and we are off

After days and days and maybe even weeks of hot, sunny weather, Sydney is seeing us off with a cold, dark and rainy day. Kind of a nice change.

We are all packed, and we leave for the airport in 3 hours. The apartment is clean, the fridge is bare, and the list has been double checked. I will be so glad to get on that plane and go to sleep.

I am thankful not to be going to work today, as the entire city bus system has shut down due to the drivers going on strike overnight. What is it with transit / airline workers striking at Christmas??

For those that we will see in the next couple of days - we are so looking forward to it! And for those of you who we won't see on this trip - we wish you a very Merry Christmas! Stay tuned for some some snow photos soon!

hot and cold

Last weekend was gorgeous here. Hot, sunny, vivid blue sky, amazing. And since one of our goals for this summer is to go to the beach more often, that is what we did. And despite the application of plenty of SPF40, I am now sporting a snazzy new sunburn. Not all over, mind you, just in large blotches - rather giraffe like. It's stunning, I assure you.

However, as I was sitting on the beach, I was reflecting on the fact that 7 days from that moment, I would be in an alternate universe, one where it's dark from 4pm to 8am, and one where it's cold, and snowy. And cold. It seems so weird that I am going to get on a plane on a hot, sunny day, and get off the plane in cold, wintry darkness. And then I realised that I better start moisturising, because it is not going to be fun wearing 16 layers on top of a sunburn. However, the good news is that there will be much less urgency to shave my legs while I am there. Awesome.

Sorry for the general lack of posting... I have been a little busy with year-end stuff at work, and packing, and baking, and shopping, and cleaning, and laundry. Oh, and I started a book this week that I can't put down... just because I really don't have time to read a book right now. But that is just how I roll.

Signed, The Giraffe

dreaming

I may have jinxed us. I may have listened to a few too many Christmas songs already. I may have changed my skype online status to "dreaming of a white Christmas" too soon. I may have squeeled with glee at the sight of this a little too loudly. And I may have ordered some sweaters online with a bit too much gusto.

Maybe. Just maybe.



Nine days to go. I can't wait!!

count down

It's that time of year again. Christmas is in the air. The scent of bushfire smoke and frangipani, the sound of myna birds cackling, the dry summer heat.... What? That doesn't sound like Christmas to you? No kidding.

It still seems foreign to me to be listening to Christmas music in the summertime, or attending holiday parties sleeveless, or even buying cherries in season 2 weeks before Christmas, for that matter. But that is one of the facts of life in the southern hemisphere. I'm not sure I could ever get used to it.

For me, Christmas will always be freezing cold, with a fresh blanket of snow muffling the sound of carolers. Wet mittens and warm cocoa and stomping off your feet when you come in from the cold. It's candy canes and icicles and twinkle lights in every window. It's dressing up and helping in the jewellery store on Christmas Eve, eating cookies and listening to Papa's jokes. It's the inevitable nap after the equally inevitable Griswold Family re-runs.

And so, we have gladly begun the count down. In 12 days we will be heading "home" for Christmas. Back to the Great White North full of all things white and cold and Christmassy. Bring on the sweaters!