Yule [b]log

We are staying right downtown, which has some excellent shopping, restaurants and cinemas, and a lovely laid back feel to it. The shopping was the first thing we hit, arriving on 23rd December with less than 48 hours to prepare Christmas from a standing start. Retail madness ensued, but what a pleasant experience it was! Mooching around Borders, having a massive choice of camera shops (yup, we replaced our lost in Chile cam) … but all in a pretty relaxed, calm atmosphere that made us very glad NOT to be in Kingston, for example.

We knew we had to try and stay awake and get onto NZ time, so we shopped and shopped, walked and walked, and tried to reduce the number of times we said ‘gracias’ or ‘si’ through a process of embarassing weaning.
We also went up the Sky Tower to record our very own message to the nation, which you can see here! The view was amazing, and the glass floors hairy – of course, the kids simply walked over them without a qualm, 328 metres up, and we watched people falling past the window doing the Sky Jump – bleurrch.

After this action packed day I was the first to cave, falling asleep somewhere around 5pm, but Joe heroically kept going and got the kids in bed. And suddenly it was Christmas Eve and about 6am! More shopping, and then we went to the cinema to keep ourselves awake (Jenna cried her eyes out at the death of the spider in Charlotte’s Web) … I crashed AGAIN, at 7.00pm, and once again Joe (who is eternally my hero) ran the kids ragged at the park until they fell asleep in their clothes.

I woke around 11.30pm to find Father Christmas wrapping all the kids presents … so a few glasses of wine and seeing in the day itself was definitely in order. Of course, this meant we went to bed about 2.30am, and then Rowan woke us up for Christmas at 5.30! Heigh ho, there is no escape from the early morning Xmas mania, even the other side of the world.

Christmas Day has been utterly different and utterly brilliant. After a relaxing early morning opening our pressies and parcels (for which we are so, so grateful!) we headed out to Kelly Tarltons Underwater and Antartic Experience (try saying THAT after several sherries). This was a really fab way to spend a pretty cloudy Christmas morning, walking through tunnels under the most ginormous sting rays I’ve ever seen, with sharks and also fantastic penguins (much much bigger than the galapagos or chilean kind) in their own recreated Antartic zone.

When we emerged it was much warmer and getting a bit sunny, so we headed along the waterfront to Mission Bay for a quick play on the beach and in the park – yes, we did make it to the beach on Christmas Day! Hurrah! Not sunbathing weather, but great nonetheless. We really should have packed our cossies, as people were in the water … it’ll have to be another year.
We found a fab and more importantly open restaurant on the shore front for a great, laid back lunch complete with crackers but the not so traditional lasagne and pizza. It was just wonderful.

Then a quick cab ride back to the city, and we just made it in time to watch Happy Feet at the cinema, complete with full sweets overload for all.

And so here we are, and I have made it to 8.00pm, so hopefully we might just have all kicked the jetlag! We’ve got to run and read these poor kids stories, just as you guys may be waking up.

So it only remains to wish you a very peaceful, happy and fun Christmas Day; as our sun sets, your day dawns. May it be a great one for all.