For most of my Christmas’s we’ve woken up at the crack of dawn with the excitement of opening up presents and eating delicious cinnamon buns for breakfast. Since we didn’t have a tree, and it was at least 80 degrees out, it didn’t feel like Christmas and we felt no need to wake up before 9am. Instead of cinnamon buns, we had eggs and bacon (still delicious) and instead of sitting around the tree and opening up presents, we went for a bush walk and a swim at Jelly Bean Pool. This was the first time I’ve ever been warm on Christmas, let alone warm enough to swim in a beautiful river and lay out on the sandy beaches.
As soon as the rest of the family came to the castle (Uncle Ben, his wife and their kids) we opened up the Christmas presents and played games with the little guys. Christmas dinner involved rump steak, potatoes, red wine, and countless billiard games afterwards. It felt special to be able to wear shorts and a t shirt in the warm weather on Christmas, but there’s a huge part of me (and my New England upbringing) that says it’s not Christmas unless there’s snow, a tree and at least one viewing of Rudolph.
