Christmas is coming....

Hi Everyone,

Well Christmas is coming and the boys have finished school for the summer - didn't think I would say both of those in one sentence...seems strange! They are now off school until February....what a life eh..!

Caroline bought a lovely real tree this week and had fun putting it up and decorating it yesterday. Lots of houses have decorations up and it is amusing to see all the Father Christmas figures hanging outside especially when the weather is sunny and hot!

Sadly for me (Chris) I still have a couple of weeks work yet. I finish on 23rd and then return on 7th January. I am really looking forward to our Sydney trip aswell as going to see England play at the MCG on Boxing Day. I am hoping that my rib is better by then (I think I have cracked or bruised a rib recently playing football...what an old crock!)

Weather today has been rubbish - showers and quite windy. We went into Melbourne to visit the Immigration Museum, continuing our plan to be tourists at the weekend. It was good...but not excellent. William gave it 4/10, Sam gave it 2/10 and C&C gave it 6/10. Jack didn't come with us as we are too embarrassing...but he is making chocolate brownies for pudding tonight :-)

Last night Sam and Jack went to see the local Melbourne football derby (Heart v Victory). They went separately with their own friends but both enjoyed it - score was 3.1 to Melbourne Victory. The stadium (AAMI Park) is really lovely - the stands are in the shape of big footballs and holds about 30,000. However although there were 23,000 there last night attendances can be as low as 3,000. The World Cup would have made a huge difference to the popularity of football here so people are really disappointed that Australia didn't win the 2022 bid..

OK, must go...Caroline is cooking a beef roast...yummee. Last night we had Kangaroo steaks for tea - they are very nice with a slightly stronger flavour than beef....and cheap too!

Tonight we are going to catch up with 'Strictly'.....and I am already getting excited that it is not long to the BBC Sports Personality of the Year... :-)

Love to all.....CCJS&W x x x x x