The ghost of Christmas past

Ahh Christmas, how you love to creep up on us all. It got me thinking about Christmases that have gone before...

2005 - Our first Xmas in Auckland. I insisted on having a tree. You can't really tell from the bad photo, but it is decorated with white agapanthus flowers, burgundy and silver ribbons, matching baubles and candy canes. Xmas day was spent apart. I went to Nana's and Mr Jones went to his parents house.

2006 - Xmas together alone at Solscape (comes with my highest recommendation) in Raglan. No need to cook a meal, we just grazed on snacks. Extremely relaxing and indulgent, although I'm not sure if our families have forgiven our selfishness.

2007 - Xmas day at Nana's new house with my immediate family and Uncle. I had a pescatarian feast! Mr Jones at parents. The evening was spent at Mum's and with the cousins.

2008 - Xmas together again. At Mr Jones' parent's for a delicious BBQ lunch. Needless to say the evening was spent asleep on the sofa too full to move!

It can be tricky juggling two families needs at Xmas, but family is important so we keep juggling. This year the plan is:

Xmas day BBQ at Mr Jones' parent's place. Xmas evening travelling down the line for Boxing day celebrations with my side of the family. I would love to have a tree and trimmings but I'm not sure if I feel christmassy enough yet.

Urewera National Park School Camp

School camp with my brother and 49 other 11-13 year olds was an experience I will never forget.

Especially the seven hour day tramp! It was 700 metres uphill (twice the height of the Sky Tower) and covered about 12kms in distance.

Honeymoon

Here are some photos from our trip around the East Coast - now officially known as 'Eastland'.

What I have been doing while not blogging

Here's a brief update:

Have seen two movies - Coco Avant Chanel and Sunshine Cleaning. I liked the first one more than the second one.

Coco Avant Chanel is not a good movie if you actually want to know about Coco Chanel. But it is a biopic so I guess a bit of embellishment is to be expected. I really liked the costuming and set design. Audrey Tautou is fantastic. I like the sincerity she brings to this role. But I thought the ending was a bit abrupt and over-laboured.

Sunshine Cleaning was just okay. Once again a poorly ended movie. I am guessing it must be a hard task to come up with a good ending for a movie... maybe?

Also went alone to one of the talks in the series of Mayoral Conversations. Last night was Rita Justesen talking about the revitalisation of the Copenhagen waterfront. Unfortunately, the venue was truly appalling. Aotea Centre 'conference facilities' are not good at all. The room was the wrong size and shape, so no one could properly see or hear the speaker. The screens for projecting the presentation on to were too low. As a result everyone was bobbing side to side, up and down and arching their necks to see. I would like to point out that it is advertised on The Edge's website as being "New Zealand’s premier conference destination, an unrivalled complex in which to do business." I beg to differ. So as you can tell this was a big distraction in being able to enjoy the event.

My conclusion on the mayoral conversation series: Don't go. The wine is no longer good, the venue isn't likely to be either, the speakers are okay, and the dumb questions people ask are likely to annoy you. In the future I am planning to watch them on YouTube.

On the up side, I am now thinking of adding Denmark onto my list of places to go. It looks pretty. Copenhagen - "It's Chic. It's Exciting." And it has interesting architecture. Maybe my love of architecture and interest in urban planning is thanks to my Danish ancestry?!

Some photos of Copenhagen from: VisitCopenhagen.com