An Aussie Summer Christmas

Living in the small corner of the world where it is normal to wear your bikini on Christmas Day, the festive season in South-East Queensland is hot to say the least. There's nothing more Australian than a humid, sunny Christmas and this year was no exception.

This year, we headed to the Sunshine Coast to celebrate with Aaron's extended family. With his parents now living in Melbourne and my family scattered over QLD and WA, it was nice to take part in a big Christmas fair. Kinda fitting for our last Christmas in Australia for a while!

Grandparents, aunties, uncles and cousins talked with great enthusiasm about our impending overseas venture. We received much needed and appreciated travel-related gifts - the little things like luggage tags and neck pillows for our flight. Very thoughtful and generous! :)

We had a delicious lunch which Aaron's Grandmother lovingly prepared for days beforehand. The afternoon was spent indoors in the cool of the air conditioning (side note: we stayed inside while pretty much everyone else basked beneath the sweltering sun.. maybe Canada will suit us better than we first thought!). Aaron honed his snooker skills, spending most of the afternoon playing with various relatives.

More food was served a few hours later for dinner. What a feast we had the honour of partaking in! The food coma well and truly set in by 9pm and by that point I was ready for some sleep (how old am I?! Lolz). I snuck away and headed to our makeshift bed in the sewing room. I must say, it was amusing sleeping on the air mattress - whenever one of us would move or get up, the other would roll and sink to the side of the bed! It's the little things, and in a past life this probably would have annoyed me, but now I just think about it and chuckle. Makes for a dynamic sleep that's for sure!

Boxing Day was spent with some of my family. We saw my youngest brother Nicholas in Caloundra for breakfast. All our chocolate gifts melted in the car while we were out (though can't say we were too devastated about that!). Christmas was hot, but Boxing Day was another level. I recall saying when we got back into the car after a walk along the Bullcock Beach esplanade that I wouldn't miss this humidity in Canada! Extreme temperature and I do not get along. Let's just hope I can handle the cold..

We headed back to Brisbane in the afternoon for a much overdue catch up with Dad and Rhondda. It was really great to see them again and hope we have the opportunity to hang out one more time before we leave.

It's bizarre and scary and exhilarating to think that our next Christmas will be spent in completely contrasting conditions. We could not have picked greater extremes! From a hot summer festive season to a white (maybe/hopefully) winter Christmas, next year is certainly going to be an eye-opener.

x k