Christmas

The last time the kids were together for christmas was 2001 and we had a Millenium New years eve party.

















Shaun returned last weekend to the farm to bring back our Christmas decorations as we are spending Christmas here.


He couldn't bring them all, as they are in storage in the winery and he had to unpack so many boxes to find what he did get. And room on the ute was limited.


So 12 hours to Queensland search pack and return to Canberra it was a draining whirlwind trip.


He returned with treasures, gifts from home, some books for everyone, some saucepans ,stuffed toys and Lego for Cenedra, softball stuff for Demelza, a dinner service to serve Christmas dinner on and the antique table and chairs from the cottage because it seats 8, 12 at a stretch and is massive, so at least we'll be comfortable to enjoy Christmas lunch, the whole crew will be here, so early preparations are important.


(I love parties and this christmas will hopefully see us all together for the first time in 7 years.)

kepping busy

The girls have been home for the holidays, and typically I have undertaken a contract so Can't be with them.
They have amused themselves with reptile shows at the hyperdome, riding their bikes around lake Tuggeranong, watching the artists complete street art (graffiti) around the town and practicing their Kata for karate, creating garden signs from clayfor the garden they have planted , and investigating small things with the microscope.
They have been pretty busy really.

Ayla has been deep sea fishing with her friends.

And she and her house mates bought a childrens pool for their deck and had a pool party as it is very hot in stanthorpe.

Ishta began a new job and is off to the company Christmas party which is a luau so she should have a hip shaking good time.

Sebastian is busy with the emergency power demands of Brisbane City after the massive first storms of the season damaged electricity supply ( he is working in the city again after his time on the farm) And will soon be traveling around the country and maybe to China for the games installing light poles.

So everyone is busy.

Sebastian turns 22

My eldest baby turned twenty two yesterday.















Shaun and I rang him before heading off to work .





We sang happy birthday into his answering machine.









The girls called him after Karate lessons, so they could catch up with him on his way home and share how he spent his day.





















I thought about his twenty first last year and how we painted a huge banner for him and arranged his party from our home in the country.

I prepared a cake for him and decorations.
















Shaun and the girls and I decorated the function room with balloons and streamers and laid the tables with napkins and flowers.



My dad and Ishta prepared the power point presentation of a pictorial history or memory book of awards and milestones that have made Sebastian who he is today.It was a very moving presentation that played most of the evening.


We spent the afternoon preparing and then the chefs arrived to complete the occasion with creating delicious master pieces.Sebastian and his close friends had a nice time mingling with family and then they all went off and enjoyed celebrations at the night clubs.We stayed on the Beach front in a little self contained unit and then trekked home the 4 hours back to Stanthorpe exhausted and completely partied out.