First Christmas

Right up until Christmas morning neither of us were feeling particularly Christmassy. I think the fact that we were doing things so out of routine and that it was warm and sunny was also an issue too. Mind you the rain that began on Thursday and lasted well into the weekend should have made us feel a bit more normal.

Our neighbours were lovely on Christmas Eve - they came down and had drinks and a barbie with us. All of them said how nice it was to be sharing part of our first Aussie Christmas with us. We had a laugh and enjoyed ourselves.

When we woke on Christmas Day it definitely felt strange. The day would begin at home with coffee in bed and opening one present each and then we'd pack up the car with the rest of our presents and head over to my Mum's house. We would then open presents with the rest of the family, sharing what we'd received and enjoying watching others open the gifts we'd chosen. Instead we shared our presents for each other and enjoyed the parcels that our Mums had sent us. My Mum didn't break with routine though - socks, a calendar and a book for Michael, undies, socks and pyjamas for me. My niece sent me a beautiful necklace and a tea towel from the historical society for the village I grew up in. Michael's book will come in handy - Spiders of Australia!!!! Michael was particularly moved by the gift his Mum sent him - his family are narrow boaters so she sent a book about the Trent and Mersey Canals that has a whole chapter about his grandparents. A few tears followed - the gift meant an awful lot! My pressies from Michael were lovely. He was so stressed about going shopping - his line was 'I don't know which shops sell what. At home I knew exactly what shops to go in and what to get you.' I did help a bit by writing down a few suggestions (wish list style) and a few shops he could try but he managed well enough. My new thermometer is lovely as were the smellies. He even bought me the Little Britain Abroad DVD - he hates Little Britain!!!! Michael's present will come later - we're going to buy a Wii to go with our new big television!

My Aussie Aunt and Uncle arrived to spend Christmas Day with us and we set about creating new routines, a light lunch was followed by a walk to the beach. Our new avatar is what we sent to family and friends as the Broughton's official Christmas photo - we were paddling in the sea on Christmas afternoon, something we had only dreamed of. I was still missing my Mum though and I'm not ashamed to say I had a few tears after dinner. Having read many posts on here I'm glad it's perfectly normal to feel a bit sad at this time of year. It's the first Christmas I'd had away from my family and at the moment I'm finding it a bit hard. I don't want to go back to England. This feels more and more like home. I'm just missing doing the normal things with the usual people. It's also hard that the people I thought of as my closest friends haven't really kept in touch since I got here. I've had more contact with people I didn't really expect to. Hey ho, never mind.

I was explaining to Michael that things will be a bit easier now that Christmas is over. My sister arrives tomorrow night for a month. She'll be splitting her time between here and our Uncle's house but it's going to be great having her here. Michael is looking forward to it as well but he's a bit worried about the goodbyes bit. Mmmm, not sure I'm looking forward to that either but once she goes home I start my new job so I'll have that to take my mind off of things. There's so much to look forward to that although I know I'll always miss my family and there will be days when I do feel a bit down and it's a bit hard, at some point we'll be planning their visit here and Michael's family will visit as well.

Well here ends the ramble - I feel a bit better for getting that off my chest! Off to find the panadol cold and flu drinks - I reckon my lovely husband has also given me his cold for Christmas as well.