Christmas Came Early

We're back from New Zealand! It was the trip of a lifetime, and I've got thousands (literally) of pictures to sort through and organize. There will be tons of blog entries to come about our trip, but I'll start with a post about the little Christmas celebration Zack and I had before we left.







On Wednesday, December 19, we went out for dinner at a nearby Indian restaurant and then came home to exchange gifts with each other. Zack had wrapped up several presents for me, and I had no idea what any of them were! He got me all sorts of awesome stuff...a puffy black vest (which I wore tons in New Zealand), spoke beads for my bike (since mine were lost when my first bike got stolen), two movies that remind me of some good times in Australia (Red Dog and Rock of Ages), some earrings from Bali (he's been saving them since our trip), a mug for my tea, and strawberry wine from the Mornington Peninsula (which he secretly bought when we were there a few weekends ago). I am so spoiled!

Merry Christmas to me!

Then it was time for Zack's surprise...I had it covered in our Molly blanket on the couch. He lifted up the blanket to find...a guitar! I scored a pretty sweet deal on a Gibson Les Paul 1959 Historic Reissue guitar. It's the one he's been wanting for a long time, and he's been playing it nonstop since he got it (minus the time we were in New Zealand of course). Zack had been spending hours playing the acoustic guitar he brought to Australia (his electric guitar-a Stratocaster for those who care-is back in the States). He's even been teaching himself music theory and taking lessons at a nearby store, so I figured he deserved his dream guitar. Plus, I knew he would go buy it himself if I didn't get it for him for Christmas (and I'm better at finding deals!). :) Thankfully, I advised my parents that a good gift to get Zack for Christmas would be the amplifier headphones to go along with the guitar, so I don't have to hear his nonstop playing. As much as I love Zack's guitar playing, sometimes I like to sleep or hear myself think! Anyway, it was a nice little Christmas celebration before we left the next evening for our New Zealand trip. Lots on that to come!

Merry Christmas to Zack!

Perfect Presents

I've received a few early Christmas presents from my family. You never know how long the mail will take to get here, so they sent them in late November. My parents sent me a whole box of goodies, but here are a couple of my favorite items.

My mom and dad recently got back from a trip to the Holy Land, and they got me this nativity scene made of olive wood from Bethlehem. Pretty cool! It's especially nice to have because I couldn't bring the special nativity set my grandma made me over to Australia. They also got me a Jerusalem cross necklace and some pretty cashmere scarves. Hooray for souvenirs!

Among some of the other fun items, they sent, my mom got me two huge packages of real American BACON! I have no idea how this got through customs, but you put this stuff in the microwave or in a pan, and it turns out crispy and perfect. I know I've mentioned before how bacon here is not really bacon...it's just undercooked pieces of ham. I've been missing the real stuff so badly, and now I have 144 slices of it. We'll see how long that lasts me!





I got a really unique gift from Justin and Cindy (my brother and sister-in-law). They are the ones watching Molly while we're in Australia. They went through my Shutterfly albums and chose over 400 different pictures of Molly to send to this company that makes collage pictures. We hung the poster on our bedroom wall. From a distance, you can see just a regular picture of our dog in front of their fence in Michigan.

When you get up close, you can see that the whole picture is made up of individual pictures of Molly! There are some repeats, because the collage is made of about 1200 pictures, but it's so fun to sit and stare at this poster and smile at all of the fun memories of our dog. There are pictures of everything...puppy years, swimming, snow, at home, trips, camping, wrestling with Zack, playing with toys, etc. It's so fun! We can't wait to get back to the States to see her.

I sent off my gifts to them just a few days ago, so hopefully they like their Christmas presents as much as I like mine!

Christmas in July

Ready for the party!

I know all of you American readers are "suffering" in your 100 degree temperatures right now, but here in Australia, we are cold. It's winter, and it definitely feels like it, especially on the days when it's rainy and gray (which is pretty often in Melbourne). We expats have been feeling a little glum lately, so we decided to celebrate Christmas in July to get our minds off the dreary weather and have something to anticipate.

Lots of planning went into pulling off this fun party. Emily and Adam came over on Friday night to help decorate our place; we put up the tree and cut out paper snowflakes (some better than others). I ordered a whole turkey from the South Melbourne Market for our Christmas dinner, and we all planned different appetizers, side dishes, desserts, and drinks to bring. I made some eggnog (Zack MUST have eggnog on Christmas) and tree-shaped fruit and veggie platters.

Everyone also brought a white elephant gift to share in an exchange game. We had lots of fun getting rid of silly gifts like Spam, but the best item was probably a copy of the book 50 Shades of Grey. We might have had a bit of a read-aloud session for part of the evening entertainment! We played the word/acting game called "Celebrity," stuffed ourselves silly, and even sang Christmas carols at the end of the night (Zack played guitar and I played piano).



If it has to be winter in the middle of July, I'm glad we have good friends to celebrate Christmas with to make it a little better!

Our crazy friends!