Christmas 2011

I was expecting Christmas to be a little bit flat this year, since it was our first permanent one away from England and the majority of our family that's over there.  But, it was actually really, really good.  

Look what Lani found whilst we were browsing the mall for Christmas presents :)

I'll start out with Christmas Eve. We had a fairly lazy Saturday morning and then went out to Rosedale park for a little bit before hitting the mall for a couple of last minute things.  As you can see, the weather really picked up and was gorgeous all through Christmas Eve to Boxing Day

That evening we went to Sam's where she'd invited us, the Beaumonts and a couple of other friends.  It was a really lovely evening with the kids playing nicely together, some yummy snacks to eat, general chilling out, chatting and singing carols around the fire out on the deck.  We stayed out pretty late and the kids didn't get to bed until just gone 10.  The presents were soon under the tree, but there was a slight delay on the stockings because Lani was too excited to sleep!  I went in to check on them and she sat bolt upright thinking she'd caught Santa :) She finally dropped out around 10.45pm and had a left a note on top of her stocking (will add a picture of it soon!).  It says "To Santa, please can you get my scooter"

Here's our rather sorry looking tree - our decorations are still back in England in Mom's loft :) But at least Santa has been!

On Christmas morning we went to the Taylor's for brunch, which was amazing!  Aaron and Rhona had done croissants with ham, tomato and a creamy sauce inside, then cheese on top and grilled.  They were gorgeous!  And then we had trifle after too.  We had to dash off quickly after that because our ward had church at 10am (they were at 11) just for an hour.  After church we headed home to open the presents - we'd let the kids open one before having to leave fairly early for brunch, so still had all the rest to go.

Adam with his new giant beanbag from Jared, ready to hand out the presents.

Tilly with some special English chocolate from Grandma O'Gram

Another shot of the present opening frenzy :) 

After the presents everyone went for a sleep, which was much needed after getting to bed late and up at 6.10am (although I had to wake Tilly up at 8am so we could get ready to go).  I got the roast potatoes done and then went for a little snooze myself.  We headed to the Beaumonts for dinner, with the same group that had been at Sam's on Christmas Eve.  Again, another lovely afternoon/evening with good people and food and the kids all having fun together.  The dinner was delicious and the kids had a water fight afterwards.

Tilly kept out of the way with the rabbit while the water was being thrown around

New PJs from Great Nan and Grandad - I love Tilly's face in this one!

And Zach's new PJs - although this is not a good photo! 

Tilly making herself comfy on boxing day morning

On Boxing Day we had a nice chilled morning and then went to the beach in the afternoon with the Wells-Lakelands and Garsides (all lovely people!) and then back to the Wells-Lakelands house for a BBQ in the evening.  Another day of good food and good people :)

It's great to have some older ones around who will play with our littlies!