Photo credit: OSUBeaver13

Over the last few years, I’ve tried to get a bit of a “Christmas Newsletter” written for my mum to send out to all of her friends and our other family members as a way of updating them on what we’ve been up to. Note the word “tried”. I think I’ve only done it once, maybe even twice. I plan on doing it again this year.

While I was hanging out with my mum and sister yesterday, I asked them for points on what they’ve all done this year. It really became apparent just how much of a massive year of change 2011 has been.

For me alone, I separated from my boyfriend of 11 years, moved home with my mum, moved into a share house with females (my first time ever really living away from a parent of some kind, given that my ex and I used to live with his mum), changed jobs and got into another relationship. All within the space of 12 months. That’s pretty crazy, and that’s not even including all of the stuff on my 52 in 52 list.

I wonder what 2012 has in store for me?

No related posts.

Photo credit: OSUBeaver13

So the count down to Christmas has begun. In just over a month it will be that time of the year, the one that all the shops try to convince us that it’s all about the presents you give. Not for me. I know it sounds cliche, but I just love Christmas because of the family gatherings. My mother’s side of the family is quite extensive, and every year we try to get together for a big feast and generally spend some time together. I love my family, and I would be devastated to not spend Christmas with them.

But I’m getting off topic here.

One of my 52 in 52 things is to celebrate the 12 days of Christmas. If you’re not familiar with the song, here’s a cool Destiny’s Child version that’s basically the same thing:

No matter what version of the song you listen to, it’s basically about listing what presents they received from their true love. However, I don’t plan on insisting that I receive presents each day in the lead up to Christmas. For me, it’s about giving, therefore I’ll be celebrating by spoiling my true love, and giving him something special in the 12 days leading up to Christmas.

There are quite a few logistical challenges involved. The biggest one is that the nature of his job means the time we get to spend together is going to be varied and irregular. There might even be days when physically it’s just impossible to get some time alone. This means I need to find a way to ensure that he gets something without the need for my presence. These ones will have to be material gifts, something I’ve planned in advance (not to mention given him strict instructions he’s not allowed to open the present until that day).

I also don’t intend for this to be an expensive exercise, nor a materialistic one. So unlike the lyrics in the Destiny’s Child song, my true love won’t be receiving keys to a CLK Mercedes. He probably wouldn’t fit anyway (downside of being so tall).

Thus the question now remains, what do I give him?

I’m thinking that for some of the presents they’ll be along the lines of “services”, like a cooked breakfast/dinner that he wasn’t expecting, a back massage etc. For the days I can’t be there or our time together is limited I want to have some nice little gifts to give him, something that will make him happy. It’s going to take some serious thinking, as he’s not one to say “I want xyz”. I’m going to really have to pay attention to him, as well as use my knowledge from the past 6 months of dating to recall the small things that made him happy.

Have you ever celebrated the 12 days of Christmas before? If so, what presents did you give out? If not, are there any other Christmas traditions that you do every year?

No related posts.

It’s now 2 days after Christmas, technically the first “public holiday” since Christmas fell on a weekend, and I feel like I have only just recovered. I knew I was looking forward to it, I just didn’t know I was going to have that much fun!

I have quite a large family. In my immediately family, I have my parents and one sister (and by blood another sister, although I don’t consider her part of my family anymore). However, my mum is one of seven, and all my aunties, uncles and cousins are quite close. This year, with the exception of two of my uncles, we all gathered together at a hired scout hall in Brisbane, along with some others considered close to the group. Judging by the numbers it became immediately clear why we needed to hire a hall – there was no way that group was fitting into anyone’s house!

We arrived at around midday, and after carrying our gear in (presents, drinks, food etc) we proceeded to get a drink, have a chat, and gawk at the food. And my goodness, there was some food on offer!

A few key members of the family were nominated to prepare the food, while we all donated some money to pay for it. My mum made the most incredible ham ever, while my sister made an amazing roast pork. On top of that we had chicken, and salads, and too much for me to even remember, and this was before the desserts even came out! I know my belly was pretty satisfied though; definitely no complaints there.

Following lunch, we opted to have a breather from eating and start with the secret santa. Since we’re such a large group it’s impossible to buy a present for every single person. Thus we organise a secret santa, but rather than drawing names you just have to buy a present for your own gender. On the day, you draw a number from the bowl. Santa’s “little helper” will then call out your number, you’ll go up and visit Santa and receive your present. For a twist on the game, you have the option to swap your gift (before opening it) with someone that has already received and opened their gift. The benefit is that you already know what you’re getting, and it’s something that you want, while simultaneously taking it away from someone else. Greed at its best!

My uncle Michael was nominated to be the santa, and the choice couldn’t have been better. He’s english, and one of the funniest people I know. Stealing some quotes from my sister’s twitter feed, these were a few notable quotes from Santa on the day:

You can’t open your present until you take your pants off.

A little background on this one. My cousin, Gerry, was wearing some boxer shorts that he had been given, which had Michelangelo’s “David” on them. According to my aunty and my cousin (Gerry’s sister), we HAD to see them. Apparently if he heard the song Eagle Rock, it also meant that he had to take his pants off so my aunty tried playing this a few times throughout the day (he just blocked his ears and insisted he couldn’t hear it). For those playing along at home, we never got to see the boxers.

Whatever that is, it’s lovely (after the present has been unwrapped)

For a man that is the move, what does he want? He wants pure pure water (the present was a water bottle with inbuilt water purifier)

Michael’s version of Santa is one that will stay fond in our hearts for a long, long time.

Another incredibly funny moment was when my cousin Leif was handed a present, and after unwrapping and opening the box it was found to be completely empty! Suddenly it clicked that it was one of the “dummy” presents that had been under the tree before we arrived. It was only there to be on display, not actually to be opened! Nonetheless, there were a lot of tears around the room, purely from laughing so hard. Leif was also quickly handed another present, one which actually contained a gift.

Once everyone had received a present, Michael Santa bid everyone farewell and returned to the North Pole. Amazingly, Michael returned only a few minutes later and was very disappointed to find out he had missed him.

In what is becoming traditional to the family, my sister’s xbox was set up, and a band was quickly formed to play Guitar Hero. First we started out with Beatles Rock Band, before swapping over to Guitar Hero World Tour and Band Hero. Everyone had a go, and it was pretty evident which members of the family have musical talents and who didn’t. However that didn’t stop anyone, and we all had a great time.

I had been hogging the drums for a bit, then suddenly looked up to realise the desserts table had surfaced in the corner of the room. Awesome! I offloaded my drumsticks to my aunty, and immediately headed over to the table to fill up my plate. Mat joined me, and we found that with the sheer amount of options available, making a decision was hard! We eventually selected a few things and sat down to enjoy them. Pauline advised Mat that he needed to try the cheesecake, so after he had finished his first plate he went back. After he had tasted it, he agreed that the cheesecake was pretty incredible.

Eventually it was time to head home. We all pitched a hand in to clean up and return the room to the state it was in before we arrived (minus one pretend Christmas present). We all bid farewell and went our separate ways, but it was clear that everyone had thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

By far, this is one of the best Christmas Day’s I remember. No arguments, no tension, just pure happiness and fun. This is what I love about Christmas; it’s not about the presents or materialistic things. It’s the chance to get together with the people you love and just have a great time. I couldn’t have asked for a better day. In fact, I remarked that although one year I would love to head to the northern hemisphere and experience a white Christmas, I don’t think I could do it unless the rest of the family came along. It just wouldn’t be the same without them.

So how did your day go? Feel free to share your favourite memories in the comments! I hope you had a wonderful day!

Merry Christmas from Mat and I

No related posts.

Christmas Day, spent with family and friends. What an awesome, awesome day. I’ve blogged the whole day here if you’re interested in taking a look at what I got up to.

No related posts.

I’ll be heading to Brisbane in a few hours for the traditional massive family meet-up, I can’t wait. A year without the family gathering wouldn’t be Christmas. Plus, my evil ex-sister won’t be there so I’m willing to put a bet on there not being any domestics this year. Awesome!

So Merry christmas everyone, and I hope you all have a wonderful day with the ones you love.

No related posts.

I managed to hunt down a newsagent who still had a copy of yesterday’s paper, and thus was able to locate the list. If I wasn’t going out tonight with friends purely to look at the houses in the competition I wouldn’t have cared so much, but alas I made the effort just to make sure we knew where we were going.

So without further adieu, here are the houses competing in the Sunshine Coast Daily’s 2010 Christmas Lights Competition (list sorted by suburbs, google map link at the bottom)

• Alexandra Headlands – Unit 31, 6 Marina Walk
• Beerwah – 3 Chantilly Crescent
• Bli Bli – 11 Mona Court, 93 Francis Road
• Buderim – 8 Ivy Court, 17 Kerenjon Ave, 2 Nara Court
• Burnside – 6 Dalzel Court, 7 Flinders Ave
• Coolum Beach – 9 Kanooka Ave
• Cooran – 6 Elizabeth St
• Cooroy - Maple St, 13 Koala Cres (Lake Macdonald)
• Currimundi – 14 Coraki St, 2 Tibouchina Pl
• Dulong – 241-243 Dulong Rd
• Glenview – 393 Glenview Road
• Landsborough – 10-44 Caloundra St, 3324 Old Gympie Rd
• Maroochydore – 23 Valencia St
• Meridian Plains - 7 Lacebark St
• Minyama – 32 Chelsea Cres
• Mooloolaba – 24/94 River Esplanade
• Nambour – 8 Princess Cres, 2 Yarrawah St, 39 Washington St, 7 Bilby Crt
• Palmwoods – 16 Bonaparte Pl, 32 Jane St, 12 Palmwoods School Rd
• Peachester – 487 Commissioners Flat Rd
• Sippy Downs – 7 Ribbonwood St, 3 Courtenay Pl, 4 Elston Crt, 263 University Way
• Sunrise Beach – Cnr Boxsell Rise & Wollamia Way
• Tanawha – 143-163 Tanawha Rd
• Tewantin – 28 Coreen Ave, 4 Fyne Crt, 6 Homestead Drive, 12 Murra Court
• Warana – 94 Nicklin Way
• Woombye – 6 Homestead Pl
• Wurtulla – 22 Helm Cres, 1 Warattah Crt, 29 Halyard Dr
• Yandina - 26 Fleming St

View Sunshine Coast Christmas Lights Competition 2010 in a larger map

No related posts.

In the lead up to Christmas, here’s just a sample of what I would be totally thrilled to receive (sidenote – this is basically a wishlist, and you can see my latest rant about wishlists here):

Contrary to the popular Christmas carol, I won't be requiring two front teeth for Christmas this year

• A bike saddle bag repair kit – I like to go for long rides on the odd occasion, and if I ever got a puncture I wouldn’t be prepared at all. Let’s just hope I had my mobile with me at least.
• A bokeh masters kit for an slr – I just bought a brand new camera and I’m looking forward to trying out tons of stuff with it – bokeh being one of these. Photojojo have a pretty cool kit for sale for only $25
• A voucher for a cooking class. It’s on my list of things to do next year, plus it would be totally fun
• Some hints on how the heck to keep my life organised!
• A renewal of my flickr pro account, that would be pretty awesome

Ok, so I’ve discovered I am actually a bit harder to buy stuff for than I would have thought, and I need to start pumping up my listable list again. But if Santa brought me any of the above this year I would be totally thrilled.

Remember though folks, Christmas isn’t about the presents. It’s about spending time with your family. I can’t wait for this year’s celebrations; we’ve hired out a hall (we need it – the family is a mafia) and we’re going to be playing bocce. My cousins and I invented a form of bocce that is more like a drinking game. If your ball isn’t the closest to the jack you have a shot, and if your ball gets hit by someone else you have to have a shot. This could get messy.

So Merry Christmas everyone, and I wish you all the best for the big day. I hope you have lots of fun, and don’t forget to cherish the time with those that you love.

No related posts.

Now you can all go on and tell me how Christmas isn’t about the gifts, and it’s about Jesus blah blah blah. Save it. To me Christmas is a time where I look forward to sharing it with my family; the gifts are just a bonus. And I really enjoy giving people gifts, I love seeing their face as they (hopefully) become excited by what I’ve given them. Yet the pressure of finding something that makes them happy can be very difficult, and that’s what a lot of people truly despise about Christmas. The hunt for that perfect gift.

The majority of online shopping sites have wishlists; it’s been around for ages. I love the idea, you add items to the list that you would love to receive a gift. The bonus when looking at other people’s wishlists is that you know exactly what they’re after and you know you will make them happy. Win win. But if every single website has one, then it makes it damn difficult. What if I don’t know that my sister or mother has even set up a wishlist on that particular site? Are they meant to maintain a list of wishlists? Send out a yearly notification “buy me anything from my wishlist from any of these 500 different websites”. The logistics of it hurt my brain.

Hence it came to me as I was showering, thinking about what presents I still had yet to buy. Yep, my showers are where I do my best thinking…I think it’s the toilet seat for the men isn’t it?

Why not get the world’s largest social network to build in the wishlist functionality? Facebook wishlists!

It just makes sense, particularly since they’ve been stealing ideas for ages (ahem, status updates ala twitter). Imagine the dollars they could rake in from all the affiliate sites! If I had a wishlist that had books, and games, and gadgets on it, along with a link on where to buy them from, then it would be all too simple for people to buy me stuff. And honestly, I’m quite happy to receive that stuff too!

Of course, for the internet savvy they know there’s a good chance they will find better deals elsewhere. Yet there’s no denying that affiliate marketing works.

So dear Mr. Mark Z, when you make the decision to steal my idea, I would like a nice big cash donation to the “help Kelly pay off her loans” fund. A 5 digit sum will do, I’m not greedy. Cheers.

No related posts.

But back to the point of this blog post.

I have seen all of the Christmas cards available for purchase, and Talia Carbis made some incredible looking cards herself. Looking at the effort she puts in makes me feel like a bit of a scrooge actually. I don’t send Christmas cards, and for a few years I was guilty of not even hanging up a decoration at all!

Of course, that wasn’t always the case. I remember the excitement in school as I wrote out cards to all of my friends, including candy canes in them if I was able to convince Mum to buy them for me. So what happened, why did it all wear off?

Is the point of cards to just wish everyone a merry christmas? Is it a time when you can tell people that you appreciate them? I’m afraid I see it in a very shallow way, and just think of it as paper that will sit on the coffee table for a week or two, and then I have no idea what to do with it.

So I’m curious to know, do you send Christmas cards? Do you like receiving them? What’s your opinion of the whole thing?

No related posts.

I actually hadn’t met a couple of the staff members in person before. It was either a case of they were from another country, and we were never in the same place at the same time, or they were only just recently hired and I hadn’t had a chance to meet them. We’d spoken online before (either by email or by Skype – being remote means our company relies on instant messaging for the small things) but never physically in person. I actually got quite nervous hoping that I would make a good impression!

The day started early for me. I woke at 4am (having only just gone to bed at 12.30am – I had been at a Green Day concert the night before) and spent an hour making sure I had everything I needed in my laptop bag, showering, and generally trying to use makeup to hide my panda eyes. The carpool arrived at 5am, and we made our way to the airport. 3 hours later I was in the Sydney office.

Normally when I walk in the office in Sydney there are dust bunnies flying past. There’s an eerie silence and it’s freezing cold. You could assume you’re in a cemetery, and if it wasn’t for the computers laying around, you’d be right. I’m pretty sure it’s the bad coffee that keeps them all on their toes.

Jason and "Smart"

First impressions of the boys from NZ were they were absolute champions. Colin was a giant, definitely not what I was expecting, but was just so nice and friendly. Jason wasn’t quite so tall but had a killer smile, and my first memory was of him displaying where he’d just spilled coffee all down his shirt & pants. Hilarious! I immediately warmed to the guys; with both of them having a sense of humour it was hard not to. Steve, one of our new developers who I hadn’t met before, was a lot more quiet and introverted but very nice all the same. Angelique, our new marketing guru was stunning. I can imagine the boys go crazy over her. Very beautiful, and incredibly upbeat and bubbly. With the introductions out of the way, it was time to get down to business.

After several hours of meetings and statistics (and stuff that I probably should have been paying attention to – it was difficult to keep focused after only a few hours of sleep ), it was finally time to break for lunch. Unfortunately, one of the staff couldn’t make it as he had a deadline to meet that afternoon, so we bid him goodbye then raced to the door; there was a fun afternoon ahead!

Our boss took us to a Chinese seafood restaurant in Haymarket. We sat down and broke Christmas bon bons, with a couple of the guys putting on the paper crowns that were included (I admired their bravery – I hate those things). I  spent the next 5mins reading out all the bad jokes, I’m a big fan of a corny punch line! I was lucky enough to score a bottle opener in my bon bon, while Jason ended up with some strange chinese puzzle which we spent the next 5 minutes trying to work out.

Our boss had ordered lunch for everyone, and oh my goodness, what a lunch it was! I was told our entree was Peking Duck, but another person later said it was beef. Either way, whatever it was, I wasn’t much of a fan. It was mixed with rice, and presented on a bed of lettuce. It looked impressive, and trying not to be rude I ate it all. But yeah, it tasted a little bit funky. Shortly after that a waiter appeared carrying a plastic bag, and presented it to the boss for his inspection and approval. I didn’t realise it was a fish until it started flapping around! I remember jumping quite a bit in my chair, and Jason said I actually went quite pale.

Rhonda and Angelique

Now, I’m not that big on seafood, but seeing a fish flapping around ensured I wouldn’t be eating any that day. The damned thing was alive only minutes ago! I saw it! I love my red meat, and the only reason why I’m such a great carnivore  is my amazing ability to be completely ignorant of the fact that at one stage my steak was a living, breathing animal. I’ll have my steak well done thanks, just to make sure it’s extra dead!

When all the “main” meals arrived we were all presented with bowls of rice. On the lazy susan there was a mixture of many meals, from fried pork, steamed chicken and tofu, as well as the unfortunate previously mentioned fish. It also appeared he had a friend with him. I felt sad for them, looking at them laid out on the plate, fins intact, but with their body carved and ready for consumption. It was hard to look at, and I’ve never felt sorry for a fish before! Before you ask, yes I go fishing, no I don’t put the bait on the hook, no I don’t take the fish off the hook, yes I make Mat throw all fish back into the water.

I helped myself to some tofu and chicken, while beside me Jason made a beeline for the fish. First up, the fish eyes. He ate one (before doing so, he proudly declared his intentions to me), and I gagged. This is where all the wine came in handy. Before I could blink, I was a couple of glasses down, and the fish didn’t seem so scary anymore. We ate lunch talking about things from camping to umm….actually I would try and tell you but I think it’s a symptom of being drunk that you talk a lot of shit and can’t remember any topics later.

Before I became too bad though, I made sure to get a few photos of select members of the group. For the observant, you will notice I am absent from the photos. The reason I made photography a hobby is so that I’m always BEHIND the camera. Being in front of a camera is terrifying.

As lunch drew to a close, Jason discovered there were still two fish eyes  from flappy and his friend still on the plate. Smart (on the other side of Jason) wasn’t a big fan of fish either, so Jason challenged him to eat one. Another symptom of being drunk – you do stupid things. Smart immediately grabbed the eye, popped it in his mouth, and swallowed. The following day Smart told me he couldn’t remember what it tasted like. Jason opted to eat the other, at which I decided to video record him doing so. He provided quite a thorough review of the “treat”, while I looked away and sung music in my head so I couldn’t hear what he was saying. Unfortunately I managed to catch the end of it, and was still grossed out. If you listen at the end of the video, you’ll hear me tell him he’s gross *grin*

After we had all finished eating, we began walking to the location of our “secret team challenge”, for which we’d been told to bring socks. I had wondered if it might be ten pin bowling, and my suspicion proved to be correct. We arrived at Strike Bowling Bar, only one of the coolest ten pin bowling centres around (they have centres in other capital cities as well). Low lights, a fully licensed bar, and good music. What else do you need?

My aim for the bowling was to try and beat one of the software developers who bowls every week (though i didn’t tell him that). It would have been so sweet, and no doubt I would have carried on for quite a long time about it. Unfortunately, someone was still serving wine, and I was still consuming it. While I had been talking up my challenge to Colin, I hadn’t realised Colin and I were competing as well until the last frame of the first game.

I’ll set the scene for you. I’m drunk. Smart is drunk. He’s also dancing around the bowling alley, and making me laugh every few seconds. I look at the scoreboard, and hear a taunt from Colin. I need to get a strike to have a chance of beating him. Crap. Grabbing a ball (I didn’t choose consistently – whatever one was there at the time appealed to me) and started walking towards the lane. As I went to bowl, I heard Smart approaching from behind. I had to get rid of the ball fast and stop Smart from doing whatever he was about to do. I threw the ball down the lane and turned around, and managed to prevent Smart from taking a photo of my ass. In the meantime, I had gotten a strike!!! The look on Colin’s face was priceless. I managed to beat him by a couple of pins.

Ian and Colin (pulling quite the face)

But then, I realised that while I was in front of the software developer (and had been comfortably a couple of times in the game unless I started playing around), if he got two strikes in a row he would beat me. First bowl – strike. Second bowl – strike. DAMMIT! Colin burst out laughing, while I dropped to the floor, yelling “NOOOOOO!!!!!!” and reaching up to the sky in a dramatic fashion. Yep, copious amounts of wine will get you every time (on further reflection, for someone who was worried about meeting Colin & Jason from NZ, I was doing my best to leave a lasting impression).

We realised the time, and given that Jason had to fly out to NZ that afternoon, he had only about 20mins to check in at the airport. We raced downstairs to the Strike Bowling Bar reception to see if they could check him in online, and they tried (thanks guys – great customer service) but unfortunately as it was international, he had to get to the airport. Sadly, we bid Jason farewell after enjoying only a few hours of his company.

Back upstairs, the second game whizzed past in a drunkish blur. I was focusing less on my bowling skills (hence how both Wolfgang and Colin beat me easily) and instead preoccupied myself with being silly. I had SO much fun. I was tempted to buy a cocktail from the bar, but decided against it since I wasn’t sure getting on the spirits at a work function was a great idea. Not that it mattered, I was drunk anyway. Most of us were, it was only the drivers who were unlucky enough to be stuck with the responsibility of remaining sober.

My highlight for the afternoon would have to be when Charlie stood up to bowl. He stepped forward and into the actual lane, where they oil it  to keep it friction free. Unfortunately, this caused Charlie to start sliding. He released the ball at the same time that he slipped and landed on his bum, his back to the bowling pins, facing all of us who were now howling in laughter. Somehow, he managed to get a strike! Smart went to go help Charlie up, but instead he slipped over too and they both ended back up on the floor. Their second attempt to stand up almost caused them to go over the balcony to the bowling lanes below, but Charlie managed to save both Smart and himself. It took all of us a few minutes before we could talk again, I had tears from laughing so hard. It was better than watching the three stooges (or two in this case). It just needed some Benny Hill music.

Eventually, the games were over. Time-wise, we had also left it quite tight to get to the airport, and I had tried to check in online prior to leaving the office but was also unable to. The system advised we would need to see the customer service counter (they had delayed our flight an hour and wanted to confirm it prior to checking in). Smart lamented that we weren’t there overnight as he would have loved to continue the celebrations, to which I agreed. The day had passed in a blur, it was almost unfair. I still considered myself lucky to have been able to visit the office and meet everyone at all; previous years had seen only minor celebrations in the various states, and working in an office by yourself 99% of the time can be quite a lonely affair. Reluctantly, Jon, Charlie, Wolfgang and I were whisked off in Ian’s car to the airport, while the others made their way home in Sydney.

Thinking back on it, I was amazed at how much I had done in a day where I had had only a few hours sleep the night before, and spent a good part of the day drinking. Not bad for someone who is usually quite a cheap drunk. I can’t wait until I get to see everyone again, it appears the company I work for has quite a few cool people on the staff roster! Of course, every company has the odd bad seed, but on this day I didn’t care. I made new friendships, celebrated existing ones, and had a bloody good day.

So, when are we doing it again?

**More photos and videos from the day**

Charlie and Jon

Wolfgang and Charlie

No related posts.

Santa has a change of attire when visiting Australia

Originally I twittered the question of whether there were any Aussie Christmas carols anyone knew of (two replies about Rolf Harris and his song “6 White Boomers” – itunes link), and after starting to do a little bit of research it was clear it would need a blog post. Hence I present to you, a comprehensive list of songs available in iTunes that’s truly representative of an Aussie Christmas! Even if some of them are slightly bogan’ish.

1. 6 White Boomers – Rolf Harris
2. Aussie Jingle Bells – Bucko & Champs (there’s actually tons of versions of this song on iTunes)
3. 12 Days of Aussie Christmas – Bucko & Champs
4. Album called Aussie Christmas with Bucko & Champs by Bucko & Champs
5. A Very Merry Aussie Christmas – Ticklish Allsorts
6. Australians let us Barbecue – Bucko & Champs (had to mention this one – to the tune of the anthem)
7. Album called True Blue Aussie Christmas by Dimmer Twins

And that’s enough for me tonight! I must say, I was quite surprised…I actually didn’t think there would be that much but I was pleasantly surprised. Not that it converted into purchases or anything. I just can’t work out whether it means that there’s more “novelty” albums out there that I expected, or I’m just not up to par on the Christmas albums!

Bonus link – an app in the App Store for Australian Slang, appropriately named “Aussie (Australian) Slang“

No related posts.

So I knew it was all riding on Christmas. I had to buy something fantastic, better than great, go beyond the realm of good presents, and get that one that she will be bragging about to her mates. And by golly gosh, I have got it. I sent Mat out to buy it today (after half an hour of convincing and begging him, and telling him it would be sold out by Christmas). Now I have it in my grubby hands, and it’s like I have ants in my pants I’m so excited to hand it over.

Now for a flashback to my 21st. I was handed a card by Amy, and said it contained a clue to my present. It had been ordered but unfortunately not arrived yet, so she had drawn a clue. I would receive it once the package arrived. Inside I found a square with a circle in it. I was stumped. She even (evily) told one of my mates at my 21st what it was, and they stated just how obvious it was. Way to make someone feel dumb! In the end it turned out it was the first gen ipod shuffles, and I cried when I got it. I think it was the first thing I’ve ever managed not to lose, that’s how much I treasured that gift.

Back to now, it’s finally time for revenge. Hence I present to you, the clue to Amy’s Christmas present!! And no, it’s not a teddy bear.

Can you guess what it is?

This is an outline of the product as drawn in paint by me, and coloured in. Then cut in half. Then rotated an undisclosed degree. I feel so tricky!!

Go ahead….guess if you dare!

No related posts.

No related posts.