Christmas pressies

There's new candidate for 'the person you don't want to get in the Christmas draw' (I think Kate will attest to the fact that I have made up for some of my past efforts). It's more a group of candidates though - Young single male Roffs.

2008 - Nick Bought me 'Scarface'
2009 - Rowan bought me 'Scarface'

I love the movie, but I think these two are working together.

Admittedly RoDiddy threw in a few other interesting DVD's - Doco's on Shane Warne, and struggling tennis players on the pro tour. Thanks Ro.

How did others fare?

Bill and Grant's excellent adventure

My old mate Bill McKinnon and I had a great afternoon on the fourth day of the Boxing Day test this afternoon. Many of you have met Bill at Lismore or other family events. We went to uni together in Armidale but you've probably seen his by-line on car tests and such in newspapers and magazines. He does a column in the Australian Top Gear magazine. Damian and Jenny ignored his advice when they bought their family wagon.
If Pakistan can hold out for two hours tomorrow morning (Wednesday) without losing a wicket, it might be in with a chance. If they were ever scared of Australia, that's all gone - expect a tougher second test. There were 15,578 on day four so the crowd has been good. Beer was $6.00 a plastic cup so we restricted ourselves to a maxium of 30 each. I love summer...

ARMIDALE ROFF CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas to everyone. Here we are enjoying our Christmas lunch in the backyard. I cooked JFC (Jenny Fried Chicken which is like KFC but better) for the kids and salmon steaks for Damian and myself. We had a lovely day, then headed to the local skatepark to try out the new rip stick, skate board and scooters, followed by evening drinks with some friends. My sister and her three boys will come up for a belated Christmas over 8th and 9th January, and we will see Glenn and Sue on 7th and 8th January. If anyone else is around come and have a second Christmas with us too - eat and drink too much all over again!!!
Love Jenny et. al.

Merry Christmas....But here is something interesting.....

So the other day (Christmas Eve) I asked Vicky to become a Roff, she laughed..... but then she said yes...... go figure. I didn't have a ring, or a clue, but it all worked out eventually. Now, down to details, all we have decided so far is that there will be a wedding somewhere and at sometime in the coming years, but some people are not invited to meet my new Asian Mom and Dad (they don't know I call them that)
1. Naomi (you know why)
2. Joe (We ALL know why)
3. Glenn (because i don't want to have to explain why Joe and Naomi are not invited)
Sue, after paying for the ring I may need you to do me a solid and marry us so I will let you come. Kel and Jake I will let you guys come but that is so we can clear up any misunderstandings of the past.
Everyone else, standby for more information.
Harry.

Merry Christmas from the Lismore Roffs

Much to her 'I played at the National Hockey championships' mother's disgust, Maisie is more taking after her Netball playing Auntie Nomie

Lachlan likes his alternative sports


Santa has this affect. We hope everyone has a great Christmas.

Seasons Greetings from the WA Roff Family

Seasons Greetings from the WA Roff Family

Hi Everyone,

We hope this note finds you well, happily preparing for the Xmas festivities and looking forward to some sort of nice deserved break. This sounds strange in early December but we are under pressure Christmas card wise this year as Jan leaves for New Zealand tomorrow (6th). John and Liz leave for the same place on the 16th, so we are rushing out the family news this year.

We are all well in the west!! It remains a great place to live and holiday in and for the kids, to study. Jan is working at two main jobs at the minute….teaching accounting /bookkeeping at TAFE and doing accounting for Patrick’s shipping company. This ties her up 4 or 5 days a week but there is flexibility there which helps her in her beloved travels. She is looking well and apart from occasional headaches and a few aching muscles is going OK. John is still enjoying his school teaching and his Dept is expanding a bit next year as they take on Yr 7’s for the first time. He pushed 55 this year but still runs around like a 54 year old! He still plays a bit of tennis , walks and rides the stationary exercise bike but will tell you ‘he’s let himself go a bit’ this year.

Kate is in NZ, hence our Xmas trip. She lives in Christchurch with her Yankee boyfriend and continues her editorial work with a local newspaper and her writing of her lifestyle magazine. She is studying Honours in Cultural Studies at Uni whilst Joe is doing his Masters and environmentally engineering. They have invited us all for Xmas and we will be planning their July Detroit wedding whilst there.

Zac as we speak has just arrived off the Indian Pacific in Sydney ( ‘what was I thinking’ says he) before flying to NZ for a bit of touring until the family all arrive. He hopefully has finished his Mechanical Engineering degree and is off to see the world. He has already done that so it’s straight to Norway via England from NZ on a one way ticket so we are looking forward to spending a bit of time with him now because it could be a while. Zac is a big strong 23yr old man these days. Liz is home now having finished her 2nd year Uni Commerce (tourism management) degree. She is looking fit and healthy, and is excited about bridesmaid duties at big sister’s wedding, but is more excited about her 1st 6 months study next year in Copenhagen, Denmark. It counts towards her degree and is a great opportunity but takes a while to organise and set up paperwork wise and that is what we have been doing in recent times…...on top of packing Zac up for his NZ trip and then beyond (he won’t be home again) and packing his 4 years of accumulation in the garden shed, and packing Jan up for her trip and finishing off a busy time for both of us at work.

Travel wise this year was reasonably quiet. Liz made it to NZ and besides visiting Kate and Joe managed a Con Tiki tour which she loved, and Liz and Jan had a few days in Phuket as a girls bonding session and they too had a great time. Kate made it back to Perth for a school friend’s catch up and spent a couple of days with us which was spent mock wedding dress making with the help of a talented neighbour.

Our Xmas this year will be spent on the Milford Track. (In NZ, rated one of the top 10 walks in the world). With all the kids overseas next year we thought we may not catch up for a while so thought a ‘family walk’ was a good thing. It is a 5 day / 4 night walk but with only 3 serious days of walking. We start Xmas eve and finish 28th Dec. John’s brother Glenn talked us into the ‘comfortable accommodation’ option so hope it works out.

Next year will be dominated by the Kate’s wedding. It is a great buzz and the guy is seriously nice so we are very happy for her. We’ll probably spend 3 or 4 weeks after the wedding doing a bit of USA touring but will love catching up with Zac and Liz, who will be flying in from their European experiences. Liz will turn 21 around that time as well.

Other than that, all is well. Can we extend our annual invitation to you all, that if you are thinking of WA as a holiday you know we have a bed for you and warm hospitality in Geraldton. You are most welcome. We are away from 16th Dec-7th January 2010 but after that we’d love to catch up. Have a great Xmas and a happy new year.

All the best
John , Jan, Kate ( and Joe) , Zac and Liz

dodgy christmas presents

Just to let you all know that I will be spending Christmas Eve putting up a trampoline in the backyard and cursing Santa, but mostly asking the question as to why the guy who sold it to us (classifieds) had a boxed trampoline in his 1 bedroom city unit in the first place.

Below is a shot of Sar trying to get the boys attention for a photo whilst an old highlights tape of mine is playing on the television....


... or maybe it was a Thomas the Tank engine dvd, I can't remember.

Lets Try this Again....Zac Visits Adelaide

Me about to leave Perth. Note the smile.

Guy Sebastion

I recently talked myself into the idea that instead of flying from perth to sydney (5hrs, $200) i should take the train (68hrs, $300). This was a wonderful decision in about August however the trip proved to be slightly longer, and flatter, than i had anticipated!! On the plus side i got to see the Adelaide Roffs with the boys taking me to see Koshy, Mel and Guy Sebastion whilst they were doing the sunrise show, and then have a Coffee with Cathy (good name for a coffee store) at the train station. I would like to point out at this stage that this is the first time in history that the phrases "Guy Sabastion" and "on the plus side" have been used together. It was great to see the Adelaide Roffs again and odd to see the boys looking like real people instead of the hungover, sleeping, groaning, "get me an asperin" form that normally exists in Woodlawn.

Thanks Mo sponsors (from all 3 of us)

Zac visits Adelaide!