Christmas Day 2009

After not going to bed till past midnight on Christmas Eve, we weren’t prepared for a 5.30am wake up call! We’ve never been woken quite so early on Christmas morning, but the girls had gone to sleep very early the night before, hoping the night would pass quicker!

We’d packed their stockings with enough goodies to keep them amused for a few hours and always insist on not opening the presents beneath the tree until after we’re all dressed and have had breakfast – we were ready by 7.30am and present opening was over by 8.30am!

We were all treated to some lovely presents from family and have spent much of the past few days on the phone and Skype with them. My favourite part of Christmas is the feeling of togetherness with all those we love so dearly, despite the miles that separate us. It’s a time of year when we think of those near, far, in our past and present. As well as those less fortunate than us. The mass communication through e-mails, Skype and Facebook makes it easier to share the celebrations with all those we love.

Our Christmas Day was made very special with the company of our old neighbours in the afternoon. We had such a laugh and copious games of ‘Kids Charades’. Charli put all our names in a hat for a ‘party trick’ show, where we all took it in random turns to do something. We had everything from games of ‘Simon Says’ and Christmas songs around the piano to Charli’s awesome dance to Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ – which eventuated in all of us joining in and copying her groovy moves (hilarious!). Sophie had a laugh in the pool with Joshua and LOVED her drum-kit from Father Christmas! Charli was made up with the board game ‘Mouse-trap’ from the man in the red suit and commented on his lovely, swirly hand-writing 🙂

It was so lovely to simply stop, enjoy, not think of chores, house-work, day to day life and really spend time with our children and savour every moment of the day. We devoured our dinner and the girls very much enjoyed sitting down with us all and of course pulling a few crackers!

Dan got the chance to relax for a few moments in the hammock we’d got him. It was too large to wrap, so we hid it under the stairs and set up a treasure hunt (Charli wrote all the clues and hid them on Christmas Eve). I followed them with the camera and the video follows…

After dinner we enjoyed pavlova and the ginger-bread house, which we’d lovingly decorated the night before, was demolished at great speed.

It really was a fabulous day, made all the better for sharing it with friends. Our thoughts have been very much with family and our day was filled with joy and thanks. Hope you all had a very special day and enjoy the rest of the festive season x