Oh Christmas Tree

It's Christmastime! This is still my favourite time of year even though I'm technically an adult and I should be less excited about presents and Christmas movies...

Today began with some very sad news about a close family friend, and so I was a bit distracted most of the day. I had my induction at the Old Melbourne Gaol this morning and so I had to put everything out of my mind and focus on that for a few hours - probably a good thing, to be honest.

It was a very early start because we had a tour of the Gaol before it was open to the public. It's such a cool, creepy place with a long history of horrible conditions and public hangings. Ned Kelly (the infamous bushranger/Australian folk hero) was hung at the Gaol (although he wasn't held there) and the tour guide told us all sorts of other stories about the inmates. After the tour was a quick run through of the PoS in the shop and the ticketing system, before heading off to watch a video about the National Trust as an organisation. It's a pretty cool organisation, actually, and it's very closely linked to the National Trust in the UK. Guys, I think I've accidentally landed my dream job!

The last thing we did was actually so awesome. The Gaol offers a mock arrest in the old lockup down the road so we got to do that with other actual paying customers. It was hilarious - we basically just got yelled at by a very convincing actress and corralled into cells and things like that. Afterwards we got to chat to the actress and she was actually so lovely that we all cracked up when she came over to say hi because her voice was so soft and friendly.

The rest of the day was a total write off - basically I just watched a movie and chilled out all afternoon. This evening Dad and I had a nice dinner (my first home-cooked meal since I got back from Queensland) and then decorated the Christmas tree with The Santa Clause on in the background. Dad and I always watch The Santa Clause, The Santa Clause 2 and Love Actually in the lead-up to Christmas and since I missed last Christmas I'm super keen to get back to our old traditions!

This year we decided to put an angel on the top of the tree, but our little Father Christmas looks ready to take top spot if anything happens! We often alternate between the two anyway.