The 12 Days of Christmas

My family has a tradition of opening 12 small presents on each of the days leading up to Christmas.  Accompanying each gift, we sing the appropriate parts of the popular holiday song, "The 12 Days of Christmas."  This year, my mom sent Brett 12 gifts along with mine and we have been opening the gifts and singing together every morning.  It took him until Day 3 to tell me that there was an Aussie version of this song!  Anyway, I am in love with this and am now going to have us sing both versions before we open our gifts every year.  For the benefit of my family reading this (Brett says it is not worth typing in the American version since his family will know it), here is the Aussie 12 Days of Christmas lyrics:

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me an emu up a gum tree
On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me two pink galahs
On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me three kookaburras laughing
On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me four lyrebirds
On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me five kang-a-roos
On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me six broglas laying
On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me seven koalas climbing
On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me eight dingos dancing
On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me nine croc's a snoozing
On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me ten wombats washing
On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me eleven lizards leaping
On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me twelve possums playing

Happy Birthday Dad!

In honor of Dad's (Brian's) birthday, Brett decided the best gift would be a picture of himself (and me, and the rest of the Penn State gang who went to Luis and Amanda's wedding). I just think it is great that y'all will be able to see him all dressed up in a nice shirt (non-black) and tie! 

Happy Birthday Dad! ~Brett (and April)



(from left) Patrick and Blair, Brett and April, Rebekah and Tim



Blue Heelers and Orange Juice

To celebrate our return from Australia I have started downloading old Blue Heelers (an Australian cop drama that started in 1994) episodes to show April. While we were there I had wanted to show her some good Australian TV shows, but our choices were somewhat limited by the fact that they do not really make good Australian TV shows anymore. So I decided to go back to the classic shows and I thought Blue Heelers would be an excellent place to start.

April thinks the show is great, especially since 1) she loves "cop shows" and 2) she now understands so many of the references and landmarks of the show after having been to Australia and having seen small town country life (Australian style) for herself. One of my regrets is that I did not get to take her in to an authentic small town pub while we were there; we only went to fancier pubs. Watching Blue Heelers also helps explain my overuse of the word 'bloody' although I don't use the word 'bum' anywhere near as much as they do!

The other aspect of Australian culture it helps explains is my constant consumption of orange juice. In America it seems to be something you will have at breakfast but not really an all day drink. On the show they are always drinking it (along with multiple cuppas), so it is apparently an Australian thing and not just a Brett thing.

In addition to Blue Heelers, I've been paying close attention to the Tour de France, though I have to miss the ending tomorrow because of a meeting with a faculty member.  April doesn't quite understand my obsession with cycling, but she is willing to listen to me ramble on and on about the finer details of the sport and the daily race update regardless.

Finally, to Lyn and Brian a.k.a. Mom and Dad (and to a lesser extent Kira):  We want to thank you for all the effort both of you put in while we were there. Although we were in and out quite quickly sometimes and exhausted at others, there is no way the holiday would have gone as well without all of your help!

Countdown to Brett! :-)

Princess has a new friend.

Still trying to get over the jet-lag of returning home (for example, my day/night sleeping is still a bit off) which is not so fun now that I'm teaching.  My first day didn't go so hot, but hoping that tomorrow goes better. 

Unpacking is a secondary priority, but this little guy was not going to spend one more night in the suitcase.  After cuddling with Princess for a minute, he is now safely sitting on my desk cheering me on while I work and waiting for Brett to come home. We miss everybody in Australia so much already!

Made it!!!

We are both safely in the land down under! Next on the agenda....... SLEEP!!