Summer...

We are officially well into summer now, a season hotly anticipated by those of us peasants who like picnics, dips in the ocean, fresh seafood and drinks on balmy evenings. Another reason summer is so great is that there seems to be so many more ways to tire out the kids...and sun dresses are the easiest uniform to don day in, day out.
Summer in Sydney is getting off to a wobbly start, there has been so much rain and humidity -with some parts of NSW succumbing to severe flooding. The irony is not lost on areas that have been plagued with drought for the last few years. I am imagining the water will eventually sink away, much like the excess water in a freshly watered pot-plant. That's not very scientific. 
Bottoms up, thirsty earth.

This year our family is heading back to New Zealand to spend the holiday with my family and I just can't wait! It'll be my fist Christmas in NZ since 2005. I have never spent it with my nephews and now my mother will be able to witness all of her grandchildren trying out their new toys and chasing each other on the beach (while I sit back and observe, pimms in hand). Until then though, there are a few final lose ends I need to tie up.
Because we are spending Christmas away from home we haven't bought a Christmas Tree this year, so our house is rather bereft of the Christmas spirit...I always (well, since having kids) envisioned making festive cookies, while carols (?!) echo throughout the house. Our home would be decorated within an inch of it's life and I'd master cooking a turkey to perfection while family members marvel at my craftiness/festivity/cleverness.
In reality I make endless to-do lists, panic about whether or not the gifts are enough, where I can buy the last few and how I'm going to fit everything in the suitcase as well as packing for all of us. I am actually exhausted from all the planning.


And then a news story like this happens, giving a little perspective.
This isn't a political blog -clearly- but this is a matter of the heart. Anyone with an ounce of empathy surely feels sh*t at hearing that. 


But how's this for a scenario...you have a small, young family, you live somewhere completely f*****, you make a considered decision to risk your and your children's lives so they can have a shot at happiness and while taking a treacherous journey to a country you think you can make a life in. 
You hit the shoreline, the boat smashes into pieces and your family suffer unimaginably. You can't save your babies. All at a place called 'Christmas Island'. I feel so sad about this, especially for the children and babies who lost their lives and for their families who mourn them... and there are my two babies, rolling on the floor right now, fighting over sultanas. 
How stark a contrast. How lucky we are. 
How trivial worrying about packing to see my family is. I feel ten times as grateful now just to be seeing them, even if I packed nothing, forgot all the gifts, swimmers, dummies, clothes -it would still be the greatest Christmas because we are together.

(photo via weheartit.com)