holidays and it was great to be a part of something that let them know they weren't forgotten this season.
We woke up to our last Christmas at Beauchamp Street - next year we'll get a real tree!! Our lease specified no potted plants at all so we abided by the rules right down to getting a fake tree, but I do look forward to a real one next year. The girls were thrilled with all their gifts - the big one from us was that they get to go to the Taylor Swift concert in Auckland in March and they were very excited. I'm excited too!
After opening presents we left for Tablelands and another beautiful Christmas at Rob and Liz's.
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| Rob, David Stringer and Dugs |
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| Shelling fresh peas from the garden for lunch, yum! |
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| Dugs with his new Phoenix shirt from Rob - perfect! |
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| The girls with their swanky new perfume from their cousins. |
We always eat so well at Tablelands and this year was no different as the amazing chefs from Cafe Polo treated us to a delightful spread.
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| Alex and Hettie help Ellie with her new bubble machine from them. |
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| Josie took lots of photos with her new camera from Mama and Papa. |
Boxing day means cricket at Tablelands and is something Dugs looks forward to all year long. He played really well and I cheered for him, American-style, from the side but was mocked a bit by the other ladies who said "we don't do that" - meaning they don't woot loudly when their partner plays well, instead they clap politely. By the end of the match I heard a few of them hollering though - especially when their kids were out there :).
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| It was a match of parents against kids - here the kids head out. |
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| Dugs at bat. |
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| Our kids were happy to watch this year. |
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| Waka, Ridd's labrador, has sure grown a lot in a year!! Ridd calls our girls "Waka's Angels". I love it. |
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| Mary and Barry Stringer, Liz's lovely parents. |
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| Our Boxing Day feast of plenty. |
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| Wills and Ant drove over from Palmerston North for the cricket. The girls were of course all over him. |
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| The chefs brought out a cupcake bar for the girls after lunch. |
We returned from the Wairarapa via Palmerston North to visit Hugh and Margaret and Kate, Ant and Wills. They had a quiet Christmas this year as Margaret is recovering from a knee replacement. Kate was in Palmerston for a few weeks to help out and kept herself busy making origami cranes which were beautifully hung all around the house and garden. The idea comes from Japan where " An ancient Japanese legend promises that anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by a crane, such as long life or recovery from illness or injury. The crane in Japan is one of the mystical or holy creatures (others include the dragon and the tortoise), and is said to live for a thousand years. In Japan, it is commonly said that folding 1000 paper origami cranes makes a person's wish come true. " From Wikipedia.
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| Ellie watching cricket with Daddy and Grandpa. |
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| Josie collecting plums. |
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| Some of the cranes in the garden. |
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| Auntie Kate and the girls. |
The cranes are of course folded in honor of Lloyd who is fighting a hard battle at the moment and he and his family were very much missed this Christmas as they were in Seattle where he is receiving treatment.
Lots of love from all of us - I hope to do quite a few catch up posts over the next few days! Dx
