Sunday, January 3, 2010

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

OK, in true typical Anthea style, I am late with the wishes in my title, but I promise they are sincere. I did try to touch base with everyone on FB, but if I missed you....please accept my apologies, I was thinking of you all and I truly wish everyone a wonderful and happy New Year.

I trust that you all had a good one. We certainly did. Mum got this idea in her head that it would be fun to go camping for Christmas and New Years. After some convincing (yes it took a bit with some of us), we all decided that camping would indeed be fun. Camping on New Years is not new, but the whole camping on Christmas Day was a concept that even most of us had some trouble with. Deb, Shane and the girls were unfortuantly not with us this year; but by Christmas Eve at around 5ish, Mum, Dad, Shell, Brian, Dylan and Jake (Brian's nephew) and us Englishs' were all out camping at a place called Burrowey Reserve, ready to see in Christmas.

Now, don't get us wrong, just because we were camping doesn't mean that we missed out on any of the luxuries of a good ol' traditional Christmas, we just did it in true Aussie style. Now I know that there are a lot of Aussies out there who would question whether the word traditional Christmas and camping belong in the same sentance, but for some of my international friends I would imagine it is downright unbelievable, so here for you all to see are some of the photos from our week out.......(Just bear in mind there are a few - I have resized them to make veiwing them a bit easier, but it still might take a little while....sorry!)

No Christmas is complete without a Christmas tree...
One of the mini 'wreaths' that adorned each of our caravans


Christmas Eve, we kept with our Italian tradition of seafood - and boy was it goooooood!

Santa found us....despite one young man not being sure he would....and you can't see here, but the pressies and tree were about the only things not to get wet in the rain the night before - Good old Santa knew just where to sit them.

Tori wondering if there was more in her stocking. Yep - she understood the concept of pressies this year.

Matthew with a boat that Santa bought him, how clever of Santa to know that boat would get lots of use on the river.

The pressies that we got for eachother and the kids. Mmmmm - no! None of us were spoilt.

The Christmas table, complete with home made bon bons (The boys all got fishing tackle in theirs and us girls got a keychain with a supermarket trolley token on them and hair clips & Tori got hair accesories).

Yep - Ray got his turkey and to eat it too.....(in case you are wondering, it had to be cut in half to fit in the camp oven)

The food (salads instead of veggies), and yes there are several bottles of champers on the go.
Us
Mum & Dad

Michelle and Brian.
Dylan with his new toy.

Tori modeling her new bathers and thongs. (And before you ask, Tori did have a hat and rashie vest, but it was very late in the afternoon and very overcast and she was covered in sunscreen.) Oh and she did not wear ear plugs and she did NOT get an ear infection the whole time we were there!

The boys cooling off after Christmas lunch.

Matthew showing of his new t-shirt (& muscles).
Well, thats it for now, hope you enjoyed. For the very observant, you will notice some of these photos are larger than others....this was in no way intentional and by the time I realized my mistake I was not downloading them again.
I hope everyone had as good a Christmas as us....it really was fun; very little mess to clean up, a river to cool off in, everyone got to have a drink without worrying about driving, if anyone wanted a nap they could, the food was great (albiet it be simple) and most importantly we had eachothers company for the whole day!!!!!! Other than the fact that we missed Deb and Shane and the girls and of course, all of Rays family, it really was a perfect Christmas Day. So perfect that we might just do it again next year!
I will post more pics later. Love, hugs and kisses all round....
Anthea
xoxo

13 comments:

Unknown said...

I love your Aussie style of Christmas. Togetherness with the family is what counts the most. It is a little strange to see camping and bathing suits for us here in North America where it is winter and chilly or down right awfully cold in other parts of the US. I love the picture of Tori cooling off in the water and the food you had prepared looked awesome. Happy New Year to all of you.

Sue Plumb said...

Your Christmas looks like it was awesome!!! I LOVE camping, so would need no convincing to do this. It looks like everyone had heaps of fun, and as usual, your pics are fabulous! Especially love that family photo of you guys!
Glad to have you back!
XXX

Kim said...

What a cool Christmas. No definitely not traditional, but totally fun! First off I am completely jealous that it is summer there and you guys are cooling off in the lake. I am freezing here in the States as it seems artic air is hovering over all of us. I think Santa did a great job making sure all the presents were safe from the rain. You guys looked like you had a great time and the pictures were awesome (if you click them they become larger anyway). I love the family picture of all of you guys! Beautiful! Happy New Year!

Greene Family said...

What a fun Christmas!! Being together in the great outdoors with family and good food sounds great for the holidays! It definitely is a little strange, like Melisa said, to see camping and bathing suits for those of us in the US where many of us had snow and cold weather for Christmas though!
Great photos - I love your family photo and the ones of Tori cooling off in the Lake and Matthew showing his muscles are too cute!
I'm glad that Santa found you guys and that your tree and presents stayed dry!
Happy New Year!

Destini said...

What an amazing Christmas! The food looks so yummy, and the family togetherness wonderful! Glad Santa found you guys, and thoughtfully saved the presents from the rain! BTW, I don't put plugs in Trace's ears either, I read a few studies that convinced me it didn't matter that much.

Kathie said...

WTG Love the photos and the story!! That is way cool Ant!!

ROBERTA said...

HELLO I DO NOT KNOW IF YOU REMEMBER ME, I'M ROBERTA, MOTHER OF ALESSIA AND ANDREA, HOW ARE YOU? WE ALL OK, ALESSIA THROUGH PHYSIOTHERAPY BEGINS TO MAKE FIRST STEPS ...... TORI IS REALLY BEAUTIFUL !!!!!! A PRESTO, KISSES ROBY.
p.s.:Forgive my English :-p .....

Anne said...

Just got around to seeing your Christmas story today and I must say that it looks like you all had a lovely time...
Sure brought the tears when I saw the pic of you & Raymond and the children...wish I could have been there..
Love & hugs to all,
xoxoxoxo

Anonymous said...

Just got around to seeing your Christmas story today and I must say that it looks like you all had a lovely time...
Sure brought the tears when I saw the pic of you & Raymond and the children...wish I could have been there..
Love & hugs to all,
Mom, Nana, Anne
xoxoxoxo

Anonymous said...

Oh i really like the pictures, looks like everybody had a great time! I love the picture of Matthew with the Sens towell <3. You should send us that pic. So we can send it to the Senators website.
Who is the cutie in the picture with the airplane?

Happy New Year to all! xoxox

Love ya lots!

Emma English said...

Oh P.S..... The second anonymous is me Emma.

Anthea said...

Emma - that cutie is my nephew Dylan! If you come over here - I'll be sure to introduce you. ;)

Anonymous said...

Loved the whole lay out and story. Great job on presentation. Yes, we did have a heaps of fun and if Deb and co. were there and nonna wasn't in hosp. it would have been the best ever Christmas for me.
Love you lots.
xoxoxo