Not really the 5th Day of Christmas, but our 5th Christmas celebration. The Brisvegas Wilsons made a special trip to Sydney to catch up with us while we were in Australia. Aren't we lucky? It meant that the Wilsons could have a proper Christmas celebration with all the family there (with a special guest appearance from the Ezzys).

It also means that I can now devote some blog real estate to our nephew Isaac. Poor Isaac gets neglected a little bit on here because he lives so far away. We actually haven't seen him since he was 6 weeks old, so you can imagine that he's grown quite a bit. He looks a little bit like a cherub with his beautiful curly hair and his chubby cheeks. Of course, he's not an angel; he's a little boy. The only time he was still was when he was asleep. He loves to climb, and run, and jump, and climb and run... yes, like I said, a little boy.





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A day sailing on Sydney Harbour in the sunshine with my family. A day that will make it harder to go back to cold and grey London (in just a few days too *sob*).













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Merry Christmas to all our family and friends in Australia and all over the world! Hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing day.

We had a beautiful sunny day in Sydney filled with family and presents and too much food.





This year, we've decided to donate the money that we would have spent on Christmas Cards towards an Oxfam Unwrapped Gift. We donated money which will help plant an allotment.

We're a little too busy to blog (Did I mention that we're in Australia for Christmas) so here are some photos to tide you over:

Oscar turned six.



We've spent a lot of time hanging out with Leo and Oscar.



We also had our Family Christmas Celebration.



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After returning from a 6-day tour around Ireland and a 4-day adventure in Switzerland, I did something a little crazy. I boarded a Eurostar to Paris. Yet another lightning trip to Paris.

This time my 24-hour trip to Paris was to catch up with Karen and Emily on their European travels. I was lucky enough to join them on a visit to EuroDisney. Natalie tagged along too.

We had a fun day at EuroDisney. We decided to have as Disney-ified an experience as possible. (Well, Natalie and I did and we dragged Karen along kicking and screaming). We went on all the rides, even the Tea Cups and It's a Small World. And we did it all while wearing Minnie Mouse ears. All four of us.

My favourite ride from the day was Space Mountain. It's a roller coaster that simulates a rocket trip to the moon. The entire ride happens in pitch-black darkness. It's kind of scary because you don't know what's coming up next. And what's coming up is a loop, a corkscrew and an overbanked turn. It was so scary that the first time I rode the rollercoaster, I kept my eyes closed the entire time.

One of my favourite things is at the very beginning of the rollercoaster. Because they are simulating a rocket to the moon, they don't have the usual clank-clank-clank up the first hill. Instead there is a countdown and then you are propelled up the hill at 68km/h. The very first time it's completely unexpected and lots of fun.

I think Space Mountain was everyone's favourite ride. We all rode it more than once. But I declare Emily and I the winners of Space Mountain. We went on Space Mountain SEVEN times. Actually I think Emily gets bonus points as she's only eight years old. Emily Greenhill --> Space Mountain Grand Champion.


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