Merry Christmas and Happy 2026!!!!

It's Christmas!!!!! Hannah (and sometimes me) always love Christmas.. there's presents, Christmas trees, family gatherings, cod fish cakes and snow... so what's not to love about Christmas. For this year,, I was telling Hannah, I haven't been back home (due to work and such), and I have been looking forward to this trip.

Our jeep (named Jeepy) is nearly 300,000 miles (and 25 years old). While it is still in relatively good shape, it's a bit drafty while on the road. You can feel the cold air coming in on the passenger's side, so we made sure to stock up with travel blankets, snacks, drinks, and we are on our way North! We had to stop at Portillo's (https://www.portillos.com/index.html) on our way because we missed the Italian Beef Sandwiches. It's just as good as we remembered :) 

Mom's Christmas tree was so pretty! I enjoyed the festivity it brings to the room, especially, this year because Hannah and I were late in putting up our Christmas trees (yes TREES - we usually have one in the living room, and a smaller one upstairs) due to just overwhelming amount of work. There was a sense of comfort with the familiar routine of Christmas - pasties and fried chicken, snowy walk around Fumee Lake, cod fish dinner at Aunt Lisa and Uncle Jim's place, family games, present opening, Friday Fish Fry C&R, Champagne (on the New Year's eve countdown) and Black-eye pea on New Year's Day.

We love (and who doesn't) a white Christmas! And white Christmas we had! There was a snow storm on Christmas Day, and it was magical!

Here is where 2025 became a memory! Happy 2026 everyone!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Celebrating Christmas in New Zealand is always a challenge - it is summer here, and there is no snow, no cold weather, and hot chocolate just doesn't seem nice on such a hot day! However, Hannah and I decided that we should start our small family Christmas tradition - starting with stockings, fish cakes and duck! :)

We got three Christmas stockings - one for Hannah, one for Jet and Lilith, and the other one is for me. We were giggling at the Christmas stockings because one of them has Santa holding an umbrella and the other Santa is upside down!

On Christmas Eve, Hannah wanted to make cod fish cake, just like what we had when we were back home in Iron Mountain. However, cod fish here is extremely rare and expensive. Thus, we have to use Hoki as a substitute. Hannah was nervous but I assured her that it will turn out good. Indeed, it was wonderful, and the homemade cocktail sauce was delicious as well.

Hannah had some Christmas lights up on the deck. It lit up the deck at night and was very beautiful. The next day (Christmas Day), we woke up early in the morning and was excited to see what were in the stockings. It was full of nice surprises and presents. The only thing that did not "survive" was the chocolate that I bought for Hannah - the warm summer weather melted the chocolate into this "colorful" mess!

For dinner, we had roast duck, potatoes and spicy kale salad. We had bought a bottle of mead from the road trip with my mom and sis, and had a glass with dinner as well. Although we did not have a white Christmas, it was a great lovely day with a gorgeous sunset.

Merry Christmas

We had a few friends who came and join us for Christmas celebration. We had a not-so-Christmas-dinner with BBQ. The weather wasn't really cooperating, and instead of the long-awaited sun, it was raining throughout the Christmas holiday. The food was great, alcohol was plenty, and the company is priceless.

We invited friends who had no family in NZ, and we felt that nobody should be alone during this festive season. They definitely brought joy to our celebration. Demi (one of the girls) had never tried Gin and Tonic before, so she was skeptical when Hannah offered her a glass. However, to Hannah's surprise, and Demi's delight... Gin and Tonic may turn out to be just her favorite drink now. Demi was VERY unwilling to share it with anyone else, and she drank the whole glass within 10mins!... Her face was all red, and she was blissfully drunk :)

BBQ!

Michael is the official grill master

Lydia

Christine and Demi... chilling with Hannah on our red-neck couch

Crystal and Aaron

My xmas gifts - running socks
and scuba cutting device (Triobite)

Hannah is happy with her xmas present

... interchangeable knitting needles

Doggies have been bad the whole year,
and get coals for xmas presents :P