Christmas 2012

Merry Christmas!

We were up at a reasonable hour this morning – around 6am.  Babess was the first one up and about (apart from me, I had some cooking to do).  She was amused to see that Santa had left gifts on the dining table as we don’t have a tree here, and ran to wake Fainjin and Pearl.  Her amusement quickly turned to concern, however, when she realised there were only three gifts.  “Mummy and Daddy didn’t get any!” She turned huge eyes to me.  “Are you on the Naughty List?”

We assured her that we were on the Good List, but Santa only leaves gifts for children.  I think she was dubious, but decided to humour us.

So the children opened their Santa presents – books, as is usually the case when we’re in Australia for Christmas.  Santa knows we have to carry them home again, so he keeps things small.  Then we all had breakfast, and I finished stuffing mushrooms and making salad, before heading to the family present-opening with Grandma and Grandad and the uncles, aunts and cousins.

That was very satisfactory indeed, with several cries of “It’s just what I always wanted!” and many “Thank you!”s.  We lingered to play with toys and chat (and I “helped” construct several Lego models, my ideal Christmas Day activity!), and had a leisurely lunch together.

It was very hot by my standards, although the locals seemed untroubled.  We came back to our accommodation in mid-afternoon to embrace the air-conditioning and have a dip in the pool, followed by more playing with Christmas presents and – of course – left-overs for dinner.

All in all, a pretty typical Christmas Day for our family.

I hope yours has been/is as enjoyable and special in your own family way.  And that you’re not on the Naughty List.

Hyvää Joulua!

Joyeux Noël!

Frohe Weinachten!

Gleðileg jól!

¡Feliz Navidad!

Gaudete! Dies natalis est.

God jul!

Nollaig Shona Duit!

Feliz Natal!

© UpsideBackwards 2012.

Tags: Christmas, Family, parenting, summer