Rather than staying in Sydney the Wildig families plus Steve headed south to the beautiful Jervis Bay for Christmas for what has been a massive highlight of the trip spending time with family and seeing James and Isabel on top form getting excited about the holidays and of course Father Christmas. Celebrating Christmas day at the beach was odd though for us and neither of us really feel that Christmas has truly happened yet. How can it be Christmas when you haven't had Oxford St shopping pain and last minute christmas eve shopping in Chelmsford? This one certainly started earlier than any others in recent memory as James got massively overexcited about his presents and was up even earlier than usual. Poor wee thing was forced to wait for the whole morning though while we headed down to the beach to have a paddle and sunbathe in the mid 20 degree sunshine. At this point any concerns about not having a traditional day in the cold were fairly quickly put behind us. Brunch cooked on the bbq and presents soon followed our beach activities and we spent the rest of the morning watching James shredding paper off all of his presents and helping his little sister Isabel and all other relatives for that matter open their gifts. Anything with Lightning McQueen was a highlight, anything in the shape of a book was less appreciated by him.

Christmas dinner itself was pretty relaxed too with gravy from a packet (shock!) and no christmas pudding because no-one really likes it do they..? It was probably eaten quicker than on any other day in the past though on account of us feeling that we should eat on the balcony when in actual fact it was pretty blowy and getting cold. No matter, we had roast turkey and gravy and it was gooood.

The rest of the week was fantastic with morning and afternoon trips to the beach for various games; cricket, swimming, boogie boarding, running anywhere in general, rockpooling. On a little walk further round the bay, we glanced up to find a pod (school?) of about 15 - 20 dolphins just a few metres from the shore. Lizzy - it was totally organic!

Our house was pretty good fun too with lots of hide and seek and sardine spots to hide. I'm not sure Steve had signed up for hiding in a wardrobe with my mum, dad and brother but I'm sure he enjoyed it. We also enjoyed some great water pistol action in the garden and the one kangaroo that jumped on by, one evening.

A beautiful week in the sun with family and lots of great food and booze. Perfect.