Christmas 08

I have been reminded none too gently that I am woefully behind on updates, so I will endeavour to at least cover Christmas.

We started the Christmas season with a Playgroup Christmas party, where Santa's Cheif Elf Herself came and handed out presents and lolly bags, (the big fat man being far too busy at Westfields and the like) and the local alpacca's popped in for a quick pat and pic.

Then we headed off for our annual Christmas adventure.









First stop, Nelsons Bay, for an O'Donnell family gathering.
These are the Grandkids, at the entrance to the park we stayed in. We had four closely grouped cabins, so we could all come and go as we pleased, group together for meals, etc.


8 adults, 11 grandchildren, it was all a bit..... exhausting!

But luckily, they had putt putt....

Where Eli could be found every day, even though he vommitted every second day we were there, until we realised how festy the pool water was. Jacob spent all day every day (pretty much) at the beach, learning to surf and perfectting his body boarding skill. We saw very little of him, except at meals times when we all gathered to catch up. We were often regaled with things like "Gee Jacob eats a lot of fruit" "Gee he's good drinking lots of water"- clearly, it's just with us that he forgets!! He stayed in our cabin only the first couple of nights, then if we happened to end up in the same place (usually meals or the beach) we'd see him, but rarely. Maybe that's why he had such a good time....

We had a lovely week, swimming, going to the beach, pottering around. Unfortunately, with Eli being sick, we had to try and keep to ourselves a bit, we didn't want anyone else catching anything. Until we found out it was the pool, we had a quiet "every second morning".

But then it was Christmas.....

My beautiful neices, waiting..... My gorgeous nephews waiting.....Oh wait, the big one in the middle is mine!

Then it was time for ripping and gifting.

Eli's favourite presents were his IgglePiggle and his chair from Granny & Poppa....

Jacob's favourites were probably his James Bond movies, and numerous Slogan TShirts. Plus "The Hoggle" that he got to finally move into when we got home.

Then it was breakfast barbie time. I just added this pic so you can see we were in the same place as Jacob. You think he'd never had bacon and eggs for breakfast before! Well, not often, I guess....

Christmas Day was gorgeous, a great time with the whole family, and then of course Boxing Day was the obligatory cricket and relaxing.

Unfortunately, Trev and I had a shocking case of food poisoning hit us in the wee hours of the 27th, which pretty much put paid to the rest of our time there. We really didn't need 8 adults and 11 Grandkids sharing THAT experience!

Finally, we had to say our farewells and leave Nelsons Bay...

This was most of us just before we left. Unfortuneatly, Em & Leah had left the night before, so this is nearly everyone. Lots of tears (sooky la las!)

Then another big drive to Granny Gwens....

Where we had the intention of a few days of rest and relaxation, but it was WAY too hot. We had a second Christmas on New Years Eve, a few days to recover, then headed home. At which point we DID need a few days to rest and recover.

Jacob stayed an extra week with the Johns family and flew home mid January, and now we're back to school, and trying to get our heads around the fact it's February, and we still haven't had Christmas with the Mullins' yet, and only caught up with the Thomsons last weekend. From now on, we're going to start having Christmas in July!!

So there, Jenni, I've at least done Christmas!!!