HOLIDAYS COME AND GONE

Christmas has come and gone and so has the New Year - with a birthday thrown in there for good measure. I can hardly believe that we are into 2010 - how did that happen? Where did the time fly?

Although I admit I wasn't too excited about Christmas this year it still came with all it's magic and wonder. It turned out great. Christmas Eve Kev had to work for the last time in 2009, but only for half a day so he worked from home. I tried to keep the kids busy and the excitement level down. We did crafts in the morning trying to make our house more wintry - snowmen and snowflakes. I also made the kids clean the house - I know mean mommy!

After Kev was finally done with work. In Cooper's eyes it took FOREVER! Kev entertained the kids while I went to the store for a few last minute things. I admit I have never gone to the store on Christmas Eve and I will never again. It was INSANE!!!!

When I got home we had some outdoor fun to cool down. We played in the pool and Rylee had her first water balloon fight. She loved it and was so funny running up to Kev and throwing water balloons at him.

We then moved on to the cookie baking for Santa. We do this every year and it is so much fun. The kids love to cut out their sugar cookies and decorate them after they are all cooled down. We left out carrots for the reindeer and some pistachios for good measure! While we were waiting for the cookies to cool down I had a new game to add to our traditions at Christmas Eve. We had to pop balloons and do what the strip of paper said inside. There was also a toy or a treat in each balloon. Some of the questions had to do with the Christmas story and baby Jesus. While some were just funny like you have to walk like a penguin or act like a chicken. It was heaps of fun!

Christmas morning the kids woke up around 7am. Cooper was up earlier than that, but the rule is they have to stay in their rooms. Kev went in there around 7am and Coop was up on his bed saying, "This is too hard! I can't do this! It is just too hard!" Finally we all went out to see if the kids had been good or bad and what Santa brought.

The weather wasn't the best and we debated whether or not to go to the beach. In the end we decided to just get out of the house and go. The weather held out and the rain didn't come until after we were driving home. I didn't think it was warm enough to get into the water - but that didn't stop everyone else. Rylee stayed with me most of the time on the sand.

People often ask me why we go to the beach on Christmas Day. There are two reasons really. First, it is something we definitely can't do in Utah. Second, it breaks up the day and keeps us from thinking about the things we are missing out on.

Kev had the rest of the year off from work so on Monday we took off on a family vacation to Jervis Bay (about three hours south). It was BEAUTIFUL!!! Dolphins reside in the bay and you could see them from the beach. I will do another post later on just our trip to Jervis Bay - as you can imagine we took a lot of pictures. All I am going to tell you is that I spend my birthday sitting on the whitest sand in the world! Not a bad day!

We got back New Years Eve and somehow Kev had talked me into going into the city to see the fireworks in the Harbour and off the Bridge. I wasn't really looking forward to it, but marriage is about compromise and sometimes you have to give in so the other person can do what they want to do. I don't like huge crowds and I dislike drunk crowds even more. Luckily we had a sitter lined up to watch the kids - there is no way I would have taken them into the city. All in all it was an adventure, something I am glad we experienced while we were here. Not one I think I would like to redo anytime soon, but it was AMAZING to see the fireworks shooting off the Harbour Bridge. We originally wanted to go to Blues Point, but when we got off the train that area had been shut down because it has reached capacity. So we walked down to to Milson's Point - us and thousands of other people. We found a great spot where we could see the Opera House and the Bridge, but we couldn't really see down the Harbour. When the family fireworks started at 9:00 we had to laugh because they were on the other side of the Bridge and we couldn't really see them (maybe our seats weren't so good after all). We knew that the midnight fireworks also were done on the bridge so we figured it would be fine. We sat and waited, played a few games, took trips to the bathrooms and stood in long lines, and watched some around us consume too much alcohol. On my way to wait in line for the toilet the police ran past me on their way to stop a fight. It was interesting to see all the people running after them to see what was going on. I also got stuck in a crowd of people and never thought I would make it back to Kev. It was crazy - so many people in one place!

It was so funny to see the crowd once the fireworks started. All eyes to the sky and all cameras as well. I know the picture isn't the greatest, but you get the point. Look at all the camera screens. So funny!!

Here's a link if you want to see them yourself: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/12/31/vo.sydney.australia.new.year.img?iref=allsearch

Kev was the camera man and my new tripod Santa brought was helpful. He got some great shots. After the fireworks were done I was done with the smell of alcohol and cigarette smoke. Then we had to make it home. We started heading to the train station and got stuck in a huge crowd of people all trying to get on the trains. I was a bit of a nightmare for me. I was a bit worried about the drunk crowd and what they might do. After some walking to another train station and standing in a queue we finally squished onto a train at 2am.

Mrs. Santa did arrive with the one gift that Santa forgot on Christmas Day (a Hutchinson tradition) - but I was allowed to sleep in (thanks Kev) so I didn't even take any pictures. Today was spend sitting around doing nothing.

I think we are allowed that.

I am interested to see what the New Year has in store for us!