In the lead up to Christmas we watched some movies together and had fun dismantling the gingerbread houses. We watched Polar Express and Home Alone.
We made some packages of cherry and almond shortbread. We brought these to each of our neighbours on our new street, plus a few different people we know from Church. Two of our neighbours have returned the favour and brought gifts to us and somehow we have ended up with more than we started with.
This is Christmas Eve - the kids leaving out snacks for Santa and his reindeer. This year Santa scored some left-over shortbread (see above) and milk with a candy cane. The reindeers feasted on a carrot and some cherries.
Ethan and Erica on Christmas morning before the presents were opened. Not at all excited! They had to be very patient this year, as I insisted we wait until Clara was awake and I also insisted that nobody purposely wake her early.
Little Santa.
Erica with a present - a Tinkerbell flying fairy toy.
Clara with a present - a Little People nativity set. Unfortunately she couldn't fit it into her mouth. Clara's favourite present seemed to be a spoon (she will start solids soon and so received a lot of bowls, cutlery, bibs and washers), as this was ideal for biting.
Ethan with his new skateboard.
Clara having a turn at opening a present. She seemed to figure it out.
Breakfast ready to go. The whipped cream on the pancakes was a big hit with the kids.
Our little panda making some jewellery. Erica received a panda bear onesie and a jewellery-making kit. She made each of us a bracelet with our names spelled out in beads.
The panda doing some interesting ballet moves.
Little Santa was happy to hang out in her swing and watch the other two children play with their toys.
Our BBQ Christmas lunch. After many days of sun in the lead-up to Christmas, we ended up with a rainy drizzly day. My vision of eating our BBQ alfresco by the pool will have to wait for another day - maybe New Years Eve. David very kindly offered to BBQ the meat anyway and stood outside with an umbrella! Luckily the BBQ itself sits undercover.
Dessert!
Ethan with his many party hats. We had a new set of Christmas crackers at each meal because the kids were having so much fun with them. I went to pack the remainder away yesterday, but the kids intervened, so now we have some more to use at another meal - probably tonight.
The rain stopped on Boxing Day, so the kids were able to try out some of their new water toys. Here they are testing their new water guns to see how far they could shoot water. We all went for a swim later that afternoon and had fun playing with these - especially Erica who would let out an evil-sounding laugh every time she hit David.
Ethan trying out his new skateboard. On his first attempt he sailed easily down the hill, but then came off at the bottom falling to one side and the skateboard going in the other direction until it slammed into somebody's portable BBQ. After that we made him wear his pads and the owners of the BBQ relocated it somewhere else. He was doing really well by the end. I'm sure we'll be back at the park later today for another ride.
Clara enjoying the park, while the rest of the family played a game of cricket. Towards the end David picked her up and together they covered the outfield - except when Ethan wasn't running around out there while batting! Literally he would hit the ball and then sprint after it, reaching the ball before the real fielders could get to it - he has a massive amount of energy.
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