Gail Downunder: No chimney, no problem, mate!

Santa made his first stop on his around-the-world odyssey at Newport Nippers on the Sunday before Chrissie. He arrived in style in a zodiac, no reindeer though. I bet those sharp little hooves would poke holes in the bottom of the boat. The Nippers waited somewhat patiently, considering the large number of them, and everyone had a chance to greet Santa and get an icy pole (popsicle), can of soda, and a 12" long gummy boa. I couldn't believe Jack managed to get at least half of the disgusting thing in his mouth, sand and all. And Santa got a clean get-away in a beach jeep while most of the boys were busy with their boas.

Back at the house, Jack had great incentive to tidy up his Pokemon cards and digital games, now that Santa had indeed been sighted in this hemisphere.

On Christmas Eve, we went to an outdoor mass, where Abby and many of the girls from school were taking part in the Christmas story as angels. They do look really angelic, don't they

? Students from Year Five played the main roles in the story, with Mary riding in on a miniature horse. More biddable, I suspect, than a proper donkey. Sheep were also grazing in the school courtyard and chooks (chckens) added more reality to the

proceedings. There were also lots of shepherds, but luckily no animals needed to be herded. Father Ziggy presided; he's from Croatia, so his accent is a little hard to follow at times. But he makes up in enthusiasm what he may lack in perfect pronunciation. Jack and his best friend were not shepherds, so they got to hang out and stay out of the sight of adults whenever possible.

It took Jack and Abby many minutes to decide which prezzie they could open on Christmas Eve. Most packages were already somewhat worse for the wear under the tree anyway, but decision made, they tore into the first boxes. Hurray! Christmas jammies, actually one of their most favorite gifts. Jack has been going for a record of how many days in a row he can get away with wearing only jammies. 36 hours is the present record but I predict it will be broken! I, on the other hand, am going for a record of how many days in a row I can go without having worn any footwear at all. Since I have only worn flipflops for the past 4 weeks, it's not much of a struggle, but we'll see how it goes.

Then it was time to decide what to leave on the plate for Santa. Cookies, of course, and a bottle of beer. Reindeer got carrots and bananas. You can't visit the tropics & not get bananas, after all. It was all gone in the morning, so I assume the reindeer did not drink the beer.

Around 330am on Christmas morning, Jack & Abby began to stir. Listening to their whispering and giggling was a pretty fantastic gift in itself. They simply couldn't contain themselves, though, after 5am. Up and down the hall, with Abby squealing in delight at the guinea pig cage with 2 adorable baby guinea pigs left by Santa. It was the only thing on her list and she was beside herself. By 10am I think the little gp's were thinking even the North Pole looked pretty good, but they survived the morning and the naming; the latter took most of the day, but Cocoa and Patches were the final choices.

Jack's list was much longer, but as near as anyone can tell, most wishes came true. Lots of digital games and books, plus new controllers for the Wii, so 4 people can play.

No complaints from the adults, except for the lack of sleep, but that comes with the package. What a totally lovely day! Dan treated us to a feast of epic proportions and he got a new cookbook so I'm sure the next few days will be an opportunity to put on some pounds as he tries out new recipes.