Christmas in the Country

It was a family Christmas this year, spent with my daughter Nicky and her family in rural Kiwitea.  But first, time to pack the caravan, moving the van from it’s parking area to the car park outside out home.  Here we can plug into power to get the fridge cold, and make the necessary trips from the house to the van, carrying food and clothes.  And most importantly, don't forget the family Christmas presents.

Caravan in front of our home

We left home on Saturday, an easy drive through the back roads to Kiwitea .Son-in-law Robert helped guide Robin back the caravan into place, but there was an oopsie when he backed over Nicky’s favourite avocado tree.  There was a loud “snap”, but luckily it was the wooden stake which broke, the tree trunk bent and survived to keep on growing.

Here for Christmas

You know you are in the country when you see plenty of hay bales.  And someone on this farm arranged a few bales with happy faces on the road side.  Just the thing to make a couple of townies happy.

Happy hay bales

We called into the local honey shop, Down Under Honey, hoping to find some comb honey.  Yes, they had some in the shop, and we happily purchased some.  We drove down the drive past a group of ostriches on this property, always interesting to see these regal looking birds.

Ostriches at Down Under Honey

Christmas morning was wet and showery, as the weatherman promised.  The traditional family Christmas breakfast here is always warm croissants with ham and cheese, very tasty indeed.  Then it was time to open the presents.  Granddaughter Emma was the Christmas Elf in charge of giving out the gifts.

Emma loves Christmas

After all that activity it was time to get the barbeques out and get cooking for Christmas lunch.  We had brought up a rolled pork loin and Robin soon had it cooking nicely – our Weber BBQ is great for cooking roasts and it certainly smelt delicious.

Rolled pork loin for Christmas lunch

Nicky had prepared another old favourite, chicken breasts stuffed with cream cheese and apricots, and wrapped in bacon.  Robert fired his BBQ up and got cooking too, these needed turning often to make sure all the chicken was properly cooked through.  Delicious!

Robert cooking the chicken bacon roll-ups

The weather cleared up late morning so we could eat outside on the deck.  Neighbours arrived, and we settled down to lunch.  With pork, chicken, various salads and the neighbour’s home made rye bread, we were very well fed indeed.  Glasses of bubbly were raised in a toast, and everyone was quiet as we enjoyed our delicious meal.  After a respite it was time for desserts.  Granddaughter Megan had made a layered berry meringue dessert, simple but so delicious, plus a chocolate cheesecake.  And the neighbor had brought along a chocolate mousse.  We  were certainly well fed.

It was a lovely afternoon indeed, and I have to admit that we both sneaked away from the festivities for a quiet nana nap in the caravan.  Merry Christmas to all our friends and readers, thanks for reading and wishing you all a lovely day.  Take care on the roads if you are traveling this holiday season.