The past few weeks have been busy and festive yet also quiet and lonely. Everyone always expects so much of December but it rarely lives up to the hype. Parties and shopping and gift giving, plenty of eating and drinking, and time with friends and family. It’s a lot of pressure for the last 31 days of the year. December to me also means my birthday which adds to the pandemonium. I celebrated my 30th trip around the sun and a couple of weeks later congratulated the Earth for completing another revolution as well.
Michael was the wonderful hype man for my big three-oh birthday. We had a fantastic time down the Bellarine peninsula relaxing and enjoying our mini vacation away from the city. There was a bit to reconcile between what I thought turning 30 was going to be and the reality of what it was. Decade birthdays tend to have a lot of pressure around them which make them difficult to enjoy. But in the end, it all turned out how it was meant to be. We had spectacular wine, yummy food and many spontaneous road trip adventures along the coast.
Our Aussie Chrissy was supposed to be sunny and beach-worthy, but instead Melbourne gave us pouring rain on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Christmas rain feels like it should be illegal in Australia! It definitely felt lonelier here as we weren’t able to be distracted by the sunshine and ocean breeze whilst tanning Christmas morning. Instead we were cooped up in the apartment watching people’s Instagram stories and missing home. But we made the best of our tiny Christmas. We made scrumptious food, finally drank the bottle of wine we bought in Italy and watched a ton of crappy Christmas movies together.
The rest of the silly season of festivities was quiet and low-key. For New Years Eve we braved the disaster of downtown to go to The Langham Hotel and watch the fireworks. Getting to and from the hotel is what nightmares are made of. The congestion of people and traffic made my claustrophobia bells go off. The city did a terrible job of managing the crowds of people making you severely regret leaving the coziness of home. Safe to say, we will not be doing that again next year!
his wedding tux jacket 😍
In other news, I have accepted a science position at a private school in Melbourne. I really have no idea how it’ll go, but it’s a good opportunity for me professionally. I will be teaching grades 8, 9 and 10 science which is squarely within my skillset (and the school seems nice).
That all being said, I’m ready to say good bye to 2023. It was a lot (some of it self-inflicted and some not) and I’m really tired. I am thankful that you’re reading this and blessed to have such beautiful people to share our life and adventures with. I hope your holiday season has been filled with love and celebrations in one form or another. Wishing you a happy 2024!
Love,
Alex & Michael
