Christmas in the Park

Today we celebrated Christmas by joining up with other families from church to have a BBQ at Cornwall Park.

At first it didn't feel as though we would ever get there, as it was already 1pm and we were still at home packing! We had to constantly remind our mum that we weren't travelling overseas and didn't need to bring the kitchen sink with us!

We parked quite a long way away and had to walk a long distance to get to where a couple of the families already were. There were heaps of people at the park, including a lot of Koreans! When we got there I just joined in some of the kids in playing ball while waiting for others. 

When a couple more families arrived, it was time to do some cooking! There were several barbeque's along a  stone wall nearby, and we managed to find a free one to use. My mum complained me for not helping, so I tried to help cook, but then she shunned me away for being useless! Oh well!

By then the minister's family had arrived and we just chucked a ball around and had something to eat before the minister got us together to play touch rugby. I was surprised at his enthusiasm! He only played for a few minutes before leaving the game and letting someone else take his place.

My brothers and I were on one team with the girls (Joylynn, Ruth and Jessica), up against a team made up of Jireh, Jessica's older brother, Angie, Tommy and Harris. You'd think the teams were even with them having two young boys, but well...we got wasted. I'd argue that there were differing interpretations of the rules and boundaries weren't clearly defined but it was just a game after all. We played with our small grid iron ball, so some of the Pacific Islanders nearby were probably laughing at us Asians playing touch rugby!

After playing for quite a while, I was feeling more exhausted than before with saw thighs! Talk about a good workout! It was time to eat, even though I didn't really feel too hungry! Either that or I was talking too much!

 We had plenty of meat, sausages and fruit/vegetables, and so we just sat around eating and talking before a few of the guys got up to play with the frisbee and take photos. 

We all got together for some individual family photos and then a big group photo before it was time to disperse. We played some games with each other such as Mercy and trying to push each other over as some of the families decided what to do next. 

While some decided it was time to go home, a few of us such as the Tans, the Ongs and our family decided to check out the Christmas lights down Franklin Road in Ponsonby. It was still quite light so we weren't too sure if we'd see anything.

Because it was early though, we were able to find a free car park down Franklin Road, and so Aonghas double-parked till we confirmed the Tans had a car park. While we were doing that, we had a lot of cars approach us and hover around us. We probably annoyed them all!

Once we found out where the Tans and the Ongs were (at the other end of the road), we decided to meet half way and then walked down one side of the road together checking out the lights. I'm amazed at how fast it got dark!

Once we got to the bottom of the road, we walked back up. As it got darker, the lights looked more impressive and there was one house that had heaps of lights flashing in sync to a rock version of 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody! It was probably the most impressive house we saw!

When we got to the top of the road, we then went for a 15 minute walk (although it felt much, much longer as the soreness from the touch rugby game was starting to kick in!) along Ponsonby Road to the Telecom Christmas Tree.

Harris and Tommy were quite excited to see it, and were eager to call Santa in one of the telephone boxes! There were quite a few bean bags underneath the tree, so we were able to lie there and just stare at the lights. It was quite hypnotising! I did a lot of thinking under that tree! I could sleep there for the rest of the night if I was allowed!

It was getting late and so it was time to go.

What almost seemed destined to be another boring Christmas turned out to be quite a memorable one that I really enjoyed! Hopefully our families get together again sometime to do more!