Merry Christmas everyone!

I hope wherever you are in the world, you’re eating lots, napping lots and drinking lots.I currently have a tummy full of Lindt chocolate and crackers with cheese. Yum yum yum.
Early yesterday (Saturday) morning, my boyfriend and I took the 6 hour drive up to the Bay of Plenty where Nathan’s parents live. We left around 5am and arrived in sunny Tauranga just before lunch time.

We had an early Christmas last weekend with my parents back home in Wellington as we planned to spend Christmas with Nathan’s parents and his 2 older sisters for Christmas day instead.

When we arrived, we had a lovely lunch Nathan’s mum made us with Chicken and Cranberry Pizza slices, a home made salad and some burgers. I wasn’t sure how I was going to fit dinner in after that!

Luckily, Nathan’s sister Rebecca and I decided to take a walk to the local grocery store so we could get some ingredients for cocktails and a Chocolate Pie I decided to make for Christmas day. We must have burnt off some calories because we were sweating when we got back home! (It wasn’t even that far, I’m just not used to this warm Tauranga weather) we also took the family dog, Jasper down to the beach for his ‘Last beach visit’. He’s very old (90 in dog years) so he can’t leave the house much without his poor legs hurting. 😥 Nathan’s parents don’t think he has many doggie years left in him so the beach was a nice outing for him.

When we eventually made it home from the beach, I started to make my chocolate pies – just the base and filling – then I finished them off with chocolate ganache this afternoon so they’ll be all ready for dessert tonight 😄

If you’ve never been to New Zealand, defintaly try and come over at Christmas time as the weather is much nicer. According to my phone, it’s 23° outside which makes it a true Kiwi Summer Christmas.

Many of you readers overseas will be celebrating Christmas with the fire going, a roast turkey and if you’re lucky, some snow falling outside your window! Here in New Zealand (and Australia) we eat lots of strawberries, have a BBQ outside and head to the beach for some afternoon swimming if the sun is scortching. I love Christmas in NZ but I’ve always wanted to spend a Christmas overseas where it’s Winter and I can put on a silly Christmas jumper with snowmen all over it.
I unfortunately slept in a little bit this morning so I probably held up Nathan’s family with present opening, but when I eventually got ready we all sat next to the Christmas Tree and presents were passed round. In my boyfriends family, we do Secret Santa (or as some call it, Kris Kringle) where we each bought a present for someone we drew out of a hat a few months before.

In the end, I received way more presents than I was expecting! My secret Santa got me a bucket of salted caramel cookies and this really cool dress to wear – which I ended up wearing all day.

Not to mention, Nathan’s parents spoiled me too with PJ’s, lotto scratchies and chocolates.

From Nathan I got a Glasshouse Candle which I’d been not-so-subtly hinting for him to get me as well as some Freddy Wrap Up Pants (Google them, they make your ass look great) and this cute glass container with lots of pieces of paper where he’d written ‘date ideas’ on 😍 he’s so cute!

I gave him his Christmas present back in November when it was his birthday – a trip to Rarotonga! So we’ve both been very spoilt this year.

After opening presents, Nathan’s dad cooked up a BBQ breakfast with bacon, sausages, mushrooms and tomatoes while Suzanne (Nathan’s mum) worked away in the kitchen making French toast, Eggs and Croissants.

It seems like all we’re doing is eating!

After brunch, we all pretty much lazied around the house. Everything is usually shut on Christmas day and no one had any energy to do much anyways. I watched a little bit of ‘Making of a murderer’ on Netflix while everyone else either had a nap or went for a walk.

Around 3pm, Nathan and I eventually decided to get out of the house and headed to Mount Mauganui beach where lots of tourists where laying on the beach or having a swim. It was warm today, but not warm enough to be swimming – in my opinion. Plus it was a bit windy so after our walk, we took a few photos and then headed back home.

The rest of the afternoon we just hung around the house for around bit. I watched some more netflix and we all played some card games before a BBQ dinner with the family.

Boxing day sales tomorrow! I hope there’s some good bargains because my bank account is not feeling very generous this month 😯

We’re staying in Tauranga until after New Years as we’re heading to a festival called Bay Dreams while we’re here from the 1st-2nd of January. It’s basically like a way smaller version of Glastonbury where people camp and listen to live music. If the sun’s shining, it’ll be great! 🌞🌞

Xx