Merry Christmas!!! How strange! We woke up to a hostel full of world travelers making toast and humming carols in the hostel kitchen. The kids excitedly opened their presents, discovering that Santa shops for Billabong in Australia! Connor got some red Billabong shorts and Tessa a lovely teal Billabong shirt! They were exactly what they wanted.

After breakfast, we drove over to the Humphries' house, as they had invited us for Christmas lunch, a swim, and a game of beach cricket! It sounded strange to us (we don't have a "lunch" in Canada; it's called "dinner" or "supper", and we eat it later in the day), but we were excited to share this experience. When we got there, the Humphries gave us Australian ball caps and a tree ornament with Santa sitting on a lawn chair in a swim suit! They were perfect presents. In exchange, we had collected little things as we'd traveled, including two ornaments for the girls from Käthe Wohlfahrt, the world-famous Christmas store in Germany. We hoped the girls would like them.

Lunch that day was amazing. We ate on the balcony which overlooks the beach. The menu included a barbequed butterflied marinated leg of lamb, lovely chicken cubes in a different marinade, fresh prawns, roast potatoes, and several salads (spinach, beet, pumpkin, and pine nut salad; another salad with avocado, pears, pine nut and wild lime dressing; shredded carrot and cheddar cheese salad; and bok choy salad with noodles). We couldn't believe how delicious it all was, especially the lamb. Margaret doesn't like lamb but since traveling, she has decided she needs to give it a second chance!

After lunch, we needed some time to make room for dessert, so we went down to the beach for a "surf". Margaret didn't swim as it was far too cold for her, but she wasn't surprised that the cold didn't deter the rest of the family who leaped into the surf, boards in hand, and had a great afternoon - Tessa claiming that it was one of the best parts of the entire trip! Barry checked out the nudie beach, but there were only a few men there who didn't make his day, but Connor found a large crab in one of the tidal pools so his day was made.

Back at Humphries, dessert was a lovely spread of fresh fruits and baking. It truly was a treat to delight in these new combinations of candy including chocolate / marshmallow / gummy squares. Mmmm!

We returned to the beach after dessert for another Christmas Day tradition, the annual beach cricket match. We met up with some delightful friends of the Humphries and learned how to play cricket (well, actually, we mostly got a lot of easy balls and 'do-overs'). We had a great time.

The day came to an end with many yawns and the sense that we'd had the full Australian Christmas experience. We will always be grateful that Damian and Carolyn opened their home to us at this special time of year.