A Happy "Chrissy" in Aus

Although we were far away from home this Christmas Tara and I still had a great holiday. We were both able to talk to our families several times and felt like we were part of the celebrations. This is our house on Christmas Eve. We got sooo many cards, thank you to everybody!


We had a very busy couple of days. Christmas Eve service was at 11 so we didn't get home until late. Then it was up early Christmas morning to talk to our families, exchange presents, and get ready for our day on the farm all before 8:30 when our ride was coming to take us to church. The main service in Australia is Christmas morning. The church was packed, and we got to meet many of the visiting family members. After church it was off to the Birtles' (Grace and Terry) farm. Hong came too. She is doing her PhD in Canberra and wasn't able to go home to China for the holidays.





We had a delicious cold lunch. We didn't think there was any way we would be as full as a Turkey dinner but we were wrong. I was so stuffed. Australians are not immune to the charms of the Christmas Popper Crown. Hong thought we were nuts.

I finally got my hands on a piano to play some of my tried and true Christmas carols. I just know my brother is disappointed he missed out on hearing me play this year. I had a hard time remembering the notes but I did manage to get one song out.

What would a farm be without dogs. I was so glad to play with some puppies for the day.

Terry has three miniature ponies as well as lots of cattle. Tara is leading around Christmas it was his birthday. Tara did awesome until Christmas decided he liked the looks of the green grass.

It was too hot (30 degrees!) to go for a hike right after lunch so we waited until late afternoon. Grace and Terry have a huge place with no shortage of great views of the Australian country side.





Terry, Tara and I were gone for 2 1/2 hours. We just kept seeing one great view after another. At one look out we could see the city and parliament house more than 30 km away. And of course what would an Aussie Christmas be without kangaroos. We saw lots of them hoping across the hills.

A huge Thank you to Grace and Terry. They helped to make our Christmas one to remember. We really appreciate their kindness and generosity. We hope everyone at home had a Merry Christmas too.

To my Seeester- Merry Christmas!

Kelly (my sister) is really upset that this year I am RUINING HER TRADITIONS by being in Australia over Christmas. One tradition shared by Kelly and me is a ridiculous dance that we made up to Carol of the Bells as children- consisting of spontaneous choreography that we have made our parents sit through many times over the years.
Kelly sent me a Christmas card that played Carol of the Bells and said that Stacy would have to learn the dance in her place. Well she did, and here is the result. This was supposed to just be a test run for the camera angle- but it was so fantastically terrible that we decided to post it.

This is really for Kelly, but I am sure that it is something that many of you will enjoy. Kelly- I now expect you to teach Derrick the dance, and send a video of your performance before Christmas- I have just started a new tradition, so don't ruin it!

PS- Feel free to leave a critique of our dance in the comments... but please be kind!

A Taste of Canadian Christmas!

The Christmas lunch at church last week was the perfect opportunity to bust out some Christmas baking. I got all of mom's recipes- snowballs, macaroons, belgium cookies and gingersnaps.
Baking Canadian recipes in Australia presented some difficulites. They don't have shortening or molasses in grocery stores here. However we were able to research substitutions and the cookies all came out great! I also think we set a record for speed baking! We had a day of baking planned and then I started my job at subway. We ended up making all of the baking in less than 4 hours. You can see how much fun we had in the pictures below!

Deck The Halls

The first weekend of December brought some really cool weather. The colder weather put us in the Christmas Spirit and we decided that our house needed some decorations.

After a trip to the dollar store to get some supplies we were ready to go.

Tara was the creative genius behind our decorative choices. It just wouldn't be Christmas without a tree. Evergreens are in short supply here in Canberra and for anyone who has tried to get a tree home on the roof of their car just imagine what we would have gone through to get a tree home on the bus. So left with no other choice (unlike my parents who made the very poor decision to get a fake tree * sigh) we got this lovely 2$ tree. It had to be unfolded from the plastic package when we got it home. I didn't have high hopes for it but it turned out awesome.

Since our initial decorations we have added all the wonderful cards we have received to the display. Thank you very much to everybody for thinking of us.

Canberra Christmas Tree Lighting

Last week we went to the Christmas tree lighting in the city centre. It was really strange to see children running around in their shorts and summer dresses! It was a great family event- with children`s entertainers working the crowd and performing on stage.


It was also strange that there were no hot chocolate or apple cider booths- we got ice cream!

The christmas tree itself turned out to be fake. Dissapointing, since I am used to watching a living and huge tree being lit!

Back to my Roots... Literally!

Well, the blond was becoming a bit too much up keep. Dark brown roots come through pretty quick! Although, I must say the blond was starting to look pretty great!

So, I decided to go back to my natural hair colour- and this looked to be pretty close. Everlasting brown. Looks pretty brown right?

Unfortunately, my hair came out kinda purple! So, it was back to the drugstore for another bottle of brown hairdye!

The second bottle turned out to be a little too dark. I didn't see any brown in it, looked more like black to me! But as it starts to fade a bit I think its getting closer to my natural shade-and I can't see any roots coming in. This is what my head looks like today!

My short time as a blond was fun, but I am glad to be back as a brunette. Now its just waiting for my hair to grow out!