Christmas Day!

Christmas day started bright and early. The children sat on the stairs waiting for us to check if it was safe to enter the lounge, they didn't want to scare away santa :)
Entering the lounge
wow, they weren't on the naughty list!

K was so happy to get this book.



The kids got cameras! They were all so pleased, although the batteries were all flat by that evening.
The cats enjoyed the toys too

Christmas music was provided by the girls...and daddy :)
Then we went off to my parents house for the rest of the day.
There was lots of food waiting

I thought this reindeer was so cute
K's picture
After lunch there were more presents to open! These were from family though, not from Santa



K decorated the yule log

We had a lovely family meal.


And then snuggled up to watch a movie together.
I can't believe that this is the third Christmas that I have recorded on the blog! Time flies :)

Christmas Eve

Our Christmas baking started with a chocolate Guinness cake. This is one of hubby's favourites so will be baked for years to come :)

The children all tracked santa. They got the globes out to double check where he was :)
Tracking santa has been a wonderful addition to our Christmas eve traditions. It is both exciting and at the same time calming. It allows them to have a structure to all the excitement which seems particularly important to B. It also helps with their geography :)
Kiki drew a Christmas dinosaur
Googs helped me make a lemon meringue pie
Kiki helped set the Christmas eve table. We had family over to our house for Christmas eve this year. It was fun to run around and get everything ready.
Choux pastry waiting to be baked
We lit a fire to make it all cosy when everyone arrived.

My Mom made this delicious gammon.


Everyone wanted to sit in the dining room around the food table. We all ate happily off our knees. Hours of cooking and baking and, in only a few minutes, its all gone :)

After supper we went to Mass. We came back home to eat pudding
Once everyone left the children put their sacks under the tree


And they put out a snack for santa and reindeer
The kids then practically ran off to bed, (the only time they will ever do that). And when we checked back later we discovered that santa had been!