Countdown to Christmas and a well deserved break

And we are officially counting the days to Christmas.  Once again I am stunned at the fact that every year seemingly passes so much faster than the one before.  This is particularly evident when looking at pictures of Christmases past.  A year ago Luka was wearing nappies, drinking formula milk, taking naps, her hair was best described as a messy bob, and now she is a girl with long golden hair.  A year ago Liam swam with water wings and was petrified of the ocean, now he is a smelly boy missing one front tooth.

So looking at the year past counting sleeps to our December break realising that this has once again been quite the year for the van Wyk / van Rooyen family.  We bought a house and it turned into a home, we spend weekends chilling by the pool.  Luka potty trained and turned into a pink princess, Liam made some good friends, learned to play tennis, add and subtract, finally build puzzles!  Sekai’s house in Zimbabwe is coming along nicely because of the millions of Zim dollars she earns babysitting the brood.  Gerhard and I are finally able to do a not too shabby rendition of the tango.  We settled in nicely in the Midstream community following our stint in Australia.  We enjoyed a lovely family vacation in Mauritius, we had lots of margaritas, we ate good food, spent time with good friends, and I think the Springboks or the Blue Bulls or whatever team it is that we are supposed to cheer for won on the odd occasion.  We saw amazing shows and artists including Bon Jovi and Elvis Blue. I spend days at the spa with the girls, Gerhard spent hours slaving away on the golf course improving his game, all in all we had very little to complain about. 

I drove in my mini, top down, music playing loudly, alone or with the family.  I saw amazing sights on my travels for work and was involved in the most amazing community outreach projects.  I learned to appreciate the fact that I am privileged and that I must be the luckiest mom on the planet because I can provide Liam and Luka with so much more than the average South African.  I saw child headed households where kids Liam’s age are in charge of the younger siblings and it broke my heart, but I also saw people doing amazing things to counter this, like building drop in centres where kids can drop in after school to do homework and have a bath and a meal.   I donated blood with my colleagues and I raised awareness for leukaemia.  I am getting on the bone marrow register with funds that we raised soon.  I met inspiring people and I met draining people, and I choose to spend time with the inspiring bunch.  I spent time in my gym, in fact, I am so in love with exercise I joined a second gym, because you know one can never have enough shoes and gym memberships.  I met the deputy president of the country, Mr Motlanthe and Ahmed Kathrada, both inspiring people in their own right. 

 So what does the year 2014 hold for us and will I be sitting here writing about another year gone by in twelve months wondering where the hell time went.  As we wind down and start planning and packing for our annual three week break both at the coast and in the bush, it is again time to reflect. 

Yes, it was a good year, spent together, we cried, we laughed, we lived.  There were some cringe worthy moments, but most were good, as we grow older it is especially important to remember that we need to live in the moment and in the now, this is it, and there are no do-overs in life.  We need to remember every day that this is a new day, full of possibilities, moments to have fun, times to cherish, firsts with the kids, first sleepovers, first night in a big bed, first shopping spree, first girlfriend. 

 Yes, Liam has a girlfriend, named Lana, a beautiful little thing with white hair, he always assures me afterwards that he in fact likes me with my purple hair too, but that Lana just happens to have white hair, so gentlemen do prefer blonds after all.  He gets so gobsmacked and turns into such a blabbering idiot when he sees this girl that he walks in the wrong direction, foolish grin on face.  I of course hate her, she is totally inappropriate for my son, with her short pink dress with flowers and the two pony tails.  No woman will ever be good enough for my son.

 

Luka ended up being such a daddy’s girl, climbing on top of Gerhard every morning demanding cuddles and kisses, and begging him for milo tea, just milo, but she calls it milo tea.  And this past weekend, Gerhard and Luka went on a date, and guess what, she came home with a dress, and he had to take her for coffee and lunch at the Spur.  That one sure knows how to get her way.  She graduated from the Baby Home this past Friday and there was a slide show on screen with a paragraph about each kid, Luka’s was quite predictable saying she is a girl who knows what she wants and how to get it, and she is a girly girl, who always has at least four pairs of shoes in her school bag.  I wonder where she gets it…

So, here is to another festive season, to another round of office parties, carols by candle light, letters to Santa, Christmas trees and boney m, corny as anything.  Deck the halls with boughs of holly falalalala la la la laaaaaa x