We’d like to take this opportunity to wish you and your family a merry Christmas and a cracker 2020! We will close for a brief refresh from Friday 20 December, then re-open on Monday 6 January.
Having ticked off the school Christmas Carols and the end of year class parties, we took the chance to slip away for a few days at the beach at Scotts Head.
It is a little sleepy town in New South Wales and somehow a few families have developed this ritual of gathering together for a pre-Christmas relaxation.
It is the sort of place that reminds us of being kids ourselves … where the day passes by bouncing around between the beach, the park, and the little convenience store for a post-swim ice-block.
Then comes the afternoon and we do it all again with the addition of a cold beer and some snags on the BBQ.
The kids race around and the adults chat.
At this time of year, talk inevitably turns to the year we are leaving behind and the year ahead.
Not one family made it through 2019 without dealing with something challenging …
Work changes, raising teenagers, juggling families and at times feeling like the world is racing along to a crazy place, at least on the internet it appears that way.
There was plenty of laughter too; old jokes among friends, mixed with the new ones of the year. (Some definite dad jokes in the mix which will stay at Scotts Head!)
And in the laughter and the stories, well, in that comes the encouragement … friends cheering each other on for the possibilities of 2020.
With a final coffee together under our belt, we headed back to Brisbane to finish the year at Churchill.
Our team will be enjoying Christmas celebration on Friday 20th December and then heading off for their own holidays until we re-open on 6 January.
We will be sharing our own stories of the people who got to meet and help this year, and the hopes we all have for 2020.
Helping people just like you is always the best part of what we do as a team at Churchill.
We hear your stories every day of the week … changes at work, the drive to raise and provide for your families, the holidays taken, the illnesses faced, the achievements celebrated and the hopes for your future.
We laugh with you, encourage you and believe in you.
And looking into the possibilities of 2020, we are excited to do more of the same …
No matter where you are or how you are spending this time of year, we want to thank you for your support and share the hopes for a brand new year.
As Samford wakes most days these weeks to the sight of smoke on the horizon and water carriers hauling waters to our properties, we are particularly thinking of those battling fire and drought.
Stay safe and stay strong!
Merry Christmas and may 2020 bring you laughter with those you care for most and a cold beer on a hot day.
Randall, Tricia, Pam, John, Melody, Carina, Jo, Amanda, Leonie, Nick, Lovely, Sunshine and Sherry