Christmas Ramblings, a Saucy Dish and some Good Looking Birds.

We woke up to another rainy day on Christmas morning. After Breakfast we watched our son open his presents. Hubby and I opened ours and then it was time to do a bit of cleaning until it was time to go to my sister-in-laws place. For those who read my blog about the whole Christmas day drama, you would know that I wasn’t looking forward to going. Anyway, we get there and walk into their downstairs rumpus room and it is full to the brim with toys! I mean they only have two children, aged 3 and 8 and the amount of presents was way beyond excessive. Who buys an adult sized skate-board for a three year old? Hubby and I were not impressed to say the least. So these kids were so over opening presents buy the time it came to opening ours. Or so we thought. We had bought the little girl the Barbie doll she had once pointed out to me on a shopping trip. Our son had bought her one to play with in the bath. She played with these two Barbie dolls all day, declaring that they were her favourite presents ever! (*insert smug chuckle here*)

The little boy spent all day playing with the Chuggington train set we got him for his birthday (which was the day before) and the Toy Story Rex we got him for Christmas. (*Insert next smug chuckle here*).

So score 1 for the POV people! LOL! We may not be able to afford to buy the kids hundreds of dollars in presents, but we defiantly got them just what they wanted! And yeah Mum was a little miffed. (HEH)

So I also had to put up with my husband’s horrible mother, who, after she realized that my Hubby was not going to be sweet and indulgent to her, she turned nasty, and attention seeking for the rest of the day. Though she copped it from me a couple of times. One time Hubby was teasing our son and she told him he should give hubby a raspberry. Which I replied loudly “No he won’t because he isn’t that rude”. Then she got into trouble with her daughter because the little girl turned around and did it to her father. (LOL)

Oh and after all my efforts of making fruit mince pies, and being denied making the deserts, my hubbys sister ended up making pavlova AND trifle. So no-one ate the pies. Oh but everyone had the lactose-free ice-cream we made specially for her son and loved it. The little boy was in rapture eating it because he hadn’t had it before!

At 3:30 in the afternoon we eventually had lunch. Yes. 3:30. My brother-in-law cooks about 19 roasts (ok so only 5 but you get what I mean..) to the point of them being almost dried shriveled husks (ok so maybe not that bad but they are a bit on the overcooked side) . The highlight of the lunch/afternoon tea was that two beautiful King Parrots came and sat on the railing (We were eating alfresco). So beautiful. I managed to get a pic of one when it flew into the tree. It sat there for ages watching us! After desert (pavlova not made by me) we had a game of Pictionary Man with some cosmopolitans (mmm.. vodka).

King Parrots mate for life so it was a rare sight to see the two of them.

Boxing day we woke up late, and went to the sales. Our son spent his gift voucher from his Aunty (my little sister), and we bought new pillows for all the beds. (dbs, you’ll appreciate that one). Later I made MY Pavlova with Chantilly cream and my special strawberries in sauce. Hubby cooked a pork roast he’d been preparing for two days. We had his dad and his lady-friend over for dinner. We played xBox Scene-it, and then Scrabble. I went out in the pouring rain to get myself a couple of bottles of red wine. The roast was perfect (naturally my hubby is a genius cook) and they had second helpings of my pavlova (naturally I am just as talented..LOL). It was a great night. Much calmer than Christmas day. Oh and they left with some pies.. lol.

MMMM... PAVLOVA!

It has been raining so much for so long that all the rivers are flooding. Towns are getting cut off, bridges swept away and roads are being closed everywhere. I know I remarked that I wanted a wet Christmas but this is getting serious. Our river is expected to peek over 11 meters (over 36 feet!) this evening! Lucky for us we live on a hill of sorts. Our little wrens think it’s great. Splashing in the little river in our yard that runs from the water tank. I’ve been very snap-happy lately and managed to get a few pics of our birds around here.

So hard to get a pic of these little guys. They never stay still for long enough! This was taken on megazoom from my house.

Rainbow Lorikeets enjoying the rain

And the rest who decided they'd had enough rain.

P.S I hope the Christmas part of this blog didn't come off as too bitchy. I guess if I can't spend Christmas with my family then they are the next best thing and there are people out there who don't have anyone to spend special days with. But it goes to show that money isnt the be all and end all. Also, Hubby and I couldn't help but be a little amused that the kids loved our presents more.

Next year we are going to ether have christmas at our place, or go to an old peoples home, or homeless shelter and volounteer our time to people who will appreciate it. Not to be self-righteous or anything, but because it's something we want to do.