Christmas pudding

The tradition of the Christmas pudding is HUGE here in Australia! I would best describe it as a "fruitcake" and to be honest, I was quite nervous to try it. It blew my expectations out of the water!!! I LOVED it! It was so good! Of course, Dina's mom is an excellent cook and this is something that she basically works on for a full year - let's just say, it was VERY home made!! As in the previous post, you saw it hanging from the ceiling. This part of the process is letting all the flavors settle. Basically, after the previous Christmas, she begins to soak the fruit in brandy for the next Christmas. I think (if I remember correctly) she makes it at least 4 -6 weeks in advance and then wraps it in the cloth. Then, about an hour or so before we eat it, she boils it. She also hides several sixpence inside the cake, so you have to be careful when eating it! If you get a sixpence it's supposed to "bring good luck for the next year". She likes to keep her sixpence for the next year, so she actually handed out money to those that found one!! I found one in mine - I was pretty excited!! They also eat it with ice cream and you can pour custard over the top. Again, not normally my style, but I would SOOO eat hers again!!!!Here's my piece with the sixpence sticking out - yeah!! (I'm sure they thought I was very weird taking pictures of the cake - Ha!)
My sixpence!
before eating it, with custard poured over it.
Josh had some ice cream on his
The Christmas Pudding - before it was cut into.

Enjoying the day

Everyone at the dinner table.
This was cute, one of their grandchildren and Lance were sitting under the table playing together.
playing outside with the "kitchen"
another table shot - that's Dina in the front!
the men sitting outside talking - it was kind of weird having our first "summer" Christmas, but I LOVED it!!!

Christmas traditions!

We had some invites from people to come spend Christmas day with them since we didn't have family around - we were overwhelmed with how sweet and generous everyone was. We ended up going to Dina's parent's house in downtown Sydney around noon after opening presents, etc. Christmas morning. Dina also works for General Mills and is Australian. When in college, she decided to study abroad at Iowa State and ended up marrying a guy from Iowa!! Anyway, they live here in Australia now and have two daughters, about Grace and Lance's ages. We've been to her parent's home once before, so the kids had already met! It was so much fun to be a part of a true Australian family's traditions. Thank you again for letting us be a part of your day!wearing their crowns for dinner! Too funny!
Trying to open one of the poppers!!
Our meal consisted of different types of cold cut meats that Dina's mom had made/roasted the day before and lots of different salads - it was DELICIOUS!
Another tradition is the Christmas pudding - I'll explain more about that in another post. The "pudding" is hanging from the ceiling on the right.
They have several Christmas traditions in Australia. One tradition is everyone has a "Christmas Popper" at their place at the table. You're supposed to pull one end while another person pulls the other end (kind of like a wish bone) and it makes a "pop" when it's opened. Whoever gets the bigger half "wins" what's inside that popper. You keep trying until you "win" one! Inside are different little "gifts", sometimes an ornament, a joke or riddle, and a crown. Everyone is supposed to wear their crowns during the dinner. It was a lot of fun!

Jesus is born!!!!

Merry Christmas!! Jesus is born! It was a beautiful day in Australia! Oh, and Santa also came, so the kids were pretty excited about that as well! ;) Good thing we threw out the reindeer food to help them find our house!searching for the pickle ornament on the tree.....(thank you Uncle Paul and Aunt Angee!)
opening their stockings
seeing their gifts!
getting ready to head downstairs to see if Santa came!
It looks like Santa made it!

Thank you

Thank you, also to Uncle Ben and Aunt Jill for the awesome books you sent! Great choices! They got here a little later, so I don't have any pictures...sorry! Also, thank you Aunt Lis and Uncle Josh for Grace's new AG Kanani outfit and the leapster game. They LOVED them! Also, thank you Grandma and Grandpa for all the gifts you brought for them. You are all very generous and the kids had a wonderful time with you here. (more of those pics to come, after the Melbourne trip! Ha!) Will I EVER catch up?????

And up on the rooftop....

throwing out our food for the reindeer! Of course, it has glitter in it so they can see their way to our house!
Ready for bed with our new p.j's on. Even our Build-A-Bears have their new outfits/p.j's on!

Our big gift to the kids, was surprising them with a 5 day trip to Melbourne. Josh travels there a lot for work, and the last time he went, he told them "maybe he would take them with him the next time he goes!" They were really excited! LOTS more pictures, etc and more of that to come...
The kids got each other gifts, too. Grace got Lance an Angry Bird, and Lance got Grace a Mermaid Barbie for the bathtub. They picked them all out on their own! Very sweet.

Christmas Eve gifts

An Architect Barbie from Nana and Papa! How appropriate!
Thank you Nana and Papa for our new Build-A-Bear outfits!!
Lego sorter from Nana and Papa
Thank you for our new books, Uncle Paul and Aunt Angee! We love them!
Yeah! More Leapster games, thanks Uncle Andy and Aunt Erin!

Christmas Eve

After going to the Christmas Eve service at Hillsong, we came home and opened presents from all our aunts, uncles, cousins, Nana and Papa, and mom and dad! Normally I wouldn't post or take pictures of all their presents, but I wanted to share it with everyone who sent the kids stuff, so they could see their faces! I thought it would be fun for you all, after sending it all the way to Australia! Sorry I'm so late in posting!! They loved and appreciated everything you all got for them. Thank you so much for your generosity! Their annual Christmas Eve p.j.'s that they get every year. It was very weird buying them summery p.j's for Christmas!!
Thank you Aunt Erin and Uncle Scott! Lego Race game!!
Thank you Aunt Erin and Uncle Scott! Wait until you see our Melbourne pictures, she's wearing her new purse in just about every one! She takes it EVERYWHERE!
"Red" the Elf chose his hiding place wisely for his last day with us until heading back to the North Pole again!
Getting ready to open our presents!

Taking a break

I just thought this was cute....they were "taking a break" outside between baking cookies, etc. Just enjoying the beautiful day!

Making Christmas Cookies!!

Yup - I'm just a TAD behind on my pictures, BUT I will continue to plug away at it and try to eventually get caught up! Ha! Josh's parents, John and Carlene, are here right now and we're enjoying our time with them! In the meantime, I will forge ahead, and continue to BLOG! ;)

In December, we made some sugar cookies, chocolate chip sandwich cookies, and brownie/oreo/cookie bars - they were all DELICIOUS!! The kids had a great time!
Showing off their frosting skills

prefrosted sugar cookies
cutting them out
making our bars

Goodbye Wetherbees - what a great day!

Riding back to Sydney from the beach

having ice cream before saying goodbye :(


Bob hanging out with the kids on the beach. Lance fell down and got soaked when Ellen was watching him - Ha! You know I'm just giving you a hard time, Ellen!

Thanks again for the awesome day! We enjoyed seeing our FIRST visitors from the states!!!

Off to Manly Beach

Someone made this sand octopus on Manly Beach - pretty cool!
riding the ferry over to Manly
sailboat

This advertisement was in the train station. Coke has a great marketing idea right now where every bottle has a different name on it - "share a coke with...." they even had Santa as one in December! Very clever - people buying Coke, just to drink one with their name on it! I haven't found Raquel yet, though...