Christmas post: Rain edition

I know you were all waiting with bated breath for our santa hats/speedos Christmas special - but due to stupid Australian stupid weather circumstances beyond our control, we had to cancel the picnic and opt for rainwear instead of beachwear, because  IT HAS RAINED HERE ALL THE LIVELONG DAY, WELCOME TO AUSTRALIA, MERRY DAMN CHRISTMAS!!!  Needless to say we are very disappointed:

We feel the country has let us down. After much grand talk of Christmas on the beach, barbies and cold beers, we were left with dashed hopes and downpours. Bad Australia.  

On the upside, we had a lovely Christmas eve at home. Thinking we would be setting off for a beach picnic on Christmas day itself, we made a tasty "traditional" Christmas dinner of roast chicken, veg and mashed sweet potatoes. I managed to get some giant Brussels sprouts into the mix too:

Considering we had to work with the utensils in our holiday flat, and no weighing scales, we were rather pleased it came out so well. We spoke to Jan's parents on Skype and opened the presents they had sent us (which is completely allowed, as the German tradition is to open gifts on Christmas eve. That way they can fit more eating into Christmas day). Jan's mom had hand-made us a beautiful cup and saucer each.  I was really happy with mine:

Jan was less happy with his:

His mom is making him a new one though, so don't worry, we will be his-and-hers-mugged-up in no time! We also tucked into a few of the yummy cookies and sweets they sent us and, after imbibing the, ahem, appropriate amount of festive spirit*, we passed out went to bed.  

And awoke to ... well a pretty British Christmas after all. But coming from hardened stock, we determined not to let the weather beat us and headed into town, where we purchased a well-thought-out Christmas present to each other:

After an Italian lunch, we treated ourselves to a small dessert:

Before walking it off around the botanical gardens. Then we found the boss of all of this and went to lodge an official complaint about the weather:

Now we are back at home on Christmas night, and enjoying watching Christmas unfold in England via social media. It's like having two Christmases in one!  I've spoken to my parents on the phone (their Skype has decided not to co-operate - AND MY DAD IS APPARENTLY WEARING A GIRAFFE ONESIE AND THE DOG HAS A TINSEL COLLAR AND I CAN'T SEE ANY OF IT, OH SWEET TORTURE!!!). I have opened my Christmas stocking, donned the robin socks, put my keys on my new owl keyring and found a place for my lovely owl paperweight**, and am tucking in to the festive spirit again. Jan and I are both at work tomorrow, so the celebrations are short-lived, but we have enjoyed our quirky little Christmas nonetheless. We hope you have fun with yours too! Cheers!

* Pinot Grigio
** I like owls, innit