Christmas in Wellington

Some of my expat friends (US and Australian--our Kiwi friends were able to spend Christmas with their families) from church decided we would get together and have what we called an orphan Christmas party this year. Since we're apparently a bunch of camera-happy people, we ended up with about a million pictures. So, since I'm pressed for time (I'm leaving for a two-week vacation tomorrow--yay!) and want to get this blog done expeditiously, I'm just going to upload a ton of pictures and put captions with them instead of telling all the detailed stories.


Me, Michelle, and April (the three Americans) giving thanks for the canned pumpkin--which Michelle brought from the States last time she visited there. (Canned pumpkin isn't available here. We have to buy whole pumpkins and cook them.)



Even though it's summer here, April and her flatmates decorated their window with a winter scene. I guess it's supposed to make it feel like Christmas.



Michelle was so proud of this ham. Wendy, remember how proud we were of the turkey for our first few Thanksgivings? This reminded me of that.



Getting ready to pull our crackers


Christmas Eve dinner--yum!



And the Christmas Eve dinner aftermath. (I loved this picture--Michelle has a great eye.)


Michelle, Jo, and I spent the night at April's flat since her flatmates were out of town. And then we woke up early Christmas morning to open presents ("pressies") in our pajamas. This is a panoramic view from April's living room window. Evans Bay is on the left and Lyall Bay is on the right, and the suburb of Kilburnie is in the middle. (Unfortunately the view comes with a price: the bus stop is at the bottom of the hill and it's no fun to walk all the way up, especially when it's so hot outside!)




You know how Harry Potter felt on his first Christmas morning at Hogwarts? How he didn't think he would get any presents but he got a bunch? That's exactly how I felt! People just kept handing me gift after gift! April's flatmate Tara, who wasn't even there for our party, got these great stockings for everyone and then filled them with some super cool stuff. It honestly took about a half hour just to go through all the stuff in our stockings.


One of Tara's stocking stuffers: a pellet gun with a laser sight. Her note said, "For when they get to be too much." (She didn't specify who "they" were.)



A chocolate orange!



I'm sad that this is too far away to see--it's so cool! (But I don't feel like getting out my camera and taking another picture now.) My friend Andrew, who also wasn't even at the party, gave me, among other things, a keychain that says "Heath" on it. It has a coat of arms and everything! (Andrew's last name is also Heath, so we think we must be related. Apparently he even knows that our mutual family HAS a coat of arms.)



Me with my loot. (Wow, that's a lot of pictures of just me. There really were other people there too.)




I thought this was funny. Jo's on the phone with her family and Michelle and April are both Skyping their families. This must have been the only room where they could get wi-fi or something. I felt bad that I wasn't Skyping my own family! (I'm talking to some of them tomorrow.)



So then, because it was the hottest day of the year so far, we went to the beach! Seems so weird to be lying in the hot sun on a beach in December.



This beach is right by the airport runway so we watched the planes come and go. I never realized how many people fly on Christmas!


Enjoying the sun



Going for a walk around the bay



Beachcombing in the rocks



Yay, it's Christmas! Me, Jo, and Sister VanCleave (an older sister missionary from the States)


Picking up the trash--nasty.



Just chillin'



Good friends, good food...a fun day! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too!