Christmas post 3 of 3:
Well the day started around 1am for us. Yes you read that right, 1am, about 30minutes before I put myself to bed! Georgia woke up & came rushing out all excited because Father Christmas had already visited [apparently] and put something into her Santa sack at the end of her bed. Well I did not see this coming, I must have been in the bathroom when the man in the big red suit dashed through the house & placed pressies in 5 Santa sacks!
She then wouldn't settle - beaming with excitement! She ended up having a little peek in her Santa sack & crashing on the couch in our room. The day then officially started again at 6.11am when the twins came rushing into our room with their Santa sacks! Lachy woke up, as did Georgie & it wasn't too long after when our best sleeper Charlotte, came in also.
Father Christmas brought each of them a little camera & SD card. The twins also got mini Blythes/ LPS sets. The big girls got lalaloopsy dolls in sets. Buddy got a Thomas Tank Engine book with keyboard. Nice one Father Christmas! All VERY excited!
Then we headed downstairs for breaky. Collecting all the little chocolates on the way left by Father Christmas in a trail down the stairs!
After a bunch of excitement seeing the stack of pressies under the tree from Jeff and I, we headed in for breakfast. I know its torture for them but we feel because they are so little, we need to get something decent into their little bellies before the day of indulgence begins!
After breakfast, we all assembled in the lounge for the present ceremony to begin!
First up a Thomas the Tank Engine ride on for little Buddy. That kept him quite amused for a bit. One by one, Jeff handed out pressies until they were all done. Everyone spoilt with lots of lovely gifts.
Next up, we all got spruced up for the day ahead & headed out for our first stop, my parents house with my siblings & nephews & niece for presents & Christmas lunch. Here's all the cousins together near the tree, a wee bit excited to open a few more pressies!
My dad surprised them this year, all dressed up as Father Christmas. They all loved it! Oh, except little Buddy who couldn't really look at my dad for the rest of the day & freaked out if he got too close. Funny.
After pressies, we sat down to a glorious spread put on by my mum. Kids loved sitting together & pulling crackers & reading jokes. Kinda the first year my kids could read properly & share jokes with my sisters kids. It was great!
After lunch the kids bashed about a pinata until mountains of chocolate spilled out!
Even Lachy headed into the scrum & grabbed himself a chocky.
Love this photo of Lachy chasing bubbles that my sister captured. Excitement plus!
Here's my mum & dad, Mother & Father Christmas.
After we left my parents, we headed up to Jeffs parents house. The Christmas event at Jeffs parents is a bit different from ours. Very casual, relaxing, laid back. Very much an Australian Christmas I would say. Less formal than my family. I love it, best of both worlds. Its nice to experience two different ways to celebrate the day. And its also nice at the end of the day to be able to just sit around and relax & pick at the food, have 2nds, maybe thirds.....
At my inlaws, the children exchange gifts with their grandparents. The family is very large now, Jeff is one of 10. So exchanges between all the siblings families became too much. The kids all got lovely gifts, Zhu Zhu pets & crazy fluffy haired pencil topper sets which they have wanted all year! They spent the night, eating & playing with their cousins. We left very late as usual & I don't think I took a single photo while I was there! Aaaghh! See, totally relaxed!
We got the girls & boy home, all were super exhausted!! Some slept in the car on the way home. Most of them needed to be carried up to bed. Here are the girls with their new dolls.
Chelsea & Lulu Chocolate [she's a Simply Chocolate doll].
Mimi & Amy Vanilla [she's a Simply Vanilla doll].
Charlotte & Sweet Candy [she's a My Little Candy hybrid doll].
Georgie & Ruby Christmas [she's a Bohemian Peace doll].
One of my favourite traditions at Christmas is the night of Christmas once Jeff & I have all the kids to bed, the lovely day is behind us & we are left by ourselves in the quiet with all the lovely presents to organise. We like to get all the packaging & recycling done & then set up & display all the kids pressies over the couches in the lounge so that when they wake up the next morning they are excited all over again!
This year I got Bridesmaids on DVD [most hilarious movie EVER] so we watched it as we worked away.
The kids were so lucky this year, lots of wonderful gifts...
The girls of course got their Blythe dolls as their main presents + a few summer clothes [leggins & tees], bathers, lalaloopsy dolls, hello kitty figurines, books, zhu zhu pets, strawbery shortcake dolls, lots of arty/crafty stuff, lipgloss, water balloons, Mario DS games, new school lunch bags...
Buddy got his Thomas ride on, a super large Mr Potato head with lots of smaller potato heads inside. Absolute hit with everyone. He got a drum set, a keyboard, lots of books, summer clothes, art smock, soft toy spotty puppy [which has barely left his side], a little talking dinosaur called 'Buddy'! And an angry birds beach towel & bathers.
I bought Jeff a ladder, a Soda Stream, train DVD, Bickfords cordial, explorer socks & lots of lollies. He also got sexy Bonds shorty jocks & a whole other pile of things I cannot even recall.
We got some share gifts, movie vouchers, scanpan knives & skillet, luggage, hampers.....
I also got some lovely Christmas babushka mugs, a beautiful birdhouse & Womens Weekly Christmas book. My kids gave me some beautiful books, Design Sponge & some Pip Lincolne titles [why hadn't I heard of Pip before?] Jeff bought me a large Estee Lauder Beautiful perfume set [my fave perfume] and a middie Blythe, shown below.
Here's the new Christmas decs that the kids received this year. I have tags on all the decorations that have been gifted to my kids since they were born showing who it belongs to & who gave it to them. We give them each a new one every year too.
Here's my little drummer boy, cranking out a lovely tune on his symbols! Oh the house has been full of music & concerts ever since Christmas day. Some of it good! Not much, but some!
And here's a familiar scene from the last few days, the big girls playing Mario DS games amidst their new things.
They've been playing lots of dolly games too.
Me? I've been in my element, relaxing, pottering around integrating new things into the house, doing various house projects & getting ready for the next edition of Mason crazy.... having the two families over at our house for the twins 4th birthday party in a few days time!
Fabulous Christmas, cannot wait for 2012 Christmas already!
Kate xo



















































