Happy Christmas

I only have one more sleep (as they say in Oz) until I get to leave for the other Az to join my family, brother and parents for Christmas! The nice thing about flying east is that you arrive before you've left, so I will get there on Christmas Eve.

Tonight is neighbour Mark's big family Christmas BBQ! He recently bought a new BBQ grille and has practised in preparation for the big event tonight. A customary Aussie Christmas food is seafood, especially big, fat prawns! In a previous post, you can see a picture of Nick contemplating a large prawn before devouring it during our Christmas dinner last year here in Oz.

All morning on TV are stories on how to pick the best ones, which types are the best right now, etc. They even have "Live Coverage" of the Fish Market in Sydney so you can plan when to fight the madding crowds and traffic jams to get that fresh seafood. I did notice this last year and thought it was pretty funny, but in Oz, seafood is serious business.

I'll be leaving the Fatherland (or since the weather on the Island has been bitter cold, maybe it's the Motherland) on 8 January and back to it on the 11th, so not much time really to catch up with friends and family once back in Washington. At least Craig Sweet is over from Japan and we'll get to share a few bottles of fine wine. Hopefully, I can catch up with the Marquands as well since I missed them last summer. My local relatives are throwing a belated Christmas dinner on 4 January and that'll be great to see them as well. It's a full schedule once back on the Island. This might mean no new blog entries for a while unless I get some time, not that I'm consistent in writing anything anyway. Honestly, I try to only put in interesting things in this blog and I'm sure, fail often. But if you've read this far, it's your own fault, lol.

Have a very Happy Christmas and great, prosperous New Year! Comment, write, know you're thought about and cared for often.