The Last Post

I hope your Christmas was as lovely as ours! We had a fantastic time, organised chaos with the Allens, the McLeods from Timaru and of course the Konings all descending on Mum and Dad. Plus Uncle Tim flying in from Sydney! The children all seemed to get on well, we had a great time playing cricket, flying kites and playing games together. Mum was in her element and enjoyed having 4/5ths of the children home again.

Chris and I have just popped down to Dunedin for a couple of hours to collect essential supplies for the holiday program. The children are still in Oamaru where my parents have been doing an outstanding job looking after them while Chris and I sneaked away for an early celebration of our 17th wedding anniversary. We retraced our honeymoon path to Lake Tekapo and Mt Cook, slightly more houses, actually lots more houses and very flash too. We treated ourselves to a horse trek as well, taking in Mt John and more of the glorious views.

We came back through Burkes Pass today, which has historical family connections for me. While it was nice to have a break away from the children, it will be good to be with them again. We will see the New Year in with family at home I think although I suspect Katarina may well outlast me!

We are running a holiday program with the Hampden Helpers from January 2-5 and then the Kakanui Krew the following week. We will base the family at my mum and dad's of course. We are also taking services in the Weston Parish on the 8th and 15th before returning to Dunedin on January 16 to begin our block course. Sounds busy - just the way we like it. There will be lots of time in the afternoon for swimming and so on.

T'was the week before Christmas...

The Christmas production at Leith was a triumph after all the practises and Chris spent hours sorting lights and sound. The data projector was installed on the roof, the people at the back could see because we put the video on the big screen, Fran did an awesome job with the music - all good.

This week we have two final assemblies. The children will finish on Wednesday and we will try and pack up on Thursday to leave on Friday for Christmas in Oamaru. Hannah has finished already so I have a wee helper for all my jobs this week.

Chris and I went to the movies on Friday - King Kong! Good to see it on the big screen. Jo Ryan came and stayed for a few days on her way north so it was good to catch up with her.

Not quite the end of the year

We put up the Christmas decorations on Saturday. What a great house for Christmas decorations - I've finally worked out what the dark hall is for - it looks great with fairy lights strung around the ledges. Katarina has made lots of styly holly leaves that are up the stairway and Chris hung more lights in the feature windown. Nice.

Over the years we have gathered all sorts of ornaments, the little wooden ones from when we were in Auckland, the lovely fabric angels and bead angels we made in Lower Hutt. This year, we will add more as the children make things at school and home. I am reminded of all the family and friends who have made Christmas special for us over the years - we have much to be thankful for. Even the washing machine is hanging in there!

We have had lots of people over in the last few weeks, church families, SOM people and the neighbours, all good fun. The children are still enjoying the hot tub, so we will be sad about taking it back on Saturday. We have a busy week with 3 practises for the church play on Sunday. Or is it four?

Janine sang in the end of year concert for Saturday music classes - she has improved enormously and we are very grateful to Mrs Bouman who has worked wonders!

I had a busy week helping with the children. I was parent help for Katarina's class trip to the museum and transport for Zach's picnic on Friday. Just as we arrived back at school the heavens opened so I made 3 more trips to rescue some of the middle and senior classes who were walking back from Dundas bush. And somehow I managed to fit in Hannah's Montessori Christmas concert as well!

Plus I led worship on Sunday which I suppose explains why I am not further ahead on my synthesis. However, I am enjoying helping out children and their various school activities.

Oamaru overnight

We went up to Oamaru for Saturday night, partly to meet with members of the Maheno-Otepopo parish who want to run a holiday program during January. As it turns out, we are going to run several, plus Chris and I are able to preach at Weston while Nancy is away on holiday.

The children had a lovely time, playing in the sprinkers, a horse ride on Sunday afternoon and generally spending quality time with their grandparents. And I enjoyed a day off cooking!