MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

I'm a little late with my festive message, but we hope that you all had a great Chrissy filled with good food, good drink, good cheer and not too many tantrums, hissy fits, tears and squabbles (and that is just for the adults!!). No seriously, we hope you had a fabbo day.

We had a great day here at the farm, although one of our milkers was late on the job. And he doesn't even have an excuse of a hangover as he is only 15. I hope Santa bought him a whopping big alarm clock! Sadly, we said goodbye to one of our long term workers. Jarrod Hall had his last milking with us on Christmas morning and it was all I could do to say thanks, give him a kiss and get out of there before I dissolved into tears. Jarrod has been with us 1 month shy of 4 years and we have watched him grow from an awkward teenager, to a strapping young man with a bright future. Jarrod leaves us to join the navy, and since his missed the March intake, we might see him sneak around for the occasional milking to get some money! So heartfelt thanks go to Jarrod for all his work, committment and reliance over the past 4 years.

Jarrod & Mark

Back at the house, the kids were chomping at the bit to get stuck into the pressies! Mum had done a wonderful job of keeping them out of the lounge room until Mark and I got back from the dairy. Of course, they were both spolit rotten and Mark made the commentthat they had more stuff in just their Santa sacks than he usually got in a whole Christmas. It's a fair comment as I think the same was true for me!

Biddy 'relaxing' in her new camping chair with her Dora sunnies!

But the kids had a wonderful day with the main presents being:
Tom - a V-motion console and games, a Tag pen and books, a battery powered Jeep (courtesy of Nanny and the Butler family), clothes, books, the usual array of dinosaur merchandise, a dino quilt (from Gran) and a stack of Hot Wheels racing tracks including the dinosaur tracks.

Biddy - a rocking horse (horses are her FAVOURITE thing at the moment), variety of dolls, tea-set, a crayola table with pens and playdoh, books, clothes, goggles, and a camping chair.

Mark - a set of RM Williams canvas carseat covers, a mini Webber (for the caravan), and Top Gear DVDs and books.

Sam - a water fountain for the garden, a couple of metal garden ornaments including a HUGE spider (loving that one!!), a Soda Stream, the New Moon CD and a rolling table to use near the BBQ (this was handmade by my mum in her woodwork course at U3A and is simply fabulous!).

Unwrapping the Soda Stream

Lunch ran late of course, but luckily, none of us had to milk, so it was no biggie. Had the usual - ham, turkey, pork and also poussin (baby chickens), followed by pudding and another sweet treat. We only had 5 adults and 2 kids for lunch so it was pretty relaxed. Dinner was at my SIL and the whole Billing family got together - LOTS of kids at this one!

Of course, we can't forget that it was also Biddy's real birthday, so on top of all the festive celebrations and food, we also had a birthday cake and a birthday song for her. Every year, Mark and I are buying her a small crystal figurine...this year it was a cat.

Blowing out the candles for her 2nd birthday!