I finally made it to Tasmania to meet my littlest love Miss India Elizabeth Cook. She is the sweetest little thing with an earnest expression until a smile lights up her face and the love shines out. She is such a placid little girl and is so far the perfect baby just eating, sleeping and smiling! I now feel like I have properly bonded with her and reconnected with little Myla ahead of our two weeks together over Xmas. It is a full on life with toddlers and the excitement you feel when they have their midday nap is immense! What to do first…the housework, prep the dinner, hang or fold the washing or just flop on the couch and restore your batteries ready for round 2??? It’s all so rewarding though when they look up from their toys and say “Rara, I love you” and your heart melts with love for them. It was great to spend special one on one time with my three girls and we squished lots of fun into 4 days!

Before I left we had a rather lovely couple of weeks finally being a bit social after our lockdown. I took a pottery class with a few local girls one night which was great fun. I loved getting the cool wet clay in my hands and attempting to form it into some sort of usable object. I didn’t make anything spectacular but I really enjoyed the evening. I thought about doing the 6 week course but in reality how much handmade pottery type stuff can you use? I’m certainly not good enough to make something practical like an entire set of dinner plates so I think I’ll have to give it a miss!

Our Sydney friends had a few days holidaying on the South Coast and we met up with them at beautiful Cupitt’s Estate at Ulladulla. A lovely lunch followed by a few drinks listening to live music outside catching up on life after 6 months was a perfect way to spend a Sunday. It’s like a little bit of Provence there and probably the closest I’m going to get at this stage!

We had to get prepared for Xmas early this year. We have always had a real tree but due to the massive bush fires two years ago there has been a real shortage of trees and the only way we could guarantee one was to go to the Xmas Tree Farm and cut one down ourselves! It was a fun experience but we had to do it the 1st week in December before they sold out meaning our poor little tree is starting to dry out just in time for the big day! The tip they gave us was to top up the water with Coke every week but even that fix-it-all sugar hit hasn’t really worked! The house is looking Christmassy though and we are READY for the clan to arrive tomorrow!

We had an invite to Hyams Beach one gloriously sunny day to have lunch with our Nephew who had rented a beach house to spend some special time with his Mum who had flown from Switzerland to finally meet her little grandson Kane. We had a super time with them and this smiley little guy in one of the most beautiful areas of Jervis Bay. You cannot help but feel uplifted by that turquoise blue water and you can see why it is one of the most popular places to come for a summer escape. Imagine eating on that deck every day – you’d never want to leave!

So as Australia finally gears up for a Christmas we weren’t sure we were going to get (and to be honest we are only just squishing it in between Delta and Omicron surges) this is likely to be the scene on our main highway South from today. It makes popping out for milk a rather frustrating endurance sport so I really have to be on top of my game. I have ‘to do’ lists galore and fridges bursting at the seams, the pool is ready, the cubby house cleaned out and ready for small people to serve us pretend cappucino and the beds and cots are made up so…. let’s do this folks!! With 7 adults, 4 children under 3 years of age and one perpetually hungry Labrador I’m imagining a wonderfully chaotic couple of weeks lie ahead – please have a holiday La Nina so we can all get outdoors and let off steam! I’m wishing you all a time of togetherness with loved ones and a sense of gratitude that we made it through this far. Merry Christmas to you all from The Meadow – see you on the other side!