until Christmas that is, and we are so not ready. This of course won't be helped by a sick child, which means not being at school, which creates challenges of its own. There's presents for the grown ups still to buy, presents to be wrapped, and baking to be done. There's eggnog to make, and be drunk, and a Christmas shop to do so we don't run out of food..and not enough hours in the day it seems, or money in the bank for that matter.
I also have a case of the "Bah Humbug's"; I've looked at the Christmas TV guide, and though we've been here for six Christmases now, I am still dismayed and shocked, to find a definite lack of Christmas movies. No Home Alone, It's a Wonderful Life, Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, etc. I know that those type of movies cater to the Northern Hemisphere Christmas, but I might 'get in the mood' a bit more if I wasn't faced with 20 action movies that have already aired more times that I can count, at other times of the year. I know it's summer here, but I still can't wrap my head round this Christmas at summer thing..and maybe I never will?
Thankfully, we are having another quiet year at home, so don't have to worry about travelling anywhere and the inevitable grumpy children from spending too much time in the car...we're saving that joy until Easter.
So what do other people have planned for Christmas? Going away, visiting family, staying home, or some weird combination? Traditional Kiwi Christmas fare or something else?
17 December 2012
09 December 2012
Santa
So our boys have never been that into the jolly red giant.....in fact, for the most part, they could take him or leave him. There's no wanting to go sit on Santa's knee or have their picture taken with him; which is fine by us as those things cost a small fortune for what they are! Anyway....it's that time of year again and this year we actually remembered to check when the santa parade was; we missed it last year because we weren't expecting it to be happening in mid NOVEMBER, and by the time we were wondering about it, we found out it had been and gone.
So this year, being well prepared, I actually checked for the date at the beginning of November... imagine my surprise to learn that it was actually going to be held IN December, even 'better', it wasn't even the first weekend in December...go figure. I now of course realise, that the reason for this, was the worldwide premiere of a certain film.
Our only conflict this year, the parade happened to fall on the same day as David's works Christmas party for the kids. Like last year, it was being held at the zoo...but that's where the similarities to last years party ended. To be fair, he was employed by a different company then. The boys had a good time though, David and I were underwhelmed, and I would have liked a bit more time to actually SEE some animals instead of getting dragged from exhibit to exhibit every 60 seconds. So after spending the morning at the zoo, we need to decide what we are going to do now. We knew the parade was on, but if I am honest I wasn't really keen to drag two, crabby, overtired children to a crowded place after they'd been awake since about 5am. We took a vote..I lost.
In the end, that was a good decision because the boys really enjoyed it. There was the usual floats; Snoopy, Batucada, Scottish band and even some Chinese Dragons. There were acrobats, people on stilts, and even angels hanging off the back of trucks. We were lucky in our chosen spot as well; The boys got to sit right on the kerb, even though we only arrived about 10 minutes before the parade was due to start. It took a while to find a park, and then we had to detour to Kaffe Eis for ice cream.
We've been home about 90 minutes...and in that time we've cleaned out the fish tank and I've started dinner, oh and I've written this post...speaking of which, dinner is now ready so I suppose we should go and eat it. It's been a long day, but all in all a good one.
So this year, being well prepared, I actually checked for the date at the beginning of November... imagine my surprise to learn that it was actually going to be held IN December, even 'better', it wasn't even the first weekend in December...go figure. I now of course realise, that the reason for this, was the worldwide premiere of a certain film.
Our only conflict this year, the parade happened to fall on the same day as David's works Christmas party for the kids. Like last year, it was being held at the zoo...but that's where the similarities to last years party ended. To be fair, he was employed by a different company then. The boys had a good time though, David and I were underwhelmed, and I would have liked a bit more time to actually SEE some animals instead of getting dragged from exhibit to exhibit every 60 seconds. So after spending the morning at the zoo, we need to decide what we are going to do now. We knew the parade was on, but if I am honest I wasn't really keen to drag two, crabby, overtired children to a crowded place after they'd been awake since about 5am. We took a vote..I lost.
In the end, that was a good decision because the boys really enjoyed it. There was the usual floats; Snoopy, Batucada, Scottish band and even some Chinese Dragons. There were acrobats, people on stilts, and even angels hanging off the back of trucks. We were lucky in our chosen spot as well; The boys got to sit right on the kerb, even though we only arrived about 10 minutes before the parade was due to start. It took a while to find a park, and then we had to detour to Kaffe Eis for ice cream.
We've been home about 90 minutes...and in that time we've cleaned out the fish tank and I've started dinner, oh and I've written this post...speaking of which, dinner is now ready so I suppose we should go and eat it. It's been a long day, but all in all a good one.
03 December 2012
Friends
Socially I am a bit out of my depth. I have never really been comfortable trying to develop relationships with new people. Maybe that's because I have been 'knocked back' so many times, maybe I really am just THAT boring, or maybe I am at times completely oblivious to social nuances. Whatever it is, putting myself out there is never really high on my list of 'must do'. I am trying to be better for the boys, so they hopefully won't be nearly as socially inept as I can sometimes be, but I still feel sometimes like I'd rather be doing almost anything else.
My motto has always been quality over quantity, but sometimes quantity AND quality together might be nice. I take a while to 'warm up', as most people who know me fairly well will probably attest to. I like to pretend that I am an extrovert, but really I think I am an introvert play acting at being extroverted; sometimes this is easier to do than others. When I do take the time and the effort, it can be very rewarding, and sanity saving.
My on-line 'friendships' haven't always translated to real life...though there are still heaps of people I currently consider friends who I haven't ever actually met, yet, who I feel I'd still consider friends once I'd met them. Nearly 4 years ago, I met a wonderful person. We started out, as most online relationships do, over similar interests; in this case parenting. Even better, we lived in the same part of the country. We decided to step out of cyberspace and actually meet each other, which at the time, I'll admit terrified me a bit. However, after having been in NZ about 2 years at this stage, I was socially isolated so thought "what the hell, what's the worst thing that could happen?" It turned into something that I still treasure to this day, and though my antenatal group has fallen apart, this person who I'd never met is still 'hanging in'. Our boys play together, and we catch up fairly often, which has been easier now we actually only live a few city blocks from each other. We hit the supermarket together almost every week, leaving the small humans with their dads, and we're there to step in when necessary..even if it's just someone to whinge to.
So thank you Jaki, for continuing to be a presence in my sometimes insane world, and even if we end up not living so close to each other in the future, I have no doubt that we'll always stay in touch.
My motto has always been quality over quantity, but sometimes quantity AND quality together might be nice. I take a while to 'warm up', as most people who know me fairly well will probably attest to. I like to pretend that I am an extrovert, but really I think I am an introvert play acting at being extroverted; sometimes this is easier to do than others. When I do take the time and the effort, it can be very rewarding, and sanity saving.
My on-line 'friendships' haven't always translated to real life...though there are still heaps of people I currently consider friends who I haven't ever actually met, yet, who I feel I'd still consider friends once I'd met them. Nearly 4 years ago, I met a wonderful person. We started out, as most online relationships do, over similar interests; in this case parenting. Even better, we lived in the same part of the country. We decided to step out of cyberspace and actually meet each other, which at the time, I'll admit terrified me a bit. However, after having been in NZ about 2 years at this stage, I was socially isolated so thought "what the hell, what's the worst thing that could happen?" It turned into something that I still treasure to this day, and though my antenatal group has fallen apart, this person who I'd never met is still 'hanging in'. Our boys play together, and we catch up fairly often, which has been easier now we actually only live a few city blocks from each other. We hit the supermarket together almost every week, leaving the small humans with their dads, and we're there to step in when necessary..even if it's just someone to whinge to.
So thank you Jaki, for continuing to be a presence in my sometimes insane world, and even if we end up not living so close to each other in the future, I have no doubt that we'll always stay in touch.
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