OK, so this is going to be a long post, sooooo much went on over December, so try to stick with it!
The weather was still going strong and we were enjoying having night after night and weekend after weekend in different locations around Wellington. We would literally just look at the map, pick a point and go!
With the weather being so good Bethany and I would go to the beach most days whilst Michael was at work. I could literally lay out on the beach whilst Bethany would play. Talk about having a hard life! 
Two weeks into December we decided to get a Christmas tree and decorate ready for Christmas. NZ are big on having live trees and practically every street corner had a stall selling them! So we bought one from a house in our suburb which was floor to ceiling and it cost $15....not bad for £5 eh?!
I think the best bit about December though was the amazing sunsets, we sat by candle light most nights watching the amazing colours in the sky...
Through Jenny I had met friends and joined a group of ladies who meet every Tuesday afternoon. They all have kids in Bethany's age range and she loves to play with them. We had arranged a Christmas hunt for them, where we bought presents for each child and then made clue cards and hid the presents between the houses and in the street. They loved it and ran from place to place finding the next clue until the finally found the HUGE sack of presents.
The summer continued and we enjoyed more and more days here, there and everywhere whilst preparing for our first Christmas in New Zealand. 
The next big event to happen was Bethany's birthday. Our little girl was 3! We threw a Blues Clues party (which by the way is Bethany's favourite show over here, its all about a little blue dog) and we invited Edward and Victoria round to the party. They played pass the parcel, catch the flying fish, balloon modelling (well Michael was the host of that!) hit the Blues Clues pinata and then finished with a treasure hunt to find Bethany's main present. In between that they had lunch and we finished the party with a dance!!
Next was Christmas Eve and the weather was just amazing, must have been high 20's so we decided to do something we would have never done in the UK and we went to the zoo! Now you probably thinking one zoo is like any other (and I even said the same before we went) but this place was amazing. The animals, the environment and the shrubs and plants were gorgeous.
Its best not to query what Michael and Bethany were eating!!
Then it was getting ready for the arrival of Santa...
It was then Christmas Day, we had the most amazing time. On the morning Bethany was up as early as always and she opened all her presents in the blink of an eye! Despite the lack of family and friends she was one very spoilt little girl and had so many presents.
After we grabbed our disposable BBQ, chose a beach and setup for our first ever breakfast, on the beach, on Christmas morning...fabulous...
After our fantastic morning we headed back to get started on our Christmas Day dinner. We of course made the traditional meal but with a little twist, we cooked the turkey on the BBQ!
We enjoyed our dinner on the decking looking out to sea, it was certainly different and of course we missed our family but we loved the experience and we were the happiest ever!
On the afternoon we were very kindly invited next door and the kids played together whilst we got to meet more of Mark and Jenny's friends. We had a lovely afternoon with them. Bethany stayed up late on Christmas Day and we all watched a movie. We had the most amazing day and we will have memories of our very different day forever.
Life is about doing new things, having experiences and making memories.
In the short 3 months we had been here we had already made a million!
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