Christmas Day 2008.....

Well, again this year, this day seemed to take such a long time to arrive. We knew it had when at 5.30am we started hearing excited little whispers from the bedrooms and timid little footsteps creeping into the lounge. The whispers growing louder, until they were little squeals of delight and anticipation - first the two girls, then L5, and finally A11 gathering to see what treasures awaited them under the tree.

"Can we open some now, Dad, pleeeease?". And so, with eyes not quite ready to be awake, and a stomach not quite ready for marshmallow (but those cherries looked delicious), the present unwrapping began. It was all very ordered chaos, and children certainly seem to have an innate knowledge of how to make lasting Christmas morning memories. Everyone was very happy with their gifts, everyone getting a few things from their 'Most Wanted' list.

Hannah got a few new Schleich animals to add to her collection:


A11 got some new shoes and a softball:



The Lad started round with the rubbish sack whilst I started preparing our little Christmas Breakfast tradition of fresh fruit and berries with chantilly cream and yoghurt, with strawberries floating in sparkling grape juice for toast and good wishes.


After talking with the rellies (I was surprisingly composed, as I'm not really good on Christmas with just The Lad and The Kids), and cleaning up after breakfast, the games began. Now some families spent the day counting their blessings and being thankful that they were blessed with the whanau they have, but not us, not this year.

We had a SIX-tathlon(? couldn't find any reference to any six event multi-sport title), and a fiercely competitive one at that! There were a few rounds with H7's new croquet set, with The Lad taking the title there. We had a round robin marathon with L9's new table tennis set, and I took out Champion of The World in that. There was softball - boys against girls - with A11's new bat and ball, and L5's new baseball and catchers' mitt. Two games, both tied at the bottom of the last.

We also had a few new card games to learn and beat people at - there was L5's new SkipBo and H7's new Phase Ten (I'm sure I won them two), and we also had L9's new Pass the Buck.

I tell you, there were tears, and tantrums, and victory laps, and more tears, and much ribbing, and an awesome day all round. It reminded me of Christmas at The Park, where the majority of my maternal extended whanau usually gather at Queen Elizabeth Park in Paekakariki and we feast and swim and have matches to the death in volleyball, badminton, cricket, touch, soccer, softball, and anything else anyone thinks up or brings equipment for.

Tramp had the right idea, though, The Lad and I were well jealous of him, getting to curl up and sleep because he was tired:



Merry Christmas, everyone xoxoxo