Christmas can be quite an emotional time of year - there are so many expectations of what people should be doing and where they should be going. But sometimes the script changes. I heard stories about families changing plans last minute, some deciding not to show up at all, and in my family a cat that went missing for 3 days.
I always feel for those who have lost loved ones at Christmas. I can't imagine how sad it must be for many families - year after year.
Miss Wordsmith spent Christmas Day with her folks in Cromwell. My brother works overseas and my sister doesn't celebrate it, so I gatecrashed my parents 'Nadia Lim' Christmas - also enjoyed by hundreds of others around the country, and it was top notch. The chef never showed up but we felt she deserved the day off to be with her own family!
The kids were excited about reading their new books and ignored computers for 2 days; sometimes we ate 4 desserts in one day; I was invited to the neighbours for a beer for the 1st time, and picked cherries from my friend's orchard to share with North Island family (thank you Bridget Hiscock from Panmure Orchards).
Then Miss Wordsmith, her two children and parents headed up to Mt Cook and spent a few days in one of the New Zealand Alpine Hut lodges. We met travellers from afar - as in, had just traversed mountain passes, abseiled down the side of cliffs and pick axed their way down scree. We were meeting my sister and her husband, along with her two teenagers - after they completed their own 4-day mountain mission in the Huxley and Hopkins river valleys. They had experienced parts of NZ many of us would never see, but they also had aching bodies and swollen feet - some days walking and climbing for 15 hours. I was just here for the fresh air, the view and the company.
Then it was off to Naseby to meet friends and camp in the forest for a few days. We ate and slept and read books and played with our children. We came home with punctured airbeds, filthy feet and felt fabulous. Refreshed, rejuvenated. I am ready for 2019. I hope you all are too! Christmas was great. Because I did it my way.