December excitement

This is now our second December in Australia and it confirms our initial impression that celebrating the Christmas season in summer feels completely unnatural.  It isn't just because it is warm outside.  It is because summer events and winter events (at least to us North Hemisphere natives) start getting all jumbled up together.  When this happens, your entire sense of reality feels a little jilted.  I will give some examples.  The end of the school year activities include handing out Christmas cards and making gingerbread houses.  You can't go out to look at Christmas lights until after 8:30 at night because it doesn't get dark until then.  There is no sense of feeling warm and cozy snuggled up under a blanket watching a holiday movie.  Instead, you are sitting around in shorts with the air conditioner on.  The list could go on and on.  As with so many other experiences we have had in Australia, things are familiar, but different at the same time.  

We did try to keep as many of our Christmas traditions as possible.  We decorated the Christmas tree the Friday after Thanksgiving.  It really helped that it was a gray, cold, rainy day.  It is not often that we wish for a day like that, but it seemed very fitting for this indoor activity. Granted, a cold day in Sydney at this time of year is around 66 degrees Fahrenheit (19 degrees Celsius).  (I take no offense to people that live the Midwest laughing a little at that.)

Decorating the Christmas tree was actually a pleasant activity this year.  The kids are reaching the age now that they are truly helpful.  They didn't even fight!  I knew we would make it to this point someday!  Maybe I will get a couple of good years out of them before they become old enough that they lose all interest in helping me.  Next year will be the big test though.  We will go back to using our Hallmark keepsake ornaments that require a lot of patience and care.

On December 1st we visited Santa at Warringah Mall.  We purposely got this out of the way early.  Waiting in line to see Santa can be pure torture.  This way, we got in and out with no hassle.  Carter, unfortunately, now knows that Santa does not provide the material gifts on Christmas morning.  He did a fantastic job of keeping the fun alive for his sister though.  He was even a good sport about taking a photo with Santa.  That was great because he is crucial to getting Aubrey to be anywhere close enough to Santa to take a photo.  Aubrey will reluctantly get in the photo, but Carter has to be a buffer between her and the bearded man in the red suit.  

The kids telling Santa what they want for Christmas.  Aubrey just kept playing with her shoe the entire time and wouldn't actually look at Santa.

The real beginning of our "Australian lasts" began in December.  Carter had his last soccer game on December 9th.  He has been playing soccer with this group of boys for over a year.  He won't quite get to finish the summer season with them this year since there are 3 more games in February after we leave for the States.  We haven't won many games, but the boys got along great and had a lot of heart.  Carter has loved playing the game and a big part of that was due to being on a team that fit his personality.  As much as we sometimes dreaded those early Saturday morning games and being exposed to the elements on top the hill at Georges Heights (it has to be one of the coldest spots on the Lower North Shore), soccer was a really positive experience for Carter. 

Most of the team on the day of Carter's last game

Later that week, on Wednesday, Carter had a little going away party at school.  He was one of three children leaving his class, so it was a joint party.  One of the traditions of Middle Harbour Public School is to have all the kids in his class sign one of his school uniform shirts with a Sharpie marker.  I loved the idea as soon as I learned about it, but it brought tears to my eyes to see the shirt after it was all signed.  The kids wrote such beautiful messages.  This shirt will remain precious to Carter for a long time to come.

Friday, December 13th was a big day as well.  It was Presentation Day at the school.  It was the day that awards were presented to the children and when the Kindy kids received their graduation certificate.  It made my heart swell to see my big girl walk across the stage that day.  She was a little young at the beginning as she started school the week before she turned five.  She has done fabulous and she has grown up so much in the past year.  I am so proud of her.

Aubrey walking across the stage for her Kindy diploma

On Saturday, the 14th, we decided to grant a wish to the kids that they had been begging for for a long time.  We went to Luna Park, an amusement park in North Sydney.  It is located right on the harbour and has a boardwalk feel, like Coney Island.  We had been avoiding it for awhile because Sean and I had not been looking forward to riding those rides ourselves and the kids were not old enough to ride them alone.  We are so glad we had waited because we found out upon arrival that Carter IS now tall enough to ride them without an adult.  So, that took a little pressure off of us.  We had a great day.  The weather was a little cloudy, but it never rained.  It was the perfect weather to keep the crowds away and at the same time relieve us from the heat of the intense Australian sun.  The entire family had a fabulous day.  Of course, the kids never wanted the day to end.

Carter and Aubrey down at Milsons Point by Luna Park

At the Luna Park gate

The good old merry-go-round

Even Dad got in on the action!

Ferris Wheel!

The kids loved the ferris wheel.  Sean does not do very well with heights, so he was pretty edgy on it.  The kids kept trying to come over to our side of the basket, making it tip.  I had to giggle a little bit when Sean was freaking out about it.

Aubrey was very proud of her pink truck.

How picturesque is this?!?

The "lasts" really starting piling up around this time.  I was having last coffees and bush walks with friends.  Aubrey's last karate lesson was Dec 11th.  Then, a really big one happened.  The last day of school, and the kids' last swimming lesson, was on Dec 18th.  What a day that was...... 

As this was our last day we had a free babysitter (i.e. school).  Sean took the day off of work and we went to Chatswood to do a little Christmas shopping.  We actually finished up pretty quickly.  To celebrate, we had a leisurely lunch at Manly Beach at The Fish Shack.  Sean then dropped me off in the afternoon to spend a little time with the Kindy class while they had a little celebration at a local park.  Saying goodbye to Middle Harbour Public School was really tough.  All the kids in the school join hands to make a huge tunnel that runs over the entire yard.  All the kids that will not be coming back the following year get to go through this tunnel.  Carter and Aubrey had so much fun running through it.  Then, we had to say goodbyes to countless friends.  It took so long that we were late to the kids'  last swimming lesson.  Of course, that consisted of even more goodbyes.  When I got home that night, I just sat in a stupor for a little while.  I could not have prepared for how taxing all those goodbyes were going to be on me.  When we go through our daily activities it is easy to forget about what an amazing life we have created here over the past 2 years.    

Carter and Aubrey at a local cafe after their second to last day of school.

Aubrey in the morning on the last day

Carter on the last day

Aubrey in the middle of the chaos at the end of the last day of school

Carter helping to make the end of the tunnel after he had already went through it himself

The keepsake photo Carter got from his teacher.  It was taken on the Pyrmont Bridge in Darling Harbour on a class field trip.  All the kids in the class signed the border.

Sean walked around the school in the morning of the last day and took photos of the school yard.  We have spent so many hours there over the past 2 years.  It will always be a special place to us.

The view from Aubrey's Kindy classroom

The view from Aubrey's classroom towards the middle of the school yard.  

Aubrey's Kindy classroom building

The canteen

The athletic field and playground

We had a relaxing first day of summer holidays.  We needed a chance to chill out after such a big day.  We met a friend for lunch and had a play at McDonalds and then spend the afternoon making gingerbread houses.

Thank goodness we took that relaxing day because little did we know that our Christmas plans were getting ready to take a drastic change.  We would soon be furiously packing our bags for an unexpected trip back to the United States....