A Christmas wrap up

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

This is the kids decorating of the tree (note where the baubles stop due to height restrictions!)

This is my fixing up of the tree so the decorations where a bit better spaced!

I'm a bit late with getting this on the blog. But I want to get it on while it is still 2010, 'cause it sort of seems that when you post things about Chrissy AFTER the New Year has set in, that it all seems a bit out of whack.

I'll try not to inundate you with pics, but let's face it - the camera gets a severe bashing on the 25th December.

Firstly, just to remind you that Christmas Day is also Biddy's birthday, so whilst we are overwhelmed with what the fat man in the red suit has bought us all, we also have to make time to remember that Biddy joined us on this special day. And my, hasn't that 3 years just blown by? As usual, Mark and I gave her a small crystal trinket (a rocking horse!), and I also found a darling little bracelet in the jewelers which I knew she would love because she is right into bracelets and necklaces these days. Before ANY presents are opened, including Santa sacks - we all wish Princess Parrot a very happy birthday and have a bit of a singsong.

This year was the first time I have been woken by a child on Christmas morning. After getting to bed in the wee early hours, I awoken to the strains of "MUM....SANTA HAS BEEN!!!!!!!!!" from Tom. This was at 6.45am - FAR TOO EARLY for him to be awake. In fact, I have NEVER known him to be awake at that time....ever! He had been into the lounge room and spied the Santa sack. None of these toys were wrapped, so he could clearly see that there were some dinosaur books and Hot Wheels cars at the very least just tempting him! But he didn't pull them out and came down to me. I quickly popped him in bed with me and thankfully, he went back to sleep for another hour and a half (much more civilised!).

Unfortunately for the kids, Mark had to milk that morning, and didn't get back into the house until 8.30am. Such is the life of a dairy kid. No presents were to be opened until dad gets in. This did give me time to give them some breakfast and get them dressed so that they didn't appear in their PJs in every single photo I took!

With some superbly bad timing, Biddy became sick a couple of days before, and after a visit to the dr on Chrissy Eve, was placed on antis. However, they had not really kicked in by Christmas morning and she was a bit of a bag of misery for the first little bit, not even wanting to open her Santa sack. But after Tom got through his and we started on Bella's, she started to warm to the idea that she would also like some presents.

The big ticket items that Santa left this year were a bike for Tom and a scooter for Biddy. Bella was content with her rattles and teething rings!

But, the BIGGEST surprise was in store for the kids when we took them outside - both 'blindfolded' by pillowcases over their heads - and gave them our present. A cubby house!

The look on their faces is priceless!

As you can see...it is rather high!

Even Bella got into it!

This baby has been a project unto itself, I can tell you. We bought it from a place in Melbourne (CubbiesRUs) and went down to pick it up when we went to Melb to celebrate our wedding anniversary a couple of weeks ago. It has then been sitting over in the calf shed, and we had to keep remembering not to let either of the kids over there. As the cubby is an elevated model, we had to sink the posts into the ground and concrete them in a couple of days prior. As this was in full view of the kids in the backyard, they were going to see. So we told them that daddy was building me a fernery for Christmas. Tom worked his guts out all day, helping to dig the holes and mix concrete and hammer in nails. He was buggered that night! If only he knew. On Christmas Eve, I took the kids to church and then for a bit of a tour around town to see the Chrissy lights giving Mark about 2.5hrs to get the whole cubby up on the elevation kit. The kids were almost asleep when we got home at about 10.30pm and by that time, Mark has pretty much finished. And it is such a ripper. The kids (and no doubt their friends) will get years of use out of it.

The rest of the day was spent opening boxes, constructing toys, riding bikes and scooters, eating, drinking, watching new DVDs....the usual stuff!

All in all, we had a great day. We hope you and yours had a great day and best wishes for 2011.

I need one of these!

Today was the day of the annual Cockies Picnic in Colac. It is a Christmas celebration day for all farming families around the district. Years ago it was simply a piss up for the boys, but in the past 5 years or so, it has become more of a family event and now more people attend. That being said, numbers were down this year because today turned out to be a fine day and there were a lot of people cutting or baling hay - Mark included.

But I took the kids along and from the word go, they made a beeline for the merry-go-round swing thing and the jumping castle. I had two rules for the day; 1) don't hurt any other kids, and 2) do not go outside the gate. Other than that, they could run, scream, go crazy, not eat lunch, pee on the oval....I didn't care. But they were very good. In fact, except for lunch and a trip to see Santa, I don't think they hardly got off that merry-go-round thing. I have no idea how much it cost the committee to hire, but rest assured, it was the best money spent in my books. Kept the kids amused and out of my hair for 2.5hrs! I NEED one of these at home.

How much fun do they look like they are having?

Over the years, each of the kids have had their face painted like a cat at the Cockies Picnic. The thing with my kids is, they HATE having their faces painted. So up to 1yr of age is the ONLY time I can get it done. Hence it was Bella's turn this year.

Of course, all this fun does not come without it's costs, and I had some tired worn out kids to take home that couldn't do ANYTHING asked of them because they were "too tired".

'Cause it's Christmas-time.....

...and I am changing our blog background for a festive look! As usual.

December is a crazy month isn't it? Why is it, that everyone seems to think that if we don't all get together just before Christmas, then the whole world will grind to a halt? Why don't we make more of an effort to see each other, have BBQs, lunch, concerts, drinks, send letters, cards, photos, give gifts (for the hell of it) and just be generally NICE throughout the year? Why leave it all until Christmas? Especially in this over commercialised world we live in these days? Why, why WHY?

I dunno.....

That all being said, I LOVE the leadup to Christmas - and if the truth be known - all the frenetic activity that goes with it, along with the excesses. Mark, on the other hand, does not. He hates the shopping, the constant questioning of what he wants, the pressure to get things in order, and the whole rush of everything. Bah Humbug! This year, it may be due to the fact that we will be baling hay on Christmas Day if the weather pattern settles into something predictable. And he will have to milk as well. Plus, he has a super secret job to do in the days leading up to Christmas Day including a major job on Christmas Eve.

On other matters, today is our 9th wedding anniversary and we have just returned from a lovely night out in Melbourne at the Windsor. This is a tradition that we have done ever since our honeymoon, so this was out 10th visit! And as always, it was a real treat. Even if we did have to take Bella with us.

We have the annual Cockies Picnic tomorrow in town which the kids will love. We are holding our staff Chrissy bash this Friday night at the farm. Should be a good night. On Monday we are taking the kids to Geelong for photos with Santa and the last splash of shopping that is needed to be done. And hopefully a cruisy run to Christmas.