Caz
Ok, so my last post was just a bit BLAH.. sorry bout that.   The holidays have gone and I survived them well enough.   Christmas eve my in laws came out, and brought DH's brother and his husband (who had just arrived in from New Zealand) with them.  We had seafood and nibbles and wine ;)  Which definitely helped make the season merrier lol.   It was great to have the brothers over, and they spoil their nephews wonderfully (not with junk thank goodness!)  All boys recieved a season of a cartoon series.. we have smurfs, TNMT (original toons), and GI Joe.  The latter I'm not a huge fan of (I'd imagine most women never got into it as girls ;) , but if the boys enjoy it and they don't go all warrior on me, I'll live.   Here's a small sample of our traditional Christmas eve dinner.. prawns, oysters (for the parents), smoked salmon and lobster!  and that's before mum made her stupendous 'steamboat' with satay sauce, coconut milk and all sorts of seafood.  My terribly awesome cheese and nibbles platter was decimated before the camera was found lol.

After they left, hubby & I sat and talked for a while ...and polished off the bottle of wine ;) and then started to 'play santa'.  That's a bit of a misnomer for us, as we have really scaled Santa back to basically being the dude that brings a stocking full of cool bits & peices and candy.  All the good stuff is from US dammit... I figure why should I be the one that has to say no to things all year, and has to handle all the ups & downs of the year... and yet Santa gets to take credit for all the loot? LOL    I don't think it makes the boys miss out on anything, as each of them got  something they asked for from Santa in their stockings :)    By midnight all gifts were assembled, and the wrapped goodies were under the tree and hubby & I collapsed into bed shortly  before 1am. (here's the before, and after) 

 

At the UNGODLY (and UNGOddessly too, for that matter!) hour of 5am Sam came excitedly in "It's christmas!!!!!!"   lol    We had a lovely morning doing pressies and playing and such.  The kids were thrilled and Frodo was all about the Wii that we'd gotten as the family gift.  (he was so sure Santa would bring a Wii, that he looked at the gifts under the tree, then stepped into the lounge to see if there was one.  He saw the 2 gift bags that I'd sat on TOP of the 6ft entertainment unit, climbed up and got them... then came in and complained that he got wii controllers but NO CONSOLE!  LOL)

   (note evidence of console there LOL)

We thought he might get sulky about leaving the Wii to go over to DH's cousins for the big family DO, but he was quite excited to go!  There was, after all, going to be swimming!   (here's Merry & his dad in the pool :)

 

We planned to hang out for a couple of hours tops, since the boys were up at stupid o'clock... but we ended up being there from just before lunch till 5pm  LOL.  A great day was had by all, and way too much decadent food was eaten by all as well ;)  Mmm... pavlova! 

 

But despite the disaster that awaited us, we were very glad to get home.   I read much online about the awful holiday gifts that some MIL's give to DIL's and had to share what mine gave me.  She is the most awesome mother in law ever, without a doubt!  If you remember a few weeks ago we had a whole 24hour period where she & her sister absconded with our boys?  Well THIS was the real reason!  I couldn't get a pic without a glare (she spent big on the photos, so I'm not complaining about the lack of non glare glass!)   It's the most gorgeous b&w photo of the three hobbits (complete with bare feet).  How on earth they managed to get them all happy and cooperating I have NO idea,  but I guess that is why one pays the big bucks for the pro's! 

    Hope you all had wonderful holidays friends, and bring on 2010 because it looks to be awesome!  (post coming on that ..)

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2 Responses
  1. Kez Says:

    Sounds like a great Xmas Day!


  2. Caz Says:

    Thanks Kez... have followed your holiday exploits and wherever it is you went, looked just wonderful!