A Delightful Christmas Day

Our Christmas Day dawned bright and early - not with children bouncing eagerly into bed but with me feeling queasy and vomiting! Er, yeah not quite a picturesque start, but ah well! Then I had to (im)patiently wait for the kids to wake after a late night out looking at the Christmas lights. Finally just after eight, a very excited little girl crept in and whispered that there appeared to be something in her and Eli's Stockings - but she was very confused and a bit upset that for some reason Mummy and Daddy's stockings were empty!? Such a sweetheart, worrying about us missing out! We told her we might get something later and that she should just look in her stocking for now, so she scampered into our bed with her stocking full of treasure. It was just pure delight to lie there in bed and watch her delve and discover...

Christmas with little kids? Just the best....

(I can't even apologise for all the pics, I was just enjoying the sweet and quiet light-filled morning with her so much! Plus of course the rest of the Christmas magic had to be captured)

(But I am sorry!! Feel free to skim through!)

I can open this one too?!

Digging for treasure...

Eli came up to me and held up his little cupped hands containing Baby Jesus from the Nativity.
'Happy Birfday, Baby Jesus!!' he joyfully proclaimed.  Consider my heart officially melted... thanks Darling, for reminding
us of the greatest gift of all!

Two little darlings, waiting (im)patiently at the door for Grandparents and
my lovely Step-brothers to arrive!

Excitedly waiting for the gift-opening to begin. 

With all the gift distributing and overseeing, I didn't get much chance to take pics but this pretty much sums up
the scene! Kids lost in a pile of wrapping paper!

E-Bear got a scooter.... it was a big hit!

 

Yup, he was right into it!! So cute!
And yes, that's me and my big belly (one month to go on Xmas day) peeking into the picture!

The main gift of the day for the kids was a joint gift from Mark and I, and the lovely QLD and WA grandparents....
The kids racing to unveil it under our awesome wrapping job (tossed some sheets on top, haha!)

A kitchen!! Big enough for three littlies to cook their little hearts out (and yes, I hunted far and wide to find a
gender-neutral colour too, what's up with all the PINK ONLY kitchens?!). Cue two stunned little kids....

They soon warmed up and got right into cooking up a storm!

She asked to put her craft table next to the kitchen so she could set up her restaurant.
Admiring her entrepreneurial skills!

We made our way through the pile under the tree, taking turns to open a pressie, and trying to enjoy each person's gift with them. Mark and I try to focus our gift giving for the kids around one main and hopefully long-term gift (which most of the grandparents also kindly contributed to) rather than stacks of random toys. We supplemented the scooter and kitchen with just a couple of Christian books and Cd's (one I was really excited about for Lily was this great collection of Bible stories with a read along CD for the car). However, by the time all the generous and loving relatives also contribute, it makes for quite a pile!! I could tell by half-way through the kids were reaching saturation point (read: overwhelmed by the bounty and not able to truly appreciate what they were receiving) so I ended up putting aside quite a few gifts for later as I figured that was better than them just getting lost in the mayhem. They were very blessed little children to receive some wonderful books (a really thoughtful, classic collection), clothes and craft items!

Trialing Little Bro's scooter. Yes, she loves it and wants one too but alas... 

Off to Christmas Lunch with extended family...

What happens when two kids discover they both have pockets!

Just a small and simple lunch.... ummmm.... NOT!  A very decadent, delicious meal (and this is only 2/3 of it!)

Yeah, my kids are never far from a food table!

Love this little tree monkey!

She makes her way through the magical garden...

Happy hours were spent with her cool older (10yrs) cousin. She adores him
and he is so good to her! Everyone was charmed watching them play in the
trees together.

Father and Son, watching the older boys fly their new remote-controlled helicopters. Eli was enraptured!

A beautiful late lunch rolled into a lazy-leftovers dinner with our local extended family. By 7pm, Mama (and kids!) were well and truly exhausted and it was home for a quiet evening and early bed!

All in all... a truly lovely, relaxed, family-filled, richly blessed Christmas day!