Happy Monday! I hope you had a good weekend :) 

Guess what? Today is 6 months until Christmas! Haha, bet you like that reminder first thing on a Monday morning.

Every month on the 25th, my Dad tells me it's X months til Christmas. And now that we have a family group chat, we all try and be the first one to remember. You would think I would win every month, seeing as how I am like 14+ hours ahead of everyone else - but I always forget lol. And I've started telling some friends and coworkers on the 25th of every month now too. People either react in horror or like, what are you talking about? Just my friendly reminder that Christmas is coming :)

Guess what else? I've already bought some Christmas presents! LOL. A bunch actually. A few weeks ago I took advantage of a good sale back in Canada and did some online shopping for some family members. I hope they like it six months from now!

I think everyone who knows me knows how much I love Christmas. I totally get that from my mom. She is a Christmas freak! She has always made it really special with family traditions. My favourite is Christmas baking and matching Christmas t-shirts. Or making a big mess opening all the presents and then throwing all the paper in the air while the dogs go crazy and start barking cause they don't know what's going on. My cousin used to wrap all my mom's Christmas presents for other people and then in high school, I inherited this job. And now I LOVE wrapping presents! I find it so nice to put on a Christmas movie and have a cup of hot chocolate and sit down and wrap presents. I wish I could get paid to do it. Like a seasonal job at the mall… I would love that! Just drop your presents at my house and pick them up a few hours later. I'll start a holiday side job lol.

It's never to early to plan ahead for the holidays. I don't like giving gifts just for the sake of giving a gift. But I don't always think gifts should just be useful practical things either. I like to try and find something I think a person will really like. So if I see a good deal or sale on something that someone will love months before Christmas - heck yes I'm going to buy it! The only tricky thing is not to get too excited and give away the surprise. When I find a good gift I always want to call the person and say 'omg I just bought you the best gift! It's a ……". It's also important not to forget about the stuff that you picked up throughout the year and find it months later after Christmas is over, although I guess you can always save it for next year.

I can't decide what's weirder about living in Australia… Christmas in the summer, or having a winter without Christmas to look forward to! I know it doesn't get even nearly as cold as Canada, but winter without Christmas is just a few months of crappy weather. Actually, someone at work told me some expats celebrate Christmas in July just for that reason! Hmmm, maybe that's not a bad idea! Two Christmases! LOL

It's hard to be away from home during the holidays that Tj and I love so much. When we lived in London we went home one year and the next year my mom and brother met us in Paris for Christmas which was the trip of a lifetime! This year Tj and I won't be able to take off enough time to go back to Canada for Christmas (Melbourne is just so far from everywhere!) but I think we are going to go somewhere warm and sunny with nice beaches and maybe some friends from Canada will join us for a few days so stay tuned!

Hope you have a great week!

P.S. If anyone is thinking of coming to Australia, check out this great deal!