Normally I would deck my halls with plenty of tinsel and decorations, but this year covid took it out of me and all I could do was put up our tree (that Gran went out and bought for me!) Hopefully I’ll have a little more energy to go all-out again next year!
Our Christmas eve tradition continued with a BBQ lunch and present game exchange with The White Family which was easy and lovely as always.
We then headed to our other friends’ house for our new extra Christmas Eve tradition of three families catching up for dinner and kids’ hangs. There were five adults and eight kids and a pool which was the perfect mix!
We headed home with full hearts and full tummies and got into our pjs and watched Merry Christmas Mr Bean. Thanks for the great suggestion Claire!
I fell into bed with all presents wrapped and stockings stuffed, completely exhausted but excited for the next day. I had asked the kids to please not wake me before 6am and to their credit, they woke me at 6am on the dot! They unwrapped their stocking gifts and were all very happy with their goodies. I had let them know the day before that they could unwrap one gift each hour and they couldn’t believe how fast the time was going by! They enjoyed and played with each gift they received, for that hour, and I liked how that all went.
Gran and Grumpy came over at 9am to have brekky with us, and of course unwrap another gift.
They stayed for an hour or two before heading home to get ready for the afternoon activities. I got to have some chill time with the kids which was bliss.
We packed the car and left home around 2pm to head to my cousin Mark’s house to celebrate with cousins and Aunties and Uncles. It’s always a wonderful afternoon and I feel so blessed and grateful to have such a wonderful family.
There are always a few family members missing, but I’m hoping that this year we can maybe all be together for the first time in a while. We headed home a bit after 6, just as a storm was rolling through, and my heart goes out to those who were impacted by that, as I know it was a bad one.
The next morning I woke up at 6am and flew down to Sydney to have Boxing Day Christmas celebrations and two nights away with Marty and his family. I was still a bit unwell (my post-covid cough was very anti-social indeed!) and apart from Boxing Day family lunch and a catch up with Kelly and Ben before I left two days later, I didn’t do anything much at all. There was a lot of sitting around drinking coffee and chatting to Marty and his parents and family and playing games and resting. So much resting, which I really needed and find hard to do when I’m at home.
It’s hard to believe but I didn’t actually get any photos of us down there, I was too busy doing nothing! It was exactly what the doctor ordered and I felt well rested when I got home. We spent the few days leading up to New Years just hanging out without too many plans which was, again, what I needed.
New Years recap to come!