Christmas in Sydney

Christmas Eve brought an unusual sight:  three camels walking down the street in Manly, a popular beach town north of Sydney. How often do you see three wise men parading down the street on camels?

After watching Balthazar, Caspar, and Melchizadek, we headed across the street to watch the Christmas surfers and the kids playing ball on the beach.  It's a beautiful beach. 

Larry took us to dinner at Ribs and Rumps, a place he's enjoyed since he got here.  He reeeeeaaalllly enjoyed his ribs.

We went home to watch Scrooged, one of my favorite Christmas season movies, and one that they don't show so much in the US anymore.  And on AU TV, it's unedited, so all references and language are intact (very mild).  Love Bill Murray, love the movie.

Christmas morning brought a mix of joy and concern.  Concern because I learned that my mother was hospitalized after fainting and trouble breathing.  She sounded terrible and said she'd never felt so sick.  Joy because we were able to celebrate the holiday together after 7 weeks apart.

Gone are the Christmas mornings when we had to body-block Nicole from the tree.  She was the last one awake, in fact, and we had a leisurely gift-opening time.  We managed to take the obligatory family photo - only this year, we were missing Jasmine.  And the house is a little stark without all our personal belongings.

We attended church at 10:30 at St. Andrews right in Roseville.  We get to be Anglican for a while!  How exciting is that??!! The service was lively, upbeat, and joyful.  The message inspired and informed, all about the humility and inclusivity of God.   We are looking forward to regular attendance here and getting to know the other members of the congregation.

After church, we walked to the train station and headed off to Sydney.  It's the most walking I've done in a long time, Joy would be so proud!  It was an uphill 15 minutes to the station, then a ton of walking around the city to see the big Christmas tree and Darling Harbour, and then a 15 minute downhill back to the house. I don't know how often I'll be doing THAT.



Nicole in front of Martin Place tree.




Larry and Nicole at Darling Harbour.



Carla in front of bird fountain at Darling Harbour.



Most stores are closed on Sundays - how odd to us Americans - and the crowds were negligible.  Nicole and I had enough of walking by about 3:30, so we headed back to the Wynyard station and headed home, where we enjoyed our Christmas presents.  Nicole began setting up her new Zune while I got to read the incredibly complicated instructions for the new game Larry bought.  Drunk Gnomes trying to save a sinking submarine....enough said.

And today is boxing day.  A big shopping day in Australia, I guess, and a public holiday as well.  Larry has the whole week off, and we will be planning day trips and other activities to see the area.  Maybe I'll even drive the car!