Christmas Eve in New Zealand

The Christmas season has been a lot different here. Where it is winter & chilly nearly everywhere else it is summer & warmer here in New Zealand. The days are longer and it doesn't get dark until after 9. So, even though some houses do decorate with lights, it's too late for us to stay up and drive around to enjoy! But, we have made sure to keep our many Christmas traditions alive while being away from our normal home. We've baked lots of Christmas goodies and tried New Zealand's famous Christmas goodies too, done our 25 Days of Service, decorated our house (even though we had a super small Christmas tree), listened to Christmas music, shopped for & wrapped presents, eaten our Chocolate advent calendars, and had our little Elf visit us for the month. So, Christmas may be a bit different,t but we have still try to keep the magic of the season alive.

We decided to spend less on gifts and more on experiences. So, we planned out a 2 week vacation to drive down to Wellington (where Cody's parents are serving a mission for our church) for a few days and then head down to the South Island of New Zealand. We made the long 8 hour trek on Christmas Eve morning and made it early afternoon. Once we unloaded the car, we headed to a nearby park to get rid of some cooped up wiggles & energy. We had a delicious Mexican dinner with cranberry bundt cake for dessert. Lois taught the kids how to make giant snowflakes. Then we read and acted out the Nativity. We made makeshift costumes and threw it together quickly, but it's a long running tradition that couldn't be missed. We missed doing our traditional Christmas Eve with my sister and her family dearly! But we were grateful to spend it with family and carryon the tradition. Instead of opening new pjs like always, the kids got to open up a new stuffed animal that they can take on the rest of our journey. 

It was definitely different, but different is good. We're getting used to the new norm and we like new adventures.

Ward Christmas Party

Most church Christmas parties involve a fancy meal or Bethlehem theme or Christmas carols. But, not in New Zealand! Since it's summer time, we Christmas party BBQ & beach style. It was a glorious warm sunny day. We had a blowup waterslide, sausages & burgers with lots of salads, and fun down at the beach. We sure had a great time! We absolutely love our ward family and are really blessed to have so many good people embrace our family.

At church the next day, the Primary acted out the Nativity. Gavin was a shepherd and Ethan was his sheep =)

Random Happenings

Things have been busy busy over here! Since our school year goes from February to December, we've had lots of end of the school year happenings. Ethan & Trevor both got the only Academic Excellence awards in their class for the year. Reese had her last day of Kindy. We've had beach field trips, Trevor's last basketball game, work Christmas costume parties, Christmas baking, and visits to our backyard beach soaking in lots of sun while slathering our skin with sunscreen =)