Appreciating Family Christmas in the Eastern Cape

After William and Charnè’s beautiful wedding at the Blue Lagoon Hotel in East London, we drove to my parents place in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan, just outside Uitenhage on the way to Jeffrey’s Bay. (not near Despatch! 🙂 ) We really had a good Christmas with all the in-laws and “out-laws.”

I still have a different outlook on South Africa after our South American trip. I notice things which would fascinate or surprise foreigners, things I previously didn’t take much note of. Like the little boys pushing a self-made small wire car around town and the ladies carrying their babies on their back and their luggage on their head. That’s pretty amazing! The many cows and goats roaming the highways is common here (and dangerous) but would probably be strange for tourists to see. Except if they come from India – they even have elephants roaming the highways there!

I also love South Africa’s summer sun and I appreciate our food and food prices even more now. Although I do get a bit nervous when I hear the pound is now more than 17 times the rand value! And the Euro is not too far behind. If you live in Europe or America it’s a good time for you to visit South Africa … Everything will be really cheap for you!

My mom spoilt us with lots of delicious food on Christmas day… and I mean a lot… we ate Christmas left-overs for the next 3 days after that. (Moeder, moenie worry ni, die leftovers was regtig lekker en genoeg! Al het Oumie meer geeet as wat ek gedink het sy sou!) Linz and Antonie’s mustard bunny-shaped mold also needs special mentioning because it was really cute and very tasty. They are quite the chefs!

We joined Mr. Port Elizabeth at his children’s Christmas party for charity which was enjoyable! I still can’t believe that 25 children arrived in one bakkie!(pick-up truck) Children were streaming out of that car forever! Marc assigned himself to kitchen duty and made more than 100 hotdogs. My sister and I were the face-painters. Most girls wanted to be a butterfly or a cat which was quite easy to paint on their faces. There was one little girl who told me she wants to be a princess… I wasn’t quite sure how to paint a princess face… but I improvised. Pick n Pay sponsored party packs for every child and House of Bakes made such amazing cupcakes! They also made some cupcakes for my brother to take home! ☺ It was a fun party.

Lionel bought boxes of clay-pigeons to shoot using the shot-gun. My parents live on a small-holding so there’s lots of space and it’s not near a road or town. Everyone took turns to try shoot the clay discs. The girls didn’t do too badly! My mom shot the target with her first shot! The sound travelled far because it got the attention of three police vans. We were still casually braaing and shooting when we saw the first police van coming up the road, then the next one, and then another! We got a fright, and like guilty criminals we quickly picked up all the empty shells on the grass and put the shot-gun away. Luckily we weren’t in any trouble, the police were just curious. They ended up eating koeksisters with us.

There is actually quite a bit to do in the Uitenhage-PE area. (If you are creative.) No really, the area is beautiful. We relaxed a lot but also wanted to show our family from the Free State around a bit. We went to Addo and were reminded again why it’s called Addo Elephant Park. We saw tons of elephant. (I will put photos of Addo on the next post.) Sardinia Bay and Sea-view areas are also very pretty. Jeffrey’s Bay was packed as usual over December but we still had a lekker lunch there and the guys swam. Next time I’d like to go to the Elephant Sanctuary Donn’e was telling us about where you can touch the elephants and even go for an elephant ride if you want… We’ve ridden on the back of an Asian elephant before in Thailand but an African elephant seems scarier.

There was the usual card and dart playing at the house. Linz showed us a very cool iPad Sharades app which made everyone laugh a lot while we played. Our stomachs and glasses were always full. Thank you to everyone for making Christmas 2013 so memorable! Now it’s time for healthy eating and tackling 2014 head on.

“FAMILY – We may not have it all together but together we have it all.”