Christmas Day 2012

So this is the first Christmas I've spent without my children, thought it would have been worse but seems I survived the day!
We started with presents which included some sent from the girls to ensure we had a true Christmas day.  We had bon bons, shortbread, fruitmince tarts, a Christmas stocking, the Love Actually DVD (a christmas tradition with our family to watch at Christmas) and I got some new makeup which Hannah knows I like and might not have been able to get here.
We skyped into Mackay and Ray & Shirls where we usually have Christmas lunch and got to see all the Christmas goodies on the table...the fruit looked amazing.  We were able to source cherries and nectarines but not apricots or peaches, not to worry though we had plenty to eat!
For lunch we decided to go a little Aussie and we went to the Orphans Christmas at Hogs Breath.  What was strange was on the way there were kids in school uniforms walking around and mostly it was business as usual for a Tuesday.  Across the road from our house the painting and construction of a new Pizza shop continued and everyone was going about their usual business.

When we arrived at Hogs Breath we found a long table to share with anyone that didn't have people to have Christmas with and met some interesting people.  Had the usual turkey, ham, roast veg, plum pudding etc with free flowing beer and wine.  Nice lunch but unsure it was value for money? It's Christmas though so what does it matter :)

Believe it or not we ended up sitting next to 2 guys that live in Mackay, the 2 to my right...crazy!  They have an office over here for a shed company and they have Vietnamese draftsmen doing their plans, saving loads on costs of course.
After we finished lunch, around 3.30 we went on a mission to find candy canes for one of the girls that was coming to dinner.  We found a shop that had them on information from the lunch.  When we got to the shop they were sold out...we did, however, find that it was a great shop with loads of things we usually buy from the supermarket and things we haven't been able to find.  All at cheaper prices...successful effort for future grocery shopping.

The girls we invited for dinner arrived before we got home, embarrassing, but only minutes before so all was well.  Phil was really happy about having people for dinner since he knew  I'd be missing the girls on the day.  We had a really nice time.  There was Marie (far left) from NZ, an English teacher at RMIT, Sally in blue and Claire in orange are 2 of the other Drama teachers from Helen O Grady.  They were Christmas orphans and I was more than happy to adopt them!

                                                 
                                                  A cup of tea and shortbread to start.

                                   Drinks and cheese on the terrace then finally Christmas Dinner.

                                        We then made our own pavlova's.  Some were spectacular!        

                                           Others didn't feel theirs looked quite as fabulous???

                           But at the end of the night we all felt like this! As you should on Christmas day!

              We had a lovely day even though I didn't have my girls.  Hannah sent us pics all day long with what was happening with her and Jaimee in Melbourne so I felt like part of it.  Also the skype to Ray and Shirls included Whitney and Cameron so felt like we were also part of their day.
                                      Hope everyone else had a lovely Christmas day too!