Christmas 2004

Well, 3 days to go until Christmas - it's bound to be the most unusual one to date! We put our tree up at least a couple of weeks ago because we thought that would help get us in the mood! I even made mince pies which I've not got round to making in previous years. The strangest thing is that it doesn't get dark until 10pm so the Christmas lights & decorations don't really have their full impact. Still, one of the local estate agents organises a competition and even publishes a list of the entrants & a street map so people can visit each house & cast their votes! We've done much less shopping this year but it's nowhere near as hectic as the UK, especially Meadowhell (sorry, Meadowhall), which I wouldn't even attempt to visit in December. Apparantly they closed one of the shopping mall car parks last Saturday because it was so full but that's because there seems an unrealistically small number of car parking spaces - even if the population of New Zealand is not expected to reach 5 million until the year 2041!
They have lots of pre-Christmas sales too & stores staying open until midnight. One store, Briscoes ( a bit like Littlewoods), has these amazing sales of up to 30% off certain items (e.g. bed linen) for just one day, which you think is a huge bargain but a couple of days later they'll have a '50% off everything' sale! Today is the 'last' sale before Christmas but I'm sure they'll manage to squeeze another one in!

Anyway, what else have we been doing? The youth decided they wanted a fancy dress Christmas party - everyone had to come as something beginning with the letter 'c'. Some made more of an effort than others but the best had to be Kirsten as a chicken - including yellow fish net tights (that she just happened to have in her drawer because her house colour is yellow?!) and fairy wings covered in feathers! We had a barbecue and played games, including a scavenger hunt which involved collecting some manure! Lots of the kids live on 'Lifestyle blocks' which vary in size from 5 - 30 acres and they keep various animals so the pigs, alpacas and sheep at Jess & Emily's house made the manure not quite as random. What was funny was watching Neil chase sheep around the paddock trying to collect some of their wool!
Neil has also enjoyed near-superstar status as 'Joseph' in the church Christmas pageant. Christine, our vicar's wife, enjoys the dramatic and wrote a nativity set inside church and outside in church grounds. Acting is not Neil's favourite pastime but he did get to hold a real baby Jesus which made up for it. Natalie was an angel and had the challenging task of keeping 20 smaller angels occupied until the heavenly host appeared - watching 'Finding Nemo' worked a treat! Several newspapers were interested in the story so photos have appeared in several publications.

We've had numerous invitations to share the Christmas festivities with new friends which is lovely. The jury is still out as to whether it will be barbecue & beach weather or not. The last couple of weeks have been incredibly wet & cold; some snow fields, even on the North Island, were still open last week! People keep apologising to us saying they've never had a December like this but assuring us that January and February will be better - watch this space... Still, at least that aspect of New Zealand life is similar to England.

Anyway, we hope you have a Christmas full of peace and that your New Year overflows with blessing.
Lots and lots of love...