Santa's coming...

A slower start to the morning, after the exertions of yesterday. We took a stroll through Adelaide's central business district, which was mostly closed, with it being Christmas Eve and all.

After, we headed over to my cousin John's house for wine and nibbles with him, his wife and four kids. They've an absolutely beautiful house in the centre of the city, close to work, which suits the high-powered lawyers that they are.

In the evening, we went to an outdoor Family Christmas Eve Mass with most of the rest of the family. It was kind of sweet, in a chaotic, shambolic sort of way. My favourite moments were when the (live, actual, three-month-old stand-in for) baby Jesus was lifted Lion King-style above his mother's head to be presented to the crowd, and when the priest blessed the fridge magnets that everyone had been given on the way in.

Less amusing were the 85 million mosquito bites that I got on my ankles during the ceremony. On the walk back to my cousin Kath's house, I thought my legs were going to fall off with the agony. Thankfully, she had a great remedy called Stingoes, which reduced the level of agony to just this side of bearable.

My aunt commented that since it had been a while since I'd been spotted at Mass, I was lucky just to get bitten by mosquitos rather than being struck down by a lightning bolt. She probably has a point.