Merry Christmas everyone!!
Its been a fab few days, Christmas in NZ! Yey! We are so excited to be here and enjoying our second Christmas.
Our morning started off as it would anywhere in the world; with an early wake up call. Bethany bounded in shouting 'morning...has Santa been?!'. Michael jumped up and ran upstairs to allow some more setting up for 'Santa' and soon the show was on: 
We had the most amazing morning, we spoke with Grandma and Grandad Lee and they watched Bethany open her presents from them, then Grandma Dawes and then Grandad Dawes later on. Being able to interact and 'be with us' on Christmas Day was just so special. I really wish I could write this now though and say Bethany was the most gorgeous amazing child spending time on each present, appreciating it and then thinking about it...but sadly she couldn't wait to get through them all! Even getting sad at the end that there wasn't anymore!
But at least she did spend time afterwards asking who each one was from and then reminiscing with little memories that she had of each person. Bethany has the most amazing memory, she remembers things from being so tiny - it amazes us so very much. She holds memories of her little friends in the UK so close to her heart, she talked about Ady and remembers playing in her kitchen, and even told us about Michel (Ady's daddy) taking us to the airport the day we left for NZ and making a clicking sound with his voice!
She wanted to call Joseph and speak with him (my best friends little boy) and was sad when I explained they were in Latvia for Christmas this year, and of course she couldn't stop talking about her amazing cousin Amy who she misses more and more each day.
After much reminiscing and talking of England it was time to have breakfast and fuel the excitement of the day. Now we had planned on a trip to the beach just like last year but we woke to pouring rain and gale force winds!! Such a shame and although we were a little sad it didn't dampen our day.
After refuelling it was time for the big finale - Bethany asking what Santa had bought her. She followed a trail of string around the room and into the garage where she found...her first bike!!
Bethany was not at all bothered by the cold and windy rides around the garage, but was very grateful for the sunshine later on when Daddy took her to the local school's playground so she could test out her new bike in full.
With 5 hours of cooking over (who orders a 9-10 person turkey!?) we sat down to a gorgeous meal (thank you chef me!) and soaked up the Christmas Day. The afternoon was filled with music, laughter and love.
Later in the day we were again blessed to talk with Grandma Dawes who opened her Christmas presents from us on Skype, so fantastic! Then after Bethany finally crashed in bed at 9.30pm we spoke with Grandma and Grandad Lee as they opened theirs...fabulous amazing magical moments - I can't tell you how amazing it was to speak with them like that.
And yes of course we miss our family and friends more than ever, the years pass by but we never stop thinking of them. If you had asked us 4 years ago about our future and if one day we would be living the most amazing life in NZ, well, we would have laughed and said 'if only'...
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