I woke up on Christmas morning with the sun blazing through the curtains in my bedroom. It was around 6:30am and already 28 degrees. Now, I’ve spent Christmas in Australia before, but I was in Sydney, it was dull and overcast and cold (well, around 22 degrees, which is cold here!). So this was pretty awesome.
It’s one of those bucket list things for me. Christmas at the beach. So that’s exactly what I intended to do.
My Christmas photo!
At home in Scotland, we always spend Christmas together as a family – myself, my Mum, my mum’s partner John, my sister Katie, my brother in law Angelos, my niece Thea and this year they have the addition of Teddy – the crazy labradoodle. I’ve gotta say that although I was quite literally ‘living the dream’ this year with a hot, sunny Christmas Day at the beach – I missed my family, I missed our wee traditions, I missed a lot of things! Everybody kept telling me how lucky I was – SO many times, but the reality is that being away from your family at Christmas time really isn’t quite as easy as it looks!
With that being said, it is safe to say that Christmas was still very much a family affair for me. With my incredible friend Carmen, her husband Jeff and Carmen’s family, I couldn’t help but feel very much part of their Christmas celebrations. We started our Christmas Day with a delicious breakfast at Leone & Ian’s house after opening presents. I am overwhelmed by the Owen family’s generosity – I am now at least 5kg heavier than I was when I arrived in Australia due to the volume of M&Ms and Haigh’s chocolate I have consumed (not to mention the amazing gluten free Tim Tams that Carmen found for me!). But that’s okay, because I was also gifted a gift card for Kunara Organics (my favourite shop on the Sunshine Coast), so I can balance that out again with some delicious healthy food hehe!
Christmas Breakfast
Carmen and Jeff went to spend the day with Jeff’s family whilst I headed to King’s Beach for a few hours to tick that Christmas on the beach bucket list item off my list! The beach was HEAVING, the buzz was incredible! There were huge families having BBQs, swimming, singing, playing music – I almost felt part of the party! It was far too hot to be lying out in the full sun, so I found an area of shade and lay and read my book for a while. The sun is seriously too strong to be deliberately lying out in it right now – unless you have a skin cancer wish!
It was time to head home and get showered and ready for dinner. I had prepared a yummy veggie dish to take with us to Carmen’s parent’s house to go with our dinner – sprouts, cranberries and pecans all roasted together with pumpkin – it was yum! We had a feast of delicious meats, potatoes, veggies and amazing ice cream cake for dessert. Oh, and not forgetting copious amounts of chocolate and sweets. Ah well, it’s only one day of the year and you’ve gotta enjoy yourself – right!?
My gluten free Tim Tams!
I am incredibly grateful to my wonderful friends and ‘adopted family’ here on the Sunshine Coast for including me as part of their family on Christmas Day. It was most definitely the best Aussie Christmas ever and I really hope that one day I can return their generosity by showing them a right guid Scottish Christmas!
Carmen & I – token cracker party hat!