And in case you wondered, he’s a she. And she doesn’t live at the North Pole. No, she resides along with 13 amazing elves Down Under in Cottesloe, a beach-side suburb of Perth, Australia.

Cottesloe beach

So the story goes…my friends Sharon and Jim will be living in Australia three more years. They’re transplants from California by way of Texas. When they moved to Perth last year, they were strangers in a strange land. But that’s never been a problem for Sharon. She’s the person you might meet in the grocery store as you’re both reaching for the frozen diced potatoes. Next thing you know you’re chatting about her delectable recipe for that bag of spuds.

You leave the store with each other’s phone number, cook the dish together the following week, and before long it’s as if you’ve been friends forever. That’s when you thank your lucky stars you ran out of frozen diced potatoes the very day Sharon did. Continue reading →