Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I just wanted to make sure I took the chance to update once more before the end of the year (talk about leave it to the last minute...lol). We had a wonderful Christmas season, and hope all our loved ones did too! We went to Southbank on Saturday 22nd for a traditional fireworks and Alvan and I went to a free swing dance lesson too. For those overseas, Southbank is a wonderful parklands right in the middle of the city of Bribance, complete with a man-made beach. Our family has spent many happy hours there. Where else in the world can you swim in a beach in the middle of the city 3 days before Christmas while watching fireworks? Gotta love Brisbane! Here is a link to Southbank, take a look around..www.visitsouthbank.com.au Christmas morning was spent with all the kids & grandkids who live in Qld coming over for a yummy Christmas breakfast, and opening of presents. We all had a chance to chat via web cam with Nathan, Jenny, Whitney, Marlee, Noah & Vance in Utah too. It was so much fun to see Freyr enjoying ripping open his and anyone else's presents with such gusto! He loved tearing open the paper. And he really loved the boxes that were left over... It took him a while but he finally warmed up to his tickle me elmo, and by the time they left our house he was happy to pick him up and kiss him.... very cute! We have a distinct lack of photos because our camera batteries were not recharged :( But Rick and Elly saved the day and Rick clicked away for us, I'm sure there'll be some cute shots I'll be able to post soon. After all the family had left, Alvan said "Do you want to go for a drive?", I said "where?" He said, "you'll see!" So I put on my shoes, grabbed my bag and jumped in the car, knowing full well he had a plan, but it was no use trying to get it out of him. It became obvious we were heading for Brisbane, so when Alvan suggested I have a nap while we drove in I happily obliged. I woke as we were pulling up to the Ridges Hotel. I said "What's happening at the Ridges?", assuming that as we didn't have any bags packed and we had other commitments for Christmas that night, we must be just doing an "afternoon activity". So as we head into the the foyer, I'm busy looking for posters that will show what Christmas show was happening..... Alvan walked up to the front desk and says, "We have a booking", I said "We have a booking?", and he said "for 2 nights", I said "We have a booking for 2 nights?", and he said "Merry Christmas".... sneaky sneaky. I had no idea! It was a wonderful relaxing time, we spent boxing day walking through southbank, over bridges, through the botanical gardens and a little bit of shopping thrown in. We also saw the movie National Treasure, and had a delicious dinner at a turkish restaurant. On Thursday morning, Alvan dropped me at work, and I couldn't get the smile off my face all day......Isn't my husband wonderful? I hope you all have a wonderful New Years Eve, as I type this we are still undecided what we will be doing tonight to bring in the new year, but as long as we're together, I don't care. We celebrated our 24th anniversary this year, and he still manages to make my heart melt, and bring a smile to my face whenever I think about him. For the record, I'm the luckiest woman in the world.