Possibly the BEST christmas EVER

Merry Christmas!!!!!

It's boxing day for me actually but you get the idea.

My Franz Josef, New Zealand christmas was very possibly the best christmas yet. I've always wanted to go a year without celebrating christmas. I always wanted to just go away and be alone for it; skip all the drama and hubbub and whatnot. Not that I'm a christmas grump; I just find the whole thing over-rated, anti-climactic, and even a little bit shallow. I love my family and enjoy the getting together part of it, I LOVE my christmas carols and the decorations. It's just the stress part of it I can more than do without, and the commercial side of it that makes me feel sad and jaded.

But here, there are no stores and I have no tv. I didn't get anything but good cheer and love for christmas and that's all I wanted.

On christmas eve I worked until 9pm, went to visit a friend and bought myself a bottle of gin, then visited some more friends and watched a bit of Bridget Jones' Diary (one of my favorite movies) while eating their food (they made me do it!). After that the "festivities" began: I headed to the bar where there was supposed to be a raging party - there wasn't. But I danced up a storm none-the-less while I waited for more people to show up. Once they did, I managed to get eveyone on the balcony singing christmas carols at the top of our lungs! At midnight the bar had to close because in NZ you can't buy/sell alcohol on christmas day. There was a plan to head out the Glacier Compound (the little group of flats where I live) for a keg party - and party we did, singing carols all the way there. Any group of people on the street that we past were told to follow for the celebration. by the time we got to the appointed house it was a huge group! I can't remember the last house party I went to (oh wait, yes I do, it was at Guin and Ryan's old house - good times...). Anyways, the party was off the hook and I loved it. Every once in a while you would just hear a group of people burst into singing christmas carols, and yes, I was almost always in that group. There were even people on the roof! Hilarious!

The next day I got up to feed the kitten next door and played with him while talking to Chelsey on the phone. That's what christmas should be. Simple and genuine. I felt so content, I didn't want for anything else. I also got a call from one of the girls I became friends with here who left. It was so unexpected and so incredibly sweet! I was elated! In the afternoon I went to a place called the Forks where some friends were swimming, then we went to lake Okarito to watch a cricket game between the Forks folks and the Okarito people. It was beautiful - both in weather and sentimentality. The whole time I felt so happy and warm just to be there. It was awesome. For dinner we came home, I just did my own thing which was a bit lonely. I was really tired too from drinking during the day so I ended up taking a nap until like 10pm. Then I just went next door and played with the kitten and watched some tv alone. It was good though. I felt ok.

So that's it. One for the history books of mine. Today I'll just relax - it's raining again too. Tomorrow I'm going skydiving if the weather holds out. I'll blog about that too once I get a chance. I hope everyone at home has a wonderful christmas. Savour every moment that you can. I'm thinking of you and with you all in spirit!

love Chelsea