Christmas Cheer - Day 5 - Sitting 2

After lunch (I forgot to mention that our dessert of brandy baskets with sweet & sour berry/rhubarb mix and icecream, custard and fresh berries was beautiful and shall forever remain so in our memories as I forgot to take photos...) there was a mass exodus to get ready for the next meal and visit up at 'Aunty' and L's house in Newcastle. It was lovely to catch up with James' extended family of cousins, second cousins, etc who he really only gets to see at Christmas and of course 'Grandfather' who he misses terribly and can't get enough of when we are up that way. The food (again) was most excellent, in particular the potato bake, the lovely salads, and the fresh prawns. A SPECIAL mention to M and her amazing Cassata which I don't really want the recipe for because a) I won't make it as well, and b) it would spoil the anticipation I feel every Christmas - will she make it this year or won't she....?

L: The table before we all decended


Above: The amazing Cassata (next year I am going to have it for breakfast to ensure I can fit more in!

Christmas Cheer - Day 4

Day 4 of our Christmas break was Christmas Eve. James' brother W and his girlfriend P had kindly offered to have us and the boys parents over for lunch. I offered to come over early to help P prepare (although it seems that she actually got up at 3am to prepare so by the time I got there all there was to do was drink champagne...). My contribution to the day was World Famous, but it really did pale in comparison with the enormous effort P (and W?) had gone to for the day. We started with Asian entrees of Rice Paper Rolls and Sushi (I particularly loved the crumbed chicken fillet in the RPR's). After a little intermission we had a full Christmas lunch with all the trimmings - an even more spectacular effort when it was revealed that P doesn't even eat red meat...(my particular favourites were the coloured olives in the salad) and then finished the afternoon off with pedicures, manicures, leftovers, and a snooze in front of the telly - not sure if I can do it again tomorrow!

Christmas Cheer - Days 2 & 3

Days 2 and 3 of our Christmas holidays were mainly spent lazing about and shopping. We did manage a night out with W and P which started at the infamous Iguana Joe's in Gosford. It was the end of W's work function and we came in and picked him up. Iguana Joe's is one of those 'super bars' - huge with sticky floors and its own shuttle bus. It does have an awesome view over the water at Gosford though, and I got to try out the panorama function on my camera!

Christmas Cheer - Day 1

This year for Christmas J and I decided to save ourselves the heartache of choosing between whos family to spend time with and chose his family! I am happy with this choice as J's family is much bigger than mine - there are children and old people and even a few pets - which makes for a fun time. We headed out from Melbourne on a direct flight to Newcastle where we were picked up by J's parents. It also happened to be J's brother W's birthday (poor W, it's a really unfortunate time of year for a birthday) anyway - we headed straight from the airport to W's place for some scrumptious birthday cake cooked by his girlfriend P (otherwise known as 'the NICE potential daughter-in-law - myself being the OTHER one...). P excelled herself, cooking up a Mars Bar Cheesecake (this picture doesn't do it justice at all. We gorged ourselves on cheese, biscuits and generally got into the Christmas spirit before heading home to Wamberal (next to Terrigal on the NSW Central Coast) to bed - we have a long and epicurious few days ahead!