Christmas Eve

Christmas is a strange time for us here in Australia.  I don't think any of us who were raised in the Northern Hemisphere will ever get used to a summery Christmas but we are doing our best to figure out new traditions.  I asked Anders about it and he agreed that it feels kind of like a joke, like the whole world thought up a silly plot in July to convince us that it's actually Christmas.

I can however confirm that I am mostly certain that it is actually Christmas, regardless of the sunshine and the mid-20s (77ish in F) weather.

Most of everything here shuts down for a few weeks around this time.  It takes a few days to slow down and remember.  All morning yesterday I felt like there was something pressing that I was forgetting; I confirmed a few times with Alec that no, we had no plans other than maybe going to the park later.

In an attempt to make sure we didn't spend the whole day on the couch in pajamas, we went to our favorite, Darebin Parklands.  

Clementine is walking 100% of the time when she isn't being carried.  She insisted on walking in the park even though she's still working out how to go over bumps.  (She doesn't usually make this zombie face but it was the only picture I had of her walking).  She's excelling at finding small bits of trash from the ground, even more fun if she can get them into her mouth before a grownup takes it away.

I think there is a close tie for Clementine's 4th and 5th favorite person (3rd is obviously taken up by her Grams) between Anders and Malia.  Clem gives Malia special arm rubs that not even I get.

We walked down to the creek and sat with our feet in the water.  You can't see in this picture but Clementine is already soaked and covered in mud on her butt.

Selfie!

Alec handed Clem rocks which she threw into the water.  Sometimes she crawled back into the water to pick out her favorites and throw them back in again.

Might as well just sit in the water.  After this happened we took all her clothes off and she splashed and played in the sand with only her shoes on.  Occasionally a dog swam past us or splashed on the shore, all of which Clementine found highly entertaining.  She loooooves animals almost as much as she loves playing in the dirt.

Nudit in the pack on the walk back to the car.

Today is Christmas and we have a full day ahead.  We'll have lunch at Alec's Uncle Alistair's house with other Slomans and depending on how Clem's nap does, we'll go to a barbecue at a friends house after that.  Alec has two and a half more weeks off and my next market isn't til Jan 11 so we have plenty of relaxing family time ahead.