I don't know who's more excited for Darian's first Christmas, but I think it's me. I just want to experience this through his eyes and see his reactions to everything, the tree, the presents, the carols, the christmas goodies and everything else that comes with Christmas. Cameron & I are huge Christmas fans so I am hoping this can be instilled into our boy. I want to creat lasting memories and fun family traditions for us so we get to enjoy this holiday every year and maybe have something that our kids can pass on to their kids.
We hadn't made elaborate plans for Christmas so after talking to Bradley & Shamini we decided we'd go to see them over Christmas instead of staying home. They are coming to us for Darian's first birthday so we thought it would be good to go and see them over Christmas. We had booked our tickets about a month ago before so plans for our trip had to be put into place, after all it is our boy's first ever Christmas. We eventually, after a few weeks of deciding what would be the best way to protect Darian and well, protect the tree from him, bought a playpen that we could put around the tree so he wouldn't be able to get to it. When we put it up, he was asleep so we were anticipating his reaction when he woke up the next morning to see the tree. Unfortunately, all that worry about him wanting to rip the tree to shreds quickly dissipated when he woke up that morning. He gave the tree one look and carried on as if it had been there all along. He was totally uninterested in the tree, we even tried to get him to touch it but he wasn't interested at all. So all that faffing over the tree was for nothing! We left for Sydney the Friday before Christmas and I have to say our boy was amazing on his first trip in an airplane. He fell asleep while we waited at our gate so when we got onto the plane he was fast asleep, he slept through take off and woke up about half an hour into our journey. He didn't cry, or moan and groan but was quite happy. Except he eventually got tired of sitting on our laps and just wanted to get down onto the floor and crawl around. He was so full of energy and wanted to play with everything other than his toys, so by the time we landed in Sydney 3 hours later we were exhausted. It was then that we decided that we wouldn't go to South Africa until he was old enough to sit in his own seat! It didn't help that his pram was over 10kg's so it had to be booked into oversized baggage so we had to carry him through customs and passport control until we got to baggage claim. We were seriously exhausted by the time we got into the arrivals hall, only to not see Bradley or Shamini! When we called them they were at a different arrivals gate (Sydney has two - go figure)! Anyway, it was so good to see them that when we did we just kind of forgot all about the tiredness! It was just after 6pm Sydney time when we arrived so about 8pm Auckland time so Darian was quite tired by then. We grabbed something to eat before we made our way to Fennell Bay, where Brads & Sham live, about 2 hours drive out of Sydney.
We spent the first day in at home because it was terribly hot. It left me drained and Darian was getting used to the heat himself, thankfully he wasn't too fussy over it. He spent the whole holiday in just his vest and nappies. Christmas Eve we took a drive to the mall and around the Lake Macquarie to see the area. I must add that Lake Macquarie and the surrounding areas are beautiful. We went for dinner at Blue Water Pizza on Warners Bay and then got some ice-cream and just walked along the Esplanade. It was a lovely cool afternoon and there were families out picnicking and enjoying some family time.
The lake itself, I've recently found out, is twice the size of Sydney Harbour. It is really picturesque and a wonderful holiday spot. The only thing that freaked me out was the fact that Bradley told us about "The Family" that lived at the creek where they lived (it led onto Lake Macquarie), about 2 houses down the road from their house. "The Family" sounded very mafia like when he started telling us, only to find out it's a group of Iguana's or Goannas (huge lizards...urgh) that reside at the entrance to the creek. Just thinking about this freaks me out. Needless to say, I did not venture anywhere near there. I did take Darian for a walk one afternoon just to the end of the road, where the grass patch started, about 5m away from the entrance to the creek and turned around and went back home. I was interested in seeing this but when I thought if these things attack and I have Darian with me... so I chickened out. Anyway, I sooned realised we weren't in NZ anymore and had to get used to the idea of creepy crawlies and snakes and spiders and iguana's for the next 2 weeks.
Christmas day we spent at home. We had some relief as the weather cooled down and we had some rain so we spent the day indoors. Brads and Sham made a marvelous Christmas lunch and we just enjoyed each other's company. By now, Darian who was not interested in teh tree at home was quite fascinated by the tree at hs uncle & aunty's house and kept going to the tree and fiddling with the decorations.
Here are a few pics of Christmas day:
On Boxing Day we got out of the house and went to the mall, but everything was closed so we just headed down into Newcastle and took a walk on the pier and I had an interesting look at Newcastle Harbour and the Port operations. They had a vessel coming into port so I had a good look at their Tug operations. I was probably the only one interested but hey, these things interest me now... work habit! LOL!
The Thursday after Christmas Cameron & Bradley had tickets to watch the A-League (Autralian Soccer league) and they headed off to Sydney to watch Sydney FC play the Central Coast Mariners. One of their favourite soccer players, Allessandro Del Piero plays for the Sydney FC so they had to go see him in action. They had a bit of drama on their trip though, they took the train into Sydney but got off at the wrong station. They went to the wrong stadium and had to take another train to get to the right Allianz Stadium.
Here they are at the wrong stadium... Sham & I couldn't believe that they didn't realise this when they got there and nobody was there...
That weekend we went tenpin bowling, which was fun. Darian was really intrigues by the lights, sights and sounds, thankfully he stayed in his pram and didn't try to crawl on the aisles!
New Years Eve we went and did some shopping for stuff for New Years and spent the evening at home, just the 5 of us. We had our own little party and danced the night away, Darian decided he would wake up at midnight so just after the countdown I had to get him back to sleep. By then I too was exhausted and headed to bed. Such is the life of a parent! Brad then made my favourite, Crab curry for lunch on New Years day... mmm wouldn't mind some of that now... he also showed me how to make it so I'm definitely gonna have a go soon.
We then just had one more day with Brad & Sham before they had to get back to work. We then had to get ourselves ready and pack for the trip back home. We left on Friday morning and Bradley drove us back to Sydney, Sham had to work so we said our goodbyes that morning (VERY HARD) and we flew out of Sydney that afternoon.
It was a wonderful holiday and I am so glad Darian got to spend his first Christmas with his aunty & uncle. These memories are to be treasured and I can't wait to make more memories for our little family.
