Happy Holidays!

[Professor Cyndi Kingsley]

Happy Holidays HNZers!

For those already celebrated/ing - what did you do?! Have you had a good day? What presents did you get??

For those looking forward to it - what are you gonna get up to?? Anything you're hoping for as a gift?? What holiday traditions do you have?

Hope you all enjoy!

 

[Linden Kinnek]

Merry Christmas Cyndi.
our Christmas this year was a little bit weird as my sister who was meant to come is stuck in Queensland but to border closure and my dad was at work. we did manage to do presents in the morning before he left which was nice and then we went to the beach before having a light lunch with my nana and a chilled afternoon. mum had a works colleague around and one of my sister's friends/family firends/basically an adopted brother and his partner came over for dinner which was all nice and low key. though very hot (42C)

I got some great presents. such as a pair of sandals that I had been waiting to go on sale for like two years from my parents (I was not going to pay full price for them). but my favorite was from one of my danish friends who crocheted me some bookmarks, two of which were pride flag colours. which was really sweet of her. (I will edit in pictures when I have more than 2% battery and we are not in a powercut (likely due to too many people having their air-con on due to the heat)
how have everyone else's holidays been?

 

[Ainsley Lynch]

Meri Kirihimete e kia pai ngā hararei, Merry Christmas and happy holidays HNZ!

My family have always done small Christmases, just me, my parents, and my sister. I made a holiday playlist for everyone to jam out to, cooked hotpot for lunch at my mum's request, and my sister and I went for our traditional hike up in the hills over my mum's place. I grew up a long way out of the city but I don't get to visit anymore, so it's always really nice to get out there and reconnect with nature, even if my knees aren't quite so happy with bush hikes as they used to be

 

[Samantha Jacobs]

I hope you guys all had a wonderful xmas or holiday! My family and I went down south from Auckland to Christchurch to see my extended family (on my dad’s side) - we rarely see them as we’re in two seperate cities, so it was nice to get together and see them again!

 

[Stefan Archer]

Happy Holidays all!

Had a bit of a mishmash of traditions this year. My partner and I hosted both of our parents and my sister, so we did a mixture of French traditions and Scottish traditions. It was a bit chaotic, but it was good fun.

We do lack a dishwasher, so it was a lot of dishes to clean - but worth it. It was nice to see everyone and spend the time together and it was nice to not have to leave the house since everyone came to us Could open presents and then immediately tidy them away.

 

[Professor Cyndi Kingsley]

So glad that you all seemed to have a good holiday!

My partner and I went over to my dad's house on Christmas eve, which is when we typically celebrate over there. On Christmas, we would've gone to my mother's house but she and my brother have covid so that was a no go. We just stayed home and hosted one of my sisters. And then we'll be bringing in the new year with his family in Connecticut. There will be a bunch of little kids there, and I'm excited to watch them tear into their presents!

 

[Aine Thompson]

Happy holidays!

I had a quiet one, went to my parents house Christmas Eve and had a few drinks (so I stayed over instead of driving). My stepdad's stepmother came over on Christmas Eve but on the day it wss jusr the immediate family. My 16 year old sister planned out a full dinner (the 14 year old was cross since we usually do lunch...). I got some homewares and my big gift was a roomba so that's pretty neat!

I may have splurged on a watch that will cost an awful lot to ship to Australia.

Would have liked to see my dad but the likelihood of having to quarantine is a bit too high, when I need to be back at work in 2 weeks. So now I'm just splurging in Melbourne. Kind of sad to do all this alone but I guess I'm used to it by now.