It's Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Fiji! I never would have believed it if 22 months ago I was told we'd actually spend 2 Christmas' away from home. I hung on to our Christmas hats from last year just for this day. The Xmas songs have been blaring around the hotel all day day although it never truly feels like Christmas when it's so hot and you're use to colder weather on this day. We had no specific plans for our Christmas, just to relax and enjoy each other's company which is what Christmas is all about. We treated ourselves to a lavish breakfast and even put our names down for a Fijian style Christmas Dinner to have in the evening. One thing I desperately wanted to do was to make a sandman: a snowman basically made out of sand. Not that we ever really get to make snowmen at Christmas back home but it just felt right! After opening cards and a couple of lovely gifts from home we made our way down to the beach and had it all to ourselves. We enjoyed a coffee at the beachside cafe before setting about making our sandman. Turns out the sand on this particular beach is rather coarse so didn't bond together very well but with a little help of a waterbottle to prop him up eventually Toothy was born! Aptly named given the state of his smile. We also realised we'd started building him under a coconut tree so it was a rather speedy process for fear of being hit of the head by a falling coconut. Something apparently that quite a lot of people die from. We had considered going in the sea but after dropping off washing yesterday to the hotel we didn't really want to get lots of clothes covered in salty water again. Instead we sat enjoying the view and sound of the waves feeling lucky to be here in this moment. After returning back to the hotel and bit of lunch we did decide to take a dip in the pool, at least the water wasn't salty here. I don't know what it is about salt water but it really does make your clothes smell even when you rinse them out. We're in the habit of wearing trousers in the sea now too to protect our legs from sunburn so it would have been rather a lot of smelly items to have to pack away before we fly back to the mainland. The pool was cool and inviting and we enjoyed our swim before lying back in the hammocks to dry off. The rest of the day was filled with playing games before our Christmas dinner which was an interesting chicken dish, we're not too sure what it contained but it was still very tasty. What was so lovely about the day was being able to video call home in the evening when everyone was up and opening presents back home. Knowing we will be home soon, although no one else knows that, makes it easier to just enjoy being a part of these moments rather than longing to be there every second you're on video call. Who knows with Canada in the pipe line we may make it to 3 Christmas away from home!Meer informatie