COLOURFULWORLD

Thursday 28 December 2017

Christmas Celebrations & a Happy New Year

On the 22nd I picked up my husband at the airport from his flight from Sydney and took some photos of the beautiful Christmas decorations at Terminal 1.


Christmas tree, Christmas kangaroos









I unfortunately hadn't been feeling too "Christmasee" and I left the planning too late, so by the time I invited the usual friends over for Christmas Eve dinner or Christmas Day lunch, most of them already had plans, which meant that we were down to 8 people instead of the usual 20 plus!

We still stick to the European tradition of celebrating Christmas Eve with a big dinner, but due to fact that there wouldn't be many attending this year, my daughter in law offered to host Christmas Eve at their place and I would host Christmas Day.  
It would also be easier for them with their baby, so he could just go to sleep at his normal time and not have his routine disrupted.  
Although we thought that at 13 months Joshua would make a fuss over the opening of the presents he didn't bat an eyelid and paid no attention to the gifts. Maybe next year ...

Everyone attending brought along some food for the events, and as usual we had far too much food. The usual Christmas ham and a Portuguese dish of Cod fish with cream sauce were served.
Luckily this year it wasn't extremely hot, but we need to start changing our food options to go with the warm weather instead of slaving for a few hours in front of hot pots and ovens.

 Cod Fish w/cream sauce, King Cake, dessert table Christmas day, Dessert table Christmas Eve, Ham

After leaving my son's house at close to 11pm I still took photos of a decorated house next to his that had plenty of people driving by the whole night. Apparently it was awarded the 4th prize in their suburb. The other house at the bottom of the photo is on the street behind us.
When we arrived home we opened our presents, had a digestive tea and went to bed.

On Christmas Day we had arranged lunch to be ready by 1pm. It was mostly left-overs from the evening's dinner and I just made a Passion-fruit Mousse that would be refreshing for dessert.

Illuminated Houses














One of the couples that attended both events offered us breakfast at their house on the 26th, or Boxing Day. They have a dream house facing a small offshoot of the Canning river.
They had invited some of their friends, and after eating bacon, eggs, beans, fried tomato and toast we lazed around their little jetty feeding the ducks.


Feeding the ducks at my friend's house





On Wednesday 27th I had to work my usual afternoon shift at the Medical clinic, but it was very quiet. Because most of the Doctors have actually taken a few days off, there's just one Doctor which means my two colleagues were quite happy to work without me, which means I only go back to work on Tuesday the 2nd of January.  Yippee!!  


On Thursday 28th, our friends with the house by the river invited their daughter and partner, my husband and I and our son and daughter in law for a Barbecue lunch. We took chicken to grill, they supplied steaks and sausage and my daughter in law brought dessert.
They have a heated pool, but it was a bit windy and I decided not to join my son, daughter in law and grandson in the pool.


View of the pool area and river below




Once again after lunch we sat by the jetty feeding the ducks and this time 8 black swans also came around. It's lovely to see the comings and going of the ducks, the swans and other assorted birds that pop around to be fed.  Of course as in nature, the weaker seem to be driven away by the stronger ones.

Our friend buys special food for the ducks/swans and feeds them regularly at 6am and 6pm, but on a day like today, he just calls them and they seem to know his voice and what's coming of course and we could see them just swimming down the river towards his house.
It was certainly a beautiful and very relaxing day.

Bottom left - a strange bird that looked like a mix of a turkey and goose
Feeding the black swans, a swan up close

Next event will be New Year's Eve at the Portuguese Club, with a dinner and dance.
It's nothing fancy food wise, nor music wise, but I do enjoy dancing and don't really like staying in on this specific day, so I make the best of whatever is on offer.

I hope you all had a Wonderful Christmas and wish you a wonderful end of the year and the best for 2018, with lots of health and happiness.

See you again on Monday the 1st of January for Monday Murals.

As from February 2018 I'll be taking over
the "Monday Murals" meme from Oakland Daily Photo.

26 comments:

  1. Now that sure sounds like a lot of fun and yum!
    And the birds, especially the swans are really beautiful!
    We have it very quiet this year. Ingo´s parents, as usual, are in Spain over winter and my family was busy, too.

    Enjoy the dance, I wish I could do that, but not a chance, two left feet! All the best for 2018! xx

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    1. That's sad that your family and Ingo's family don't get together at Christmas time.
      I've always enjoyed dancing, but don't get to dance that often.

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  2. It sounds like a beautiful Christmas filled with all sorts of joy and merriment! Some terrific sounding food, too! And those decorations -- both the airport and the house -- were spectacular! So delighted to have found you in 2017! Happy New Year!

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    1. Thank you Jeanie, it was lovely to have found you recently too.
      I admire all those that take hours or days to decorate the outside of their homes for the public to see.

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  3. Fantásticas as fotografias e gostei de ver as iluminações, aproveito para desejar umas Boas Festas e um excelente 2018.
    Andarilhar
    Dedais de Francisco e Idalisa
    O prazer dos livros

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    1. Obrigada Francisco, para si e familia um 2018 fabuloso!

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  4. Amiga, estamos dizendo adeus ao ano velho e em breve vamos receber o novo. Não poderia deixar de vir aqui agradecer por ser uma seguidora do meu blog, ou dos meus blogs. E independentemente de como decida viver o ano novo, espero que você tenha sempre Jesus no coração.
    Que o amor e a bondade estejam presentes todos os dias desse novo ano, e a sua fé se fortaleça cada vez mais. Que em todos os seus planos você inclua Jesus e a paz e o sucesso e a saúde,sejam constantes na sua vida.
    Feliz Ano Novo!

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  5. Who would have thought there would be such nice decorations at an airport. Your time sounded both busy and relaxing. I suddenly want passionfruit mousse, and it is breakfast time. Happy 2018.

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    1. I also thought the airport decorations were very pretty.
      Don't worry about wanting passionfruit mousse for breakfast, it was actually my breakfast yesterday to finish it off.
      Happy 2018 to you too Andrew.

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  6. So lovely to see your photographs.
    Enjoy the remaining Christmas Season and have a wonderful 2018 - only a few days and it will be here!

    All the best Jan

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    1. Thanks Jan, not all low-carb unfortunately...
      The year has flown by much too quickly!

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  7. Faz agora um ano estava por aí.
    Prestes a regressar a Macau.
    Que seja um 2018 Fabuloso!

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    1. Obrigada Pedro, igualmente para si e familia.

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  8. Even though your parties were a bit smaller this year, you still put out quite a lovely spread. I always love it when you show a black swan. I've only seen one in my life and that is at our zoo. You are SO lucky to have friends that feed them daily.

    Have a lovely New Year and a fabulous 2018. So glad to read you will now host Monday Murals. I look forward to your hosting, beginning in February.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Elizabeth, I hope I can do a good job with the murals.
      I think my friends are lucky to be able to live in such a beautiful spot and get daily visits from ducks, swans and others. Those river families certainly get a good feed.

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  9. Very nice post, have a nice New Years Eve!

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  10. Dearest Sami,
    Wow, you list here a series of things you attended and/or created and that was a busy schedule with lots of food.
    Miss the warm Christmas days we enjoyed in Indonesia while living there...
    Now we did escape for midnight Mass at Basilica Immaculate Conception in Jacksonville, FL which is 4 hours away. Only 700 m walking through balmy 25 C weather from our Hyatt Regency Riverfront. Next day I drove the 4.5 hrs south to our Hyatt House 1 kingsize bedroom suite with complete kitchen. Pieter did make us a simple Christmas dinner with the frozen filet mignon that we kept in the fridge at previous hotel. Worked perfect and I could relax and heal my mid-back pain. For 3 days now I'm free of pain and happy. Friend Natacha came to our suite for a coffee with Caramel Tres Leches and she took the remainder home with her... Now we're on the Gulf Coast side for the final nights and another friends visit.
    Home the last day in about 7 hours driving.
    Wishing you and yours a Happy New Year in good health!
    Hugs,
    Mariette

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    Replies
    1. You spent Christmas away from home. Nice weather in Florida. Hope your back pain heals quickly, but with all the driving it's probably not easy. Have a safe drive home Mariette and a healthy 2018 for you and Pieter.

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    2. As mentioned above, already 3 days pain-free dearest Sami 🌴

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  11. Lovely holidays!!!

    It so nice to be with family and friends!

    I have never seen black swans. In pictures only.

    Feliz Ano Novo!!

    Bjos

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    1. The black swans are a species from the Southern area of Australia and they actually gave the Swan River in Perth it's name and they are also on Perth's coat of arms.
      Um Feliz Ano Novo Catarina, Beijos.

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  12. Lindas imagens e belas iguarias. Feliz Ano Novo Sami.

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  13. What a super festive period you had Sami. My French friend as a house on the river too. Whenever I visit I always think I'd never get anything done, I'd be sitting looking at that view.. I guess after a while, like everything, I would get too used to it 😀 It was busy here also with my Sydney family staying, miss my grandchildren already, not so much the very early starts to the day 😀 we must catch up soon xx

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  14. The chocolate salami looked yummy :)
    If that house only came 4th in the suburb, I don't want to see the 1st place. It was really a lot of lights!!

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