to the mountains

Grandma was fortunate enough to get up the mountain for the Christmas celebrations there
all was inn readiness
the menu posted already
I even had a lovely little walk up to the Japanese Gardens...rare moments of stillness and tranquility
...and what do they say...lovely weather for ducks...
it was very quiet...
and even quieter on Christmas afternoon too
in the afternoon the family went off to get ready for their church servicee...
some lovely singing
a lovely story about all the Christmas tree ornaments and what they can remind us of...the white baubles are for the purity of God's love, the red for his dying for us, the blue ones for Hope and the green for Faith...or have I got them mixed up already?


four very happy children
four sleepy children next morning
the reason for the day...a birthday cake for Jesus

cuddles for breakfast...
carols serenaded
actually it was a guitar lesson for Isaac...
carrots for the reindeer, and letters for Santa
lovely to hear music in the house,
and a lovely saxophone solo at church also
after a yummy eggs benedict brekky cooked by Rebecca, everyone seemed very happy with their presents
always exciting for the little ones


and for Mums and Dads too

but it is time to carve the turkey
while the children play and assemble their toys
a great lego bus. Even Liam was very impressed on our skype chat on Christmas morning. So wonderful to be beamed straight into a little living room on the other side of the earth in New York City! So glad skype were able to sort out their connection issues before Christmas!
Even Grand-dad was drawn into helping sort out the lego assembly
Kath did a marvelous job with all the cooking and preparation
where is everyone?
someone is hungry...
waiting patiently...
yay..it is Christmas Day today!
even a wonderful dessert...yum!
games to play after lunch...
washing up t be done...
more lego to assemble
fun!

more games to play
but all good things come to an end,
and Grandma had to leave next morning to get back to Brisbane before more bad weather arrived!

Copious amounts of rain have deluged the whole state, and many people's plans have been disrupted, and many towns flooded. Over six inches in the gauge yesterday, and four inches last week. Reminiscent for 1974 floods in Brisbane. They said it couldn't happen again, after the building of Wivenhoe Dam. From which they are releasing water every day from the five flood gates. Causing flooded creeks downstream. I was unable to use my usual College's crosssing route in and out, but delighted to discover that the road works on the highway now allowed me to exit the city on a motorway without using a single set of traffic lights. Hooray. A modern touch on a road sign near current road works, was "Ignore GPS". Very funny!