Merry Superchilled Christmas

I'm lying naked in bed in the far north. It's warm and the sound of the ocean is lazing its way into the room. It's certainly not the White Christmas of last year. Santa has made a comeback this year though and any time now will be heading down our chimney to deliver gifts for the newest addition to the family. We had been debating the institution of Santa this year, and whether he would be alive and kicking for Amélie's first Christmas. The stranger danger, the stupid red hot suit, the lying to your child issues have been put aside and we're embracing the unique childhood fantasy that is Christmas time. And I love it. There are stocking out already filled with gifts as with evidence of a hastily departing man in a red suit. Santa has been kind to us all and delivered the most gorgeous men to the beaches and quite frankly everywhere around here, so I'm thanking him every day, tomorrow Amélie will get to have her own fun.

Let the games begin.

Merry Christmas everyone.

So THAT was Christmas

I've had Christmas already.

No I mean it, I've had it, celebrated, eaten the celebratory food, opened the gifts, sat back and chatted with relatives about life the universe and almost everything, including all too often medical problems. We've celebrated early as my family is essentially flying off to various corners of the earth for Christmas day and it was the last time we could get together before parting ways. With a little'un in tow there have been a lot of gaps: the events and discussions that happened while I was getting her off to sleep or feeding etc, which just adds to the mayhem of what is already a chaotic day, the end of which is filled with sighs and exasperated collapses into lounges back at home.

This year has also seen me take our daughter, holding her in her front pack (where she's sitting strapped on the front of me) to the kids Christmas party we hold for patients at our practice, with The Frenchman coming as well. It was a little daunting, as it's the first time we've been together at an essentially public function locally as a couple with a kid... and certainly a lot of attention was directed our way. Some quite invasive questioning also followed from people who were at least interested in our set up, but after a while one does tire of explaining everything. I guess this is what it's like being a frontrunner in this part of the country where co-parenting is as common as carbon neutral coal.

Now that the big events are over, it's plain sailing to the actual Christmas Day, and I'm quite looking forward to it.

Awesome Weekend

So I've woken up at 7am, at the latest, every day (including Friday) this weekend, and it has been such an intensely FULL weekend. I love it. I absolutely loved it, not all aspects mind you, but the overall rating is certainly way up there. The not so fab bits, well, they weren't all that bad in the grand scheme of things. The fab, oh so good.

I feel like I need a shower, though I've only recently had one. It's that feeling you get when you've been at the beach much of the day, a little bit of sun and wind making the skin feel that little bit, hmm, summerised. It was my first ocean swim for the year, and I powered through it and surprised myself with a placing. Big smile from me the rest of the afternoon. And what an afternoon. Weather they pick out for postcards and travel ads. Cocktails on the deck watching the waves, the setting sun, and a summer barbecue to finish it all off. The Frenchman managed to find the solitary blue bottle in the whole of the ocean on this perfect day today, and it attacked him like a frenzied shark (well, ok , it hurt). But he made it through like a trooper, finished the race and achieved a lot more.

Saturday night I escaped to see Jay Brannan in concert. He was fantastic. The warm up act was so so, and everyone was chatting like it was just background music at a bar (and in that time I caught up with friends and met someone from way back who quite surprised me). Then Jay came on and he had everyone's complete attention. There were no conversations happening, full on focus on the man of the moment on the last performance in his world "I suck at life" tour. I love his humour, though some may not. His music is a lot of fun, sometimes moving, some times hilarious, and the live performance was sensational, a natural and easygoing performer with stunning vocal ability. I'm so glad I managed to get there and had some friends who took me in.

Amélie had her first sleep over without her mum on the weekend. Stressful for her mum, but exciting for her dads! It was a lot of fun. She's always a lot of fun and so easy. It's so easy in fact it feels like I'm not really being a dad at all, it's supposed to be hard work isn't it? I mean there's a lot to do, but once I'm awake, it's not so hard.

I'm voting for more of these weekends, and more of the people who take them that step above the ordinary.

photos from the bondi to bronte ocean swim site