We had to say good bye to Australia today. It was Christmas Eve and so it was a happy day but also very sad to say good bye to the country that we called home for our whole year. We awoke early, packed up the last of our things and got a ride with Lisa to the airport. It was sad to say good bye to such great friends and we shed a few tears, but we were excited to be finally going home to our own home and to Oliver!

We got a bit of a scare when we were waiting for our plane to board in Adelaide. There was a 'technical issue' that needed to be resolved and so boarding was delayed. This wasn't good as we only had 50 minutes to catch our connection in Aukland! If we didn't make that connection then we wouldn't be home for Christmas as planned which would have been a total bummer! Luckily, the plane finally boarded and we began our journey home aboard the Air New Zealand flight to Aukland then on to San Francisco where we had an 8-hour layover.

We got a hotel room to shower and take a break from being in airplanes and people and the girls wasted no time in taking a nap. After that it was back to the airport, Calgary bound at last. We are to be landing at 11:50 on Christmas Eve, then make the drive back to Didsbury to prepare for the onslaught of Christmas to come.