Christmas, Kiwi style

Christmas in the southern hemisphere is hot, of course.  Some of the people I've talked to who grew up in the Northern hemisphere have said Christmas just doesn't feel right here.  While I'll admit that it has certainly been different, it has also been really fun.  Christmas trees are not quite the too-doo they are at home, so I found a live one a few days before Christmas at the Kiwi version of the Home Depot, which was decorated with ornaments very graciously donated by a coworker who no longer wanted silver on her tree at home.

 

We didn't have Christmas stockings here, so it was a good thing that I had already knit some felted slippers for the kids for Christmas.  I used a work sock.  Santa was good to us.  We must have been really good throughout the year.

Christmas morning we went to Ross and Elizabeth Marshall's house for breakfast, then back for desert after dinner.  Three of their four sons were there with partners (a word kiwis use for any partnership between any gender, including marriage) and Ross's sister, Jane, was there with her husband.  Breakfast was delicious.

Ross, Elizabeth, and their oldest son, Sam

On the 26th (Boxing Day), we made our way northeast to the Marshall's "bach" (pronounced "batch", vacation home).  The kids made friends with some neighbor kittens, who they have named Purr (striped one) and Cantelope (black kitty).

Yesterday, we went up the Driving Creek Railway, to the Eyefull Tower, which gives you a great view of Coromandel.  It was rainy, but fun anyways.

We're not on this one, but this is like the one we rode.

The view from the train