Yulefest 2007 was the Yulefest to end all Yulefests. Or so we thought. Beth had abdicated from the role of Yulefest Queen, after 9 outstanding years of organising the annual event. And a month after my rather embarrassing performance at the 2007 Yulefest dinner, I fell pregnant with Emily, which meant the end of such irresponsible behaviour - at least for a little while.

But something was missing from the 2008 Australian winter and on a night out with Nick and Beth there was drunken talk of starting again with a smaller group and new location. Beth booked a couple of earth cottages in Wentworth Falls and George took over the rest of the organisation. A select 12 were on the invite list, and Yulefest was reborn.

It wouldn't be Yulefest without winter illnesses and this year was no exception. The weekend before Peter, George and I attended the St Vincent's Staff Ball and were off all week with suspected swine flu. We had to drag ourselves out of bed to head up to the mountains on Friday morning to get supplies and set up the Yulefest Treasure Hunt. The fun kicked off in the pub on Friday night as everyone set to work finding clues. We obviously didn't make it hard enough as everyone was done by 10pm so back at the cottages we stoked up the fire and cracked open the beers. We'd resurrected the murder game and it wasn't long before the first victims met their grizzly ends.

After a slow start on Saturday morning and breakfast in town it was time to kick of part two of the Yulefest Treasure Hunt. Three teams set off in search of a very small tub hidden somewhere in the Blue Mountains wilderness. They needed to use the clues from the pub the night before to find a GPS co-ordinate, then answer more clues at that location to find the next stage. After searching Wentworth Falls town centre, the lakeside, and the cemetery, the final GPS co-ordinate should find them standing on the treasure. Or at least that was the plan. After a few hiccups and a retired team, Peter, Craig and Kate were the winners. Each team had to pick a mascot and get photos of themselves with this at each location. Nick, Beth and Shobana choose a full size broom - their account of running along the footpaths at Wentworth Falls lookout brandishing the broom was very funny. George and I were itching to be part of the hunt - but it was also quite nice to sit by the fire in the warm cabin sipping beer! AJ and Flips arrived soon after the treasure hunt started, and within minutes of setting foot in the cabin Flips had assassinated both AJ and myself. With the return of the treasure hunters we had all the Yulefesters together, and the murders came thick and fast. Katie cooked up her legendary mulled wine, and by the time dinner came together at around 8pm everyone was pretty steamed. The food was demolished in what seemed like seconds (I did myself proud with a cracking cauliflower cheese, George again whipped up delicious pigs in blankets). It was finally time for the best bit of Yulefest: Kris Kringle presents and poems. There was again a definite theme to the poems, but Flips '12 Days of Yulefest' was an outstanding effort. The presents were of varying quality, with the hideous monkey and dog latex masks an instant hit. Dan's quiz kept us all from dozing off after dinner, then the rest of the night was spent bundling each other on the sofa, floor, reclining chair....

Another outstanding Yulefest weekend. The winner of the Assassin game was Shobana - after a three way stand off with Pete and Beth where Beth refused to go to the bathroom all night! Same again next year?