Simple answer is, it's not a family game night if we're not all there and if someone isn't being a sore loser.
Christmas Eve was spent at home, making the final preparations for the big day after a breakfast of home-made waffles and pancakes. We tidied up the house - cleaning bedrooms and stocking up the cupboards and fridges with the last few things. We had hot chocolate and watched Father Christmas fly over at 5:22pm, the Elves brought the kids new PJs each and a DVD for us all to watch together, and we had chicken enchiladas for dinner. The stockings were hung up and 4/5 kids headed off to bed, and the Mister and A assembled E's main present - Barbie's utterly bloody enormous bright pink Malibu house - so it was ready for her in the morning, while I sneaked around filling the aforementioned stockings.
Gift unwrapping doesn't generally take long in our house, and it's usually done in turns however this year J only had three gifts to open from us due to the cost of the one & only thing he actually wanted and although they all have the same budget, the amount of gifts that can be bought for E as opposed to A for that amount is very different. So we simply took turns until the older ones ran out of gifts to open, and then E went to town on the rest of hers. My living room is currently waist high in packaging & my recycling bin is full.
I think everything got what they wanted, and we all spent time enjoying our new things while the Mister went to take the in-laws to visit his Aunt, Uncle & Grandmother before bringing MIL & FIL home to have lunch with us. A traditional roast turkey dinner followed, with pigs in blankets and cranberry sauce aplenty. Oh, and a pizza for L. The post-Christmas dinner lazing on the sofa ensued, with the soaps on TV for MIL and the kids scattered about the house enjoying their spoils. It was just a lovely slow, relaxing day.
Boxing Day was welcomed with a breakfast of eggs & bacon and freshly brewed coffee and was spent endeavouring to reassemble the house in to some sort of order. We failed miserably, gave up and spent the afternoon lounging around in our PJs before attempting a game of Disney Monopoly. A string of guests arrived at this point and so the game was abandoned (not before we'd enjoyed a couple of tantrums and I was wrongly accused of cheating) and we fully intend to have another go over the next few days.
We made our own mince pies for Father Christmas. We made gingerbread. We pottered about in our nightwear for several days, eating too many goodies and being somewhat on the lazy side. We loved and loathed being in each others company in equal measure. We laughed. We had fun. We argued. We slept. We watched entirely too much rubbish on TV and the house looks like the aftermath of a nasty industrial accident.
It was fantastic. Let's do it all again next year.
Sounds like a pretty perfect family Christmas to me! I would much rather here honest accounts like these than the 'oh so magical' fairy dust unicorn poop accounts that are all too common!
ReplyDeleteHaha! Oh I'm a firm believer in keeping it real. To be honest the rubbish bits are what makes it perfect - it wouldn't be the same without something going awry ;)
DeleteThis sounds like the most perfect Christmas ever, as much as I try to inject sparkle into Christmas it's the being together, eating too much and just having fun that make everything special. Thank you for linking up to Magic Moments.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, perfectly imperfect - just how I like it!
DeleteIt sounds like you all had a lovely Christmas! I really love your photos and you write so beautifully Julie! xx
ReplyDeleteThank you Sarah :)
DeleteHaha this made me laugh! Sounds like ours bar the board games! I'm the sore loser who accuses people so I'm banned ha!! I had political debates with my dad instead which was odd! Oh yes, that Barbie house is rather big ha!!
ReplyDeleteIt's huge! So much bigger than I was expecting but she loves it, and it does fold in to a fairly compact size... Still takes up half my living room though!
DeleteLooks like you had a great family Christmas, full of everything that you guys enjoy. The mince pies look great, and I can't wait for the year that N is old enough to play monopoly. I'm sure I'll be the one accused of cheating
ReplyDeleteThank you, it was a really lovely family time. The mince pies were delicious, E did those all by herself (just needed me for the oven bit!)
DeleteSounds like a wonderful perfectly imperfect Christmas! It's all about being together really, isn't it? #magicmoments
ReplyDeleteIt absolutely is, whatever you do and however you spend it :)
DeleteYour Christmas sounds great - it's all about making those memories - perfect and not-so-perfect after all. Your tree looks stunning. x
ReplyDeleteThank you very much, I agree wholeheartedly x
DeleteI love your pictures and it sounds like a wonderful Christmas to me. Thanks for sharing with #PointShoot x
ReplyDeleteThank you :) Happy new year!
DeleteSounds like a perfect family Christmas to me :) Sounds like you made lots more memories this year. #PointShoot
ReplyDeleteThank you lovely x Happy new year to you and yours :)
DeleteAwww sounds like a nice Christmas! Highlight of our Christmas is my son opening his gifts. He really love tearing the paper! Happy New Year to you and your family =) #PointShoot
ReplyDeleteOh bless, it's magical when they are small. I shall miss those times! Thank you for commenting.
DeleteThose mince pies look lovely, glad you had a perfectly imperfect Christmas, I love that description btw!
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking up with Point + Shoot xx
It think it about sums it up :) Thank you :)
DeleteSounds like a really lovely Christmas with lots of fun family times :) I love the idea of making your own mince pies for Santa, must have been fun! Magicmoments
ReplyDeleteThank you, we had a really lovely time :)
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