Christmas past

Christmas came and went in a flash of activity and fun and some not so great parts!  So before we move on swiftly into the New Year, I need to stop and document those bits!

adopted cousins

The Breytenbach girls have become our boys' adopted cousins.  They love each other like family and have a very special bond.  Russell and Adam chose to go to Este's surprise 10th birthday party in place of New Year's fireworks!  There is a girl for every boy and they are really gorgeous together.  This year we celebrated Christmas Eve with Jaco and Liezl and Liezl's mum who is visiting from South Africa.  It was a lovely evening of great company and food.  Jaco told the Christmas story to the children and we just relaxed together. 

On Christmas morning I woke up feeling absolutely awful.  I had a rerun of the stomach bug and could barely sit up long enough to take these three pathetic photos.  The boys all opened their Santa gifts and we exchanged our family gifts.  I then went back to vomiting and sleeping for the rest of the day.  Rob and the boys went to church and spent the day playing with the new toys. 

Russell's favourite is a remote control helicopter, Adam's is a remote control boat and Hugo's is his very own Lego Police boat!  The day was a blur of sickness for me.  We were supposed to leave for Denmark but I just couldn't get myself together.

 By 6pm I had pretty much shaken the bug - which was NOT alcohol induced! - and jumped out of bed to pack for the holiday.  We all went to bed early, planning to make an early start the next day.  And then our neighbours started their Christmas celebrations.  We have young singletons renting next door and they know how to throw a thrash.  Well this one was no exception.  The music and laughter and screeching went on all night!  None of us could sleep and by 2.30am I had lost the plot completely and called the police.  After a quick visit from the coppers the noise settled to a manageable low for about 10 minutes and then they started again with new vigour.

By 4.30am we were so angry we couldn't sleep.  Hugo had come through complaining five times. W gave up and jumped out of bed and headed off on holiday.  What we hadn't realised at this stage was that our lovely Bogin neighbours had flicked their cigarette butts over our wall and burned holes in the new trampoline! 

Anyway, with Christmas behind us, we took turns to drive the long haul to Denmark and were rewarded with beautiful days of sun, sea and total relaxation.


This Christmas and New Year season were different to any other.  They didn't have the sparkle of a "first".  Quite a few of our new friends were away and while we have settled well and are really happy in our new home and city, we really missed our friends and family a lot.  Our minds wandered across the sea often as we recalled Christmases past.  We miss everyone so much. 

Well Christmas is past, but we still have a month of lazy holidays ahead!  Today has been another very slow start.