Happy Holidays

This year's Christmas holidays is really nice. The best Christmas present I received was the news that my mum is recovering well after her surgery to remove fibroids and that the fibroids were not cancerous. I was holding my breath for the initial few days after the ops and only breathed easier after dad informed that she is awake and I spoke to her on the phone. With this thought that the worst is over, I happily left for a short holiday to the Grampians over Christmas and Boxing Day.

It was our 2nd visit to the area, this time accompanied by a different family. The Seahs had 2 girls, aged 6 and 5, and they got along very well with my 2 boys. While parts of Australia and the world had to battle serious climate issues such as storms, floods, bush fires and snow blizzards, we were really blessed this Christmas with good weather at the Grampians. We did hiking on different tracks to see waterfalls, pinnacles and lakes. KK is always walking ahead of us and enjoyed the challenging climbs over rocky surfaces most. My only worry is for his safety as he gets reckless and over enthusiastic sometimes. XX also did very well. Given his age and size, I'm impressed that he was able to walk and climbed on his own for 80% of the way. The other 20%, he got a ride on Papa's shoulders. The trails are not all smooth and flat, many parts requires us to climb upwards over boulders and rocky terrain. I find it ok but I don't think Granddad or Grandma could do it. After lots of exercises during the day, the children were hungry like wolves. We prepared picnic lunches and took turns to prepare dinner in our self-contained log cabin. We were totally well fed during that 3 days.

This year's Christmas holiday is an exceptionally long one. Because 25th and 26th fell on Saturday and Sunday, the following Monday and Tuesday were public holidays as well. We arrived home on Monday and on Tuesday, we slept late and decided after breakfast to bring the children swimming. Again, another lazy relaxed day. I think the rest of the week is gonna be like this. Even though the public holidays are over, many people are still on leave, forced or otherwise. Many offices shut down or have skeleton staff. My husband's boss has asked him to work from home this week as most likely no one gonna be around anyway. Even if anyone is physically at work, don't expect anyone in Australia to be really 'working' during the week between Christmas and New Year.

It's strange but I am enjoying this Christmas holiday a lot this year. I think it is because of Hubby's full time office bound job. For the past 2 years, he worked from home, so public holidays makes no difference to us. He's around all the time. But this year, I feel the difference. During a holiday, I don't have to wake up on time to get KK ready for school. Husband is around at home the whole day, spending time with us, doing activities together. There's no school or cirriculum for the children to rush to. We can drive somewhere, spend a few days there and enjoy the great outdoors. We go to a few friends' place to catch up, eat, drink and be merry. Hmm...this is life.