A family Christmas - Take 2, Dec/Jan 2020

A bee enjoying a sunflower at Mum and Dad's

We booked a month long sit in rural Otaki over Christmas as Clare's parents and sister, and some of the nieces and nephews, live in the area.

Our sit turned out to be a dream.  We had the most adorable wee dog, Monty, and his cat sister, Raglan to care for. 

These two are such characters.  Monty is the most joyous little dog and it's almost impossible not to have a great day when he's around.  He loves his sister very much.  The feeling is not always mutual.  In fact, the funniest thing we have ever seen is the cat chasing the dog clear across the lawn!

Not quite brave enough to make an advance .....

Enjoying daily morning snuggles

Something of a truce going on here ;-)

We had Christmas dinner with the family in Wellington, enjoying a pot luck feast fit for kings and queens. Our contribution being some venison pies with meat harvested by our  own fair hands.

Just some of the family we enjoyed Christmas dinner with

We had such a fun time with the family over this holiday period.  Monty very much enjoyed the company of the children especially.

Ari and Mabel, all the way from London

Mum and Dad (and Monty) enjoying the three
generations of family they created

Bubble fun!

Trying to make up the sofa bed with a three year old!

Quiet time with this one

A rare still moment with master five

And still the feasting went on ....

Venison steak, potatoes from the garden
and homemade coleslwaw w homemade may)

Plum cobbler, compliments of the tree in the yard

We also managed to freeze a couple of bags of plums as we realised the family who owned the property were missing out on this year's harvest.

Monty had so much fun at the beach during this time.

There was also the odd adventure to be had in the yard.

Monty wrangling a hedgehog

After the visitors had all left and the adventures of the day were done, there was always time to recharge the batteries.

This is how the lights went down on our Christmas holidays.  Great fun was had by all!

Leaving behind a gift created from the garden and beach