It’s been two months since we arrived back in Australia to one very happy (and slightly chubby) Labrador! She had enjoyed a wonderful time in our absence pulling at everyone’s heartstrings with those big puppy dog eyes and wrangling treats galore from our dog sitters! Nicknamed Dyson for her propensity to vacuum up any crumbs that may find their way to the floor she made the most of their kindness/weakness and had a great old time. Of course, that made me the wicked witch on my return as I had to curtail all treats and trim down her dinner to a size that she was NOT happy with in order to lose those 2 extra kilos! We are almost there now I think although nothing lasts long enough on our floor to enable the 2 second rule as The Dyson literally gets there within one second!

We have caught up with all the grandkids since our return, it has been that time of year when the daycare centres throw open their doors for Grandparents Day, Christmas concerts and in Myla’s case a Graduation Ceremony! All except 2 of her class are going to big school next year so they had a little ceremony where they dressed up in caps and gowns and received a graduation certificate from the teachers. They all LOVED it and she was very happy to go up on the stage. She isn’t going to school next year but she is leaving that centre as they are moving house to another area in February, so she was kindly included in the celebrations. Very cute.

We spent a busy week in Hobart with Lauren and the girls. It wasn’t the best timing as we all had (or got) various sicknesses while we were there – those daycare germs are THE WORST and manifest so much more strongly in adults than in the kiddies. Despite this we had some lovely outings and tapped into the Xmas vibe with visits to a gorgeous Christmas Shop in Richmond and the making of Xmas cookies as well as watching the big Christmas Parade in Hobart with the Big Guy in the red suit front and centre and commanding all the attention. A wine tasting at ‘Domaine A’ thanks to Loz was a great way for us to have a little adult time together but really the best part was just hanging out with the family, feeding the local ducks and cuddling the little girls all warm and pink cheeked when they woke up in the mornings. I will go back in January to lend a hand while they madly paint and prepare their new house for moving day! The current ridiculous price of domestic airfares precludes us from booking too many trips – we could fly to Bali and back for less than a flight to Hobart at the moment!

While we were there we received a text from our neighbours telling us about a ferocious wind that came through and blew down our beautiful wisteria. It must have been a super strong wind as it also blew down a brick pillar that connected to the wisteria and wrenched off some bricks surrounding our pizza oven. We have now trimmed it back to the original trunk and decided not to reinstate the pillar etc just in case. Luckily for us it seems to have survived with just a few dead branches that had woven their way through the main plant.

I got a second bite of the cherry when Loz flew to Sydney to introduce India to her old school friends before she was too big! She had a couple of nights catching up with them and I had one night with her before having a girl’s day out visiting The Aquarium. It was a really great set up with the fish and sharks swimming all around and above you for a truly immersive experience. The tiny neon jellyfish nearly stole the show for me and the little King and Gentoo penguins were super cute too. Indi had a lovely time – her favourites were the brightly coloured shoals of silvery fish that twisted and turned in unison like advanced synchronised swimmers.

A quick weekend trip to Forster to celebrate our good friend’s 70th birthday was lovely and we saw many people we haven’t seen in years. Forster still has that small holiday town vibe and I love that not too much has changed as we have so many memories from holidaying here over the years. Smugglers caravan park when the kids were small and eventually beach houses as they got older and brought friends with them. My father-in-law lived here for many years which was terrific as our friends did too and we used to have big get togethers for young and old which let’s face it is THE perfect holiday scenario! A little bit of Pop will always be here for me…

Last weekend we had the little boys come and stay with us which was perfect timing both with the fickle weather – which finally gave us a couple of warm sunny days to use the pool and visit the beach – and also with the Berry Christmas Parade providing us with some entertainment. The road gets shut off to traffic and hundreds of people line the streets to witness the parade with their classic cars, fire engines, local clubs and of course Santa in his sleigh. I loved the Posties on their bikes complete with elf hats, because let’s face it they ARE Santa’s little helpers delivering all those cards and parcels to people big and small!! This was the first visit that Ollie has been physically running around and he loved visiting the chickens and finally being big enough to use the cubby house! Cooper loved helping me water the garden and had the best time with Papa in the pool learning to use a kickboard – one very happy and tired little boy that day! We will see them again just after Xmas which will be fun.

In the meantime, we are back to our normal programming with many chores to be completed in the garden, but we are gradually chipping away at it. Weeding of course is a daily/weekly/monthly/annual job but we are also sprucing up our neglected veggie patch. It is looking very sad after 2 years of rain which washed away most of the pebbles as well as killing 90% of our veggies so it is time to start again. The MOTH is patiently sanding back, repainting and rescreening the fence surrounding the patch and I have quite a task ahead of me to reinvigorate the beds inside. I have to dig out all the soil in each bed (hopefully getting rid of the weeds that refuse to be killed) and building raised beds to be filled with beautiful new soil followed by another 5 tons of pebbles for the paths which we will put on top of thick black plastic which we are hoping will discourage those pesky weeds from popping up. We also have to get rid of 2 x dead hedges and re-plant which is tedious and expensive but necessary and then there are the decks and the outside furniture to re oil and the outbuildings to gurney – certainly never a dull moment around here! Even though we only have 2 acres it is a bit like the Harbour Bridge in that once we finish our to-do list it is time to start over at the beginning again – no boring retirement here folks! So as 2022 comes to an end we are hopeful that the rain has finally decided to leave us alone and we can look forward to 2023 with some optimism! My UK family are coming in March which will be fantastic and something special to look forward to. In the meantime I wish you all a very Merry Christmas doing whatever makes you happy – whether it be big noisy family gatherings or small intimate get togethers with your nearest and dearest; seafood around the pool or on the beach in the South or a roast with all the trimmings around the fire with lights twinkling in the North – there is no bad way to celebrate the season!! See you in the New Year xx