White Christmas in Australia!!

White Christmas in Melbourne!
If we didnt post photos you wouldnt believe us!
We had a White Christmas in Melbourne!

Previous years I've been woken at 6am on Christams Day to the sounds of my two sisters in their high pitched kiddy voices, "look what santa bought me!" But today we were woken by lightening, thunder and the sound of pelting hail against our bedroom window. And not just those piddly little stones that tap at you with annoyance, we had the big suckers, little rocks slamming down with great force.

So Paul was woken on this Christmas Day to adult voice with a childish twist, "Quick! get up, I wanna go play in the hail and take photos...get up! we have to go outside!" I urged with great enthusiasm. And out we went into the 10 degree celsius weather, it was freezing but what a blast!

Mother Nature had blessed our burning country with a good dose of rain and hail to dampen the ragine bushfires that have been burning out of control for weeks. Yes, all the firemen, volunteers and quivering wildlife could all take a well earned break on Christmas Day. The rain saved hundreds of houses and livestock about to be torched, Mother Nature works in mysterious ways but this Australian White Christmas was a real gift.

Mad Family
Wow, what a fantastic Christmas this has been. We kicked off the silly season with a family dinner on my Mothers side. Traditionally we havent caught up with this large family, my Mum is the youngest of 8 children and a family gathering could mean around 100 people!

So for the second year in a row, we caught up with the three remaining sisters of my Mothers generation, their children and their childrens children, it was a real blast. We enjoy each others company so much that its difficult for new people to get a word in. Our partners tend to take a backseat when we start talking, its frantic, seven conversations between 10 people, chopping, changing, speaking in our own language about people our partners have never heard of.

Its a pretty wild experience when you're asked to a Johns family catchup, only the hardiest survive and thats the way we like it :-) Paul did exceptionally well, he felt it was just like a good Jewish Family gathering!

On Christmas Day we caught up with my Fathers side of the family, with a lunch at our home in Hampton Park. The family has grown significantly since we went away, children I hadnt met before, children that had grown almost to the point where I didnt recognise them, it was such a joy having everyone over and spending such wonderful time together, it really was.

Friends
After the family festivities, Paul and I packed our good friend Cath into the car and headed for another friends house to give our best wishes for a Birthday, Naming Day and Christmas Day all in one day! By the time we got there the birthday girl was all but flaked out on the couch but we spent a short period of time laughing, chatting wildly and enjoying the energy of wonderful friends! Ehhh... before we all hit the wall and had to go home and sleep 12 hours!

The Baby
And lets not forget the beautiful baby! Baby Katie was too young to know what was happening, her life consists of sleeping, eating, spleeping and eating, but I just had to post this photo because at 4 weeks she is getting prettier by the day!

Not everyone has such a wonderful Christmas as we just did, for those who suffered trauma, distress, sadness or loneliness, we send you our joy, happiness and warmth at this remarkable time of the year.