Christmas Down Under

 

Christmas morning we woke up to MORE pouring rain.  This was the most rain Sydney has had on Christmas Day in over forty years.  We were invited to my co-worker Koren's for Christmas lunch and a pool party near Penrith.  Since that's towards the Blue Mountains we were going to get up early and check out Katoomba in the morning before lunch, but due to the rain and heavy clouds decided it wouldn't be worth it and went back to bed.  Second failed Blue Mountains trip because of rain.

Pouring rain.  The stupid little truck to the left is always parked on the road in front of us and we hate it.  It rarely moves.  We tend to stick notes under it's wipers hoping the owner will freak out thinking that they've got a parking ticket.

 

 

 

 

Koren's family was running late so she said not to rush coming out.  Perfect, more sleep.  Around two we got ready, carried all our booze and food (Joel had made heaps of mango pasta salad and coleslaw the night before) out to the car in the pouring rain and headed through the city to pick up Christina and Josh.  Christmas Day in Sydney is what I imagine a regular day looks like in Asia.  Seriously, the CBD was full of Asians with cameras standing in the middle of the road taking pictures. 

 

 From Christina and Josh's it was about an hour's drive to Korens.  They live way northwest.  Hard to believe that area still counts as part of Sydney.  Lunch was at her in-laws place and we got to meet various relatives from both Koren and her husband Simon's sides.  Also adopted into the family for the day was Shannon, another co-worker, who's family is all in Melbourne.  Even though it was too wet to head into the pool we still had a nice afternoon with lots of food, Christmas crackers (complete with festive hats and cheesy jokes), and entertainment from Koren's little niece and nephew (who were hilarious).  We had traditional Aussie Christmas dessert, Pavlova and Plum Pudding.  Plum Pudding is Australia's version of fruit cake- it's always there but no one wants to eat it.  We ended up staying till eleven pm chatting with everyone.  Her father-in-law had been to Canada so he took out an atlas to see where we're from and had plenty of questions to ask about the rest of the country.  Her family was so great and I'm so happy they included us in their Christmas feast!  Christmas away from home and without my family wasn't so bad.

L-R Koren, me, Shannon, Joel, Josh and Christina