Christmas, 2011

So the holidays are here....and most of the excitement has passed.

Christmas Eve: 

A bunch of us gathered at Katie and Lisa's place.

We did a traditional Aussie Christmas dinner - Seafood dinner, wine and everything!!

(I've found my wine of choice - $5 a bottle).

If you know anything about me, you know I don't eat seafood; however, since coming to Oz I've been all over trying new things.

We started with homemade guacamole & chips and this cheese ball (amazing, made with apricots, almonds and cheese) bbq'd prawns, then deep fried calamari (one of the guys who just graduated bought this deep fryer and donated it to Lisa and Katie - they say it'll be the death of them - haha). Then some of us did BBQ'ed burgers, chicken or baked fish - whatever you brought/liked. 

Then we sat around and chatted.

Lying.

We played flip cup.

We had an awesome night (and took it too far).

Another first, I woke up with a hangover on Christmas Day.

Christmas Day:  We went to the beach. We knew we had to - even though none of us wanted to leave our beds ;) But we did it. It was crazy. the beach was actually 'closed' because there was a cyclone in the middle of the ocean (or something) and it erupted insanely large waves. They estimated waves were about 12 feet at the shore and 16-18 in the middle of the ocean. Needless to say, the tide was soo high it was clearing the beach (no where to stand or lounge on the beach). We took video but it doesn't do it any justice.

Then I went home, showered and got myself together and headed to Joelle's place for Christmas dinner. We planned this dinner a month ago and I said I'd help her with anything - we had bruschetta to start with some random dips and crackers...then we cooked three chickens, stuffing (already in the chickens), mashed potatoes, roasted potatoes, carrots, corn, salad, pasta salad, dinner rolls etc.

Then for dessert we had chocolate fudge cake (amazing here and only $4), peanut butter balls, and cottage cheese cake - don't ask, it's just amazing!

All in all - it was great.  I was dead tired by 8PM (actually most of us were).  So I headed home around 11PM

Boxing day: This morning I woke up and had a nice conversation with everyone who spent Christmas Day at my parents house. That was nice. And then I headed to the mall for a disappointment - good thing the busses are free from today until the 8th.

Afterwards, I went to the beach. It was still 'closed' but at least this time, the people in charge of the beach made spots for people to enjoy the sun. I guess they brought in more sand or took sand that was on the beach and pushed it up higher. This way, the sitting area is higher up and the tide couldn't get at us. It was smart. But everyone was sooo close together because there was minimal seating AND everyone wanted the beach today because it was 29 degrees.

I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas!!!

  Pictures will be posted on facebook in the next couple of days :)