Lets just pretend its not yet Christmas and I am not like super dooper behind in the fascinating story of my life.
Lindsay and I had been home 3 days and were feeling a little kooky from the jet-lag. We were lucky enough to be housesitting in a lovely big house for a friend of my mums. It was very quiet and with 2 cute doggies.
Our first weekend home was hectic! First we had the Mills family Christmas lunch. Pauline cooked up a delicious Christmas lunch and I got to meet Lindsay’s 13 year old cousin and godson Jamie.
That evening we went to Berowra to celebrate Sinterklaas with my family by exchanging surprises. 
Each year we all pull a name out of a hat. For that person you have to write a poem about them, buy them a gift and wrap it up in an interesting way.
For example:
Mum had Lindsay, she made him a backpack out of surgical drapes, she had sewn his presents into the bag and even into the straps of the backpack! He had to rip the thing apart to find a new toiletries bag.
I had mum. I glued a Sudoku onto the lid of the box, she had to solve the sudoku. One of the boxes on the Sudoku was highlight. That number corresponded to 1 of 5 keys. That key then undid the padlock on a wooden chest. In that chest was her present, Sudokus on serviettes from Barcelona. 
The evening was spent sitting around the table reading out our poems and opening our presents 1 by 1. 
There were Champagne cocktails for all.
Jacob and his girlfriend, Gerrie, had spent all day making Bitter ballen, a yummy Dutch, deep-fried meat ball. 
The next day was a picnic with all out friends. We went to Brennen Park. Here is Nicole and Nicholas arriving.
It was so nice for us to see lots of friends who we hadn’t seen in such a long time. 
Gerrie discovered versatile snacks.
Once everyone had arrived we relocated to a open space and with the assistance of Miss Gilbertson, the teacher on duty, everyone was sat in a big circle ready for the Sinterklaas game! Everyone had brought with 2 gifts worth $5. They were all beautifully wrapped. We had 2 dice which were passed around the circle. Everyone had a turn trying to roll a 6. If you roll 6 you may choose a present from the pile. If you roll another 6 you may choose another present. If you roll another 6 then you have to swap one of your presents with someone else’s present. You may not unwrap your presents until the end. This is where the fun part starts, because people start fighting over presents when they have no idea whats inside.
James D had one of the presents everyone had been fighting over, just as he picked it up Lindsay rolled a 6 and went to take the present from him. James didn’t want to hand it over. So Lindsay chased him, all over the park fighting to get the present off him. Lindsay walked back to the circle victorious… just as Jacob threw a 6 and took the present from Lindsay.
Another popular present was wrapped up by Jacob. It was booked shaped, big and heavy wrapped in gold paper. John and Silvia had been working together to have the present in their possession when the game finished. The timer went off and ended the game. John happily unwrapped the golden paper and much to his horror found a big, thick and very outdated book on Windows 95. The look of horror on his face was pretty much priceless.
As with any present game, once the game was over there was a lot of swapping of presents. Will swapped the makeup he had won with some lollies. Jacob acquired the pool noodle no one wanted and I some how wound up with the fuzzy purple ostrich pen I had bought but not won.
The highlight of the day was when a little dog passing by, urinated in an open bag of corn chips.
It had everyone laughing uncontrollably for 10 minutes! Best gift ever. 
