An ex-pat Christmas...

We both knew that Christmas was going to be slightly odd this year, given that we were so far from home. It was still good fun though; here's how it panned out....

It started on Christmas eve, when we Skyped my family (10pm our time, 6am there time) & watched them all frantically open presents. Complete chaos in the Sherry household!

On Christmas Day, we also had to get up at 6am to open our presents before David went to work (yes, rubbish, working on Christmas Day). We spent time with both our families as we unwrapped gifts...

As well as being surprised to receive two kindles (thank you Steven & Sarah!), we also got fabulous matching hats (thanks Auntie Debbie!):

At 8am, we traveled to Grouse Mountain for a few hours; I hung out with my friend Cathy, watched Christmas movies & played with Reindeer while David worked.

We then headed home, with our friends Cathy and Dan in tow, for our Christmas dinner. If you were wondering what an ex-pat Christmas looks like, this is it:

It consisted of two borrowed chairs, stolen ketchup from Grouse Mountain and a house plant decorated with lights (AKA our Christmas tree). It was thoroughly amusing & really good fun.

Our minds then turned to one of David's presents that had 'challenge' written all over it - a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle (thank you Steven!). This was the scene at the start:

And by the end of the evening, when all the wine had been consumed, this is what it looked like:

Obviously we didn't complete it that night, despite us going at it for a good couple of hours. We were trumped by the Sherry family who finished their 1000 piece jigsaw on Christmas Day. We are determined to finish it though & hang our masterpiece, once complete, on our wall.

All in all, fabulous day - thank you to everyone who made it so. And Merry Christmas!

CS