Issue # 52 - The Christmas Chronicle

. December 2011 .

It's roundabout Christmas....

Hello again!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to both of our readers. We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and that 2012 is a good one for you.

Pretty much a Christmas themed issue this month, with a lead up to Christmas and then the usual New Years antics. Oh, there's a couple of sporting events thrown in, just for balance.

Enjoy the read!

Diving

Not many months go by without a dive happening. December was no different. Michelle, Dave and Sam went for a nice dive at Eden Rock, with lots of swim throughs and fish! It was the first time they managed to find and dive the Devils Grotto at this site - it helped to have a pre-dive briefing from the local dive instructor as there was no way they would have found it themselves!

To see the rest of our latest dive pics, click on this link:

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Cayman Islands Marathon

The marathon was held here in early December. Sam and Jake took part in the kid's marathon, which involved a quick 800 metre trot around town, finishing at the Marathon Finish line.
Jake took off like a cut cat and Sam took the more controlled approach.

Pre race nerves...

Michelle and three friends entered in the relay event which was approximately 10km each around the marathon route. They came in in a fairly decent time and took out the title for the women's team event, despite yet another emergency bathroom stop for Michelle!

3/4 of the Team Award ceremony

School Concert
Jake had his end of year Christmas concert early in the month. They recited a poem with actions and some singing which was really well done.

Tag Rugby Tournament
Both Sam and Jake made it into their respective teams for the Inter Schools Tag Rugby tournament held at the Rugby club.
It was a hot day and they had a few games to play. They both enjoyed their games beating 'almost' all of the opposition and coming out in the top group. They didn't play finals but their school came away with the trophy...again, although one of the lesser-known rugby schools managed to upset the more favoured opposition which is good for the future of this event.
Sam on the burst!

Jake shows a clean pair of heals to score

Christmas Visitors

Grandad and Val flew in just before Christmas. The kids were so excited to see them and have been entertaining them ever since!

They have been spending their days re-acquainting themselves with the Island (and the kids!) and by night getting dragged to the various parties and gatherings that happen to be on at the time. They've also had a bit of beach time, sme relaxation time by the pool and fingers crossed, will get out on a boat this coming weekend.

Christmas Parties

Michelle's work Christmas party was a lot less formal this year. It was a relaxed Caribbean theme, held around the pool, where they had the Karaoke cranked up and the bar working overtime. Michelle must have had one or two drinks as after warming up her voice with a couple of the girls she sang a solo - "I will Survive" - and she did (barely)! It went down well enough (or at least seemed to) that she kept on singing (mostly with others) for the a large part of the rest of the night. They then went on to a bar and a nightclub for some dancing to end a great evening. Her voice paid for it though as she could hardly talk for the next few days (which is not always a bad thing!).

The boys had a night out on the Friday before Christmas where they roamed the town spreading their Christmas cheer.

The Mojitos were popular

Jingle Bell Fun Run

Two days after Michelle's Christmas do Dave & Michelle joined about 25 of Michelle's workmates for the 5/10km Jingle Bell walk/run. They had entered before the day and committed themselves for the 10km run, while the kids did the 5km run/walk. The kids had a great time, with Jake going out pretty hard and having to walk a bit at times, while Sam and her friend took it at a more leisurely pace and hada good chinwag along the way. Dave and Michelle did well in the first 5km but struggled in the 2nd - it was a 5km course so they had to do it twice which was as bit of a mental as well as physical challenge. Michelle was aiming to do under 50 minutes so was disappointed to be 39s over it with the same time as the last 10km run she had done - she was regretting the little walk she had at the water stop and the premature sprint at the end - cost her a PB! It wasn't all bad - at least she bet Dave again though! The other great thing was that because so many of Michelle's work participated, the charity qualifies for a $7000 donation from Michelle's work's Charity Foundation.

Christmas

On Christmas eve we headed around to our friends Lisa and Mick's house for a few quiet drinks around the pool. It was a nice low-key affair with lots of nibbles and a similar amount of liquid refreshment.

In the morning the kids were up on the dot of Seven (as previously instructed) and excitedly woke the other bodies slumbering in the house.

Santa had been!

The Christmas pressies were distributed, the bubbly was opened, the croissants were cooked and breakfast was served.

Merry Christmas!

The dining hall...

After Breakfast it was around to the Rowland's for drinks and nibbles, and there was plenty of both!

Then at about 2pm it was back to our place to set up for the big Christmas dinner where we were to seat 25 people in one sitting.

Jake says "Pass the salt!!!"

Christmas lights on Moon Base Alpha

Christmas lights at one of the houses down the street

And back to the Christmas Dinner. Everyone arrived. Some bearing cooked turkeys, others with sides of Beef, Veges and the like. Our job was to provide the venue, the potatoes (roasted as well as mashed) and some Pigs in a Blanket (which apparently is an English Christmas tradition) and desert.

It was all very nice and we managed to fit all 25 diners in the 'dining hall' on one very long table. Kids at one end and bigger folk at the other. It was perfect!

No complaints about the food!

Kids are happy too!

Gordon and Val brought over two Christmas puddings from NZ which proved popular. Yes, we even flambayed them with brandy.

Everyone ate until they burst and then sat around trying to wash some of the food down. It was a long, entertaining, fantastic day with our good friends and family (it was fantastic having family here to celebrate with - who's coming next year?!).

Boxing Day

Boxing day (aka Sam's birthday) was next.

The birthday girl was up early and pretty excited about having a second day of opening presents.

That done we collected a couple of her friends and took them out to breakfast at the Britannia Golf Club. It was very nice - outside, looking over a lake with a fountain and the golf course. After that it was off to the Rugby club for the annual President's v Captain's match. It was a very entertaining game and this was followed by another Christmas dinner and bubbles courtesy of the club.

The following day it was off to Governor's beach for a small gathering of people where we sat about and compared the sizes of everyones tummy after the Christmas feasts.

It was back to work for us for a couple of days, then off to Smith's Cove after sneaking off work early on New Year's Eve Eve. A lovely start to another busy, long weekend. The afternoon started with a couple of quiet drinks at the beach and, unexpectedly, ended up a pretty late night at our house and a number of bottles of wine later - a couple of tiddly girls!

The kids had fun leaping off the rocks and plummeting into the water six feet below.

New Years Eve

This picture was taken back in 1912

New Years Eve started around at a friends place where each year they entertain the kids with lots of sparklers and fireworks. We should point out that fireworks are freely available here and you can buy almost anything you like all year round. Some single rockets costing hundreds of dollars, depending on how much you want to spend and how big a bang you want. There are surprising few injuries though. Having said that, it brought back memories of last Xmas and New Year when there were quite a few rogue fireworks - one that turned 180degrees and got someone in the shorts; one massive multiple one that fell over after the first one went off and shot the rest horizontally in all directions around the backyard causing people to dive left right and centre; and another lot that shot in the wrong direction resulting in one adult doing a spectacular dive acress in front of the kids to ensure they didn't get hurt. Many of us stood far back and behind trees with trepidation but this year they seemed to behave. It gets dark here at about 6:30 in the winter so you don't have to stay up late when you are having fireworks so the little kids get to enjoy them without staying up too late either. The sparklers were a hit as usual.

After that is was around to Russ and Tonya's for a New Years Eve Beach party. Three were about 60 or so people at their party with another two parties just next door. There was a heap of food as well as drink, good music and good company.

They had a massive bonfire and more fireworks and everyone had a blast. This was the first time we had New Year's on the beach - it was absolutely brilliant. Many others do the same so you get to enjoy loads of fireworks and the atmosphere is great! We'll definitely do that again!

The boys doing what boys do!

The girls doing what girls do!

Our awesome hosts

New Year's Day

So, here we are. Unconscious. It's 10 am on New Years Day. Not a peep in the house. Dave wakes and feels a bit peckish. He stumbles to the kitchen, rummages around and comes up with Bacon, Eggs, Mushrooms and toast for six people. The hangovers were soon a thing of the past and off we went, chilly bin and blender in hand and arrived back at Governor's beach. The venue for the Annual New Year's Day gathering.

Dave managed to scrounge up a Speights for his first (daylight) beer of 2012.

We chose our spot and set up the umbrellas, chairs, tables, chilly bins, cookers and last but not least...blender and generator.

The food was cooking, the beers were soon flowing again and before long the blender was grinding away making another batch of Mudslides. We had a fantastic day with a great (huge in fact) group of friends. What a way to start the New Year!

The numbers grow...

Mick's School of Mud is back in operation

Love those mudslides....

Well, that's about it for the December issue.

Hopefully January will bring us a little more exercise and a little less partying (although that is doubtful).

Grandad and Val are here for another week. There's the start of the Gaelic season and a few other things going on so we should have some newsworthy stuff for you.

For the rest of the Xmas and New Year pics, click on this link:
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