Christmas time turned out to be a great time for Marshall and I in the Land Down Under. It was tough and weird to be away from family during this time but people from the club went out of their way to make us feel at home during the holiday season. Christmas Eve was a rather uneventful day as the day before Christmas isn’t as big in Australia, as Boxing Day (the 26th) is more of a public holiday. I ended up making it to Mass on Christmas Eve, but showed up about ten minutes late and the church was packed so ended up listening to Christmas Mass sitting outside the church on the grass under the sun. After I got home from church, Marshall and I decided that we didn’t want to be sitting alone by ourselves on Christmas Eve and wanted to go be around people. There was really only one option for us to go that would be open, the casino. It was our first trip to the casino since we’ve been here, but it was fun and good to be around people. For the record I contributed to the Australian Economy that night, and Marshall won some cash. I swear that blackjack dealer was cheating me.
Christmas Day was very nice. We had 3 stops at club member’s families to go to on the day, and also turned down numerous other invitations to other families homes. We started the day by going to the beach, just to say that we went to the beach on Christmas Day. We got there at around 9 am and the beach was already packed, families were there barbequing, swimming and enjoying the good weather. Apparently going to the beach on XMAS day is a pretty common family tradition in the Land Down Under. After the beach we headed to the Saupold family’s home. Warwick and Craig Saupold both play at the club, with Warwick who’s 19 playing State League level and Craig who’s 21 playing at the Reserve level. The father Tony Saupold is a great guy, very helpful at the club and helps paint the lines at the field every couple of weeks. The mother Dee is very nice and an avid club supporter. Along with inviting Marshall and I to lunch, they also had a two father-son pairings who were also Americans at the lunch. There was a Goodwill under 18 series going on during this time, and the Saupold’s were the two players host families for the tournament. It was a great lunch that included ham, turkey, and tons of prawns. I ate a lot of prawns! The family was generous enough to get the two of us a Christmas gift and they got us each the traditional Australian Bushman’s hat. The corks hanging down from the hat are intended to discourage the flies from attacking your face. It was a cool gift, and we wore them the rest of the day.
Christmas Day was very nice. We had 3 stops at club member’s families to go to on the day, and also turned down numerous other invitations to other families homes. We started the day by going to the beach, just to say that we went to the beach on Christmas Day. We got there at around 9 am and the beach was already packed, families were there barbequing, swimming and enjoying the good weather. Apparently going to the beach on XMAS day is a pretty common family tradition in the Land Down Under. After the beach we headed to the Saupold family’s home. Warwick and Craig Saupold both play at the club, with Warwick who’s 19 playing State League level and Craig who’s 21 playing at the Reserve level. The father Tony Saupold is a great guy, very helpful at the club and helps paint the lines at the field every couple of weeks. The mother Dee is very nice and an avid club supporter. Along with inviting Marshall and I to lunch, they also had a two father-son pairings who were also Americans at the lunch. There was a Goodwill under 18 series going on during this time, and the Saupold’s were the two players host families for the tournament. It was a great lunch that included ham, turkey, and tons of prawns. I ate a lot of prawns! The family was generous enough to get the two of us a Christmas gift and they got us each the traditional Australian Bushman’s hat. The corks hanging down from the hat are intended to discourage the flies from attacking your face. It was a cool gift, and we wore them the rest of the day.
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