Christmas Eve was spent wearing out the kids to that they had a nice early night. Kinda went to plan except as I was putting Grace to bed, I fell asleep too! Oops. I had been busy making all the desserts for Christmas day and was feeling rather sick from eating all the leftover melted chocolate.Before the kids went to bed we excitedly put out all the food and drinks for Santa and the reindeer's. Santa was given a cup of milk and biscuits, and the reindeer's had a container of oats which was put beside the dogs water bowl in case they wanted a drink too. We also left out a special key for Santa to get in seen as how we don't have a chimney.
We then all opened up one present each, a big coincidence don't you think that all the presents were new pj's! I have done this every year - it's a nice tradition and makes us all look kinda respectable come the morning. I try to get Christmassy ones but they were sold out early. Xav got a cute red pair with silky boxers to match Daddies and Grace got a pink ballerina nightie. I just recycled a new pair that I had bought ages ago.
I spent the rest of the night wrapping presents (I love doing this!) and watching the carols on Tv. Duane was beside me busily trying to put together the wooden kitchen and muttering about next year not buying anything that needed to be assembled. I only heard a few swear words and saw I mistake - so all in all success. The presents were piled high under the tree, all bright and shiny. Everything looked perfect. About 11.30pm we heard little footsteps coming down the hall, Duane bolted and intercepted sleepy Grace who he took into our bed and they both crashed out. I took a few photos, ate the bikkies, tipped out the milk and then joined them for the night.
~~Before~~
~~Before~~
~~After~~ 
Grandma and Poppy turned up at 6am, then Grace stumbled out of bed not much after. She was a little unsure why they were here so early and also what all the excited faces were for. We shuffled her outside and showed her the Santa prints, and also pointed out the mess that the reindeer's had made with the food. She was a little shocked, she kept rubbing her tired eyes and looking again - not quite sure what she was seeing. Xav woke about then so after getting him up, Grace took him outside and relayed everything we had said to him. She was starting to comprehend it all now and was excitedly saying, "Santa's been, Santa's been" 
We all headed inside and her eyes nearly pooped out of her head when she saw all the presents piled up high. We turned on the carols and then Duane played Santa, handing out all the presents. The children were both extremely spoilt, but everything that they got was perfect. I had given strict instructions and also present suggestions to the in-laws, and I was glad to see that they followed them! Probably sounds horrible, but if I hadn't of, we would of ended up with a bunch of plasticky, break-in-an-instant crap. Grace got a beautiful purple and white wooden truck with horse trailer attached, pretend coffee machine, pretend kettle, pretend mixer and some little wind up toys. Xav was given a skittle set, bath alphabet, wooden truck, wooden peg/hammer thing and also the wind up toys. Xav loves the hammer/peg thing. He spent so much time banging all the pegs in and then flipping it over and starting again. At one stage he banged it so hard that the head fell of the hammer - It was all glued back on though and he went again!
Then came the unveiling of the big present - a wooden kitchen. This was a joint present for both of them, and it was a hit! They spent most of the morning pretending to make us coffees and cooking up a storm. Xav obsessively put things in one cupboard, walked away, then went running back to change it all around again. It's such a beautiful kitchen and plenty of room for them both to play. There old plastic one has been shifted outside in the cubby house. They're allowed to put water on that one, so they get out there making sloppy sand-pies and cooking them up!
The kids also got lots of other lovely presents from Santa. Toothbrushes, undies and lots of books. Grace got a set of working lights for her dolls house and also a family of wooden dolls that fit the house perfectly. From us they were given some games to share - domino's, lucky ducks, beetle and uno. Nanny bought them both the game twister and also a torch each. Both of these were a hit, especially the torches. We have played a kiddy friendly version of twisted already and they both love spinning the wheel and jumping on whatever colour come up.
Probably the highlight for Grace was the lip gloss and nail polish that Santa has promised her. Grace had developed a terrible habit of chewing her nails down to nothing, sometime making them bleed. I promised her that Santa would bring her some polish if she stopped biting them, and it worked - she stopped! So then I had the task of traipsing everywhere looking for polish that was safe and tame enough for a 3 y/o. I ended up finding some light barely-there nude polish with a touch of glitter that was both formaldehyde and talon free. I remembered at the last minute though that Avon do a great nail polish, so I might order some of that too. Grace loved having her fingers and toes all sparkly and shiny - she's such a girly-girl! The lipgloss was just a sunscreen one, but she loves it!
Murray and Trudy then turned up for breakfast. I was given a beautiful pot filled with planted herbs - and also strict instructions to water it! Grace was given a scented baby doll, a gorgeous top & shorts set and the last 2 books that she needed to complete her, "When I'm feeling........" book set. Xav got a beautiful wooden abacus that he loves spinning the letters on.
Duane was surprised with a new 4 burner BBQ, complete with hood and wok on the side from his parents. Funny thing was it is the exact bbq that we had bought for them! Very nice and I can't wait to try it out soon. I already have my lovely early Christmas present - my gorgeous camera.
We then enjoyed a lovely breakfast of pancakes with fresh mango, pineapple and berries all piled high with ice-cream, cream and maple syrup.
After breakfast Xav had a snooze and I put the finishing touches on my contribution to the big lunch meal - desserts!
We then headed over to Amanda's house and settled in to watch the present exchange. Grace and Xav were once again spoilt. Grace was given a new Cd & book from the Truets, a card game from the Cahills and a little dolly from the Ryans. Xav was given an "In the night garden" book & t-shirt from the Truets, a toy camera from the Cahills and a ball from the Ryans.
Lunch was then layed out on the table for everyone to fill up on. There was a beautiful apricot and macadamia stuffed roast Turkey, roast chicken and perfectly roasted vegetables. It was the first year that we have had a kiddy table set up. They each ate little bites of food as they alternated between sitting nicely and running around crazily. All the adults ate way too much then retired to the deck to work up an appetite for dessert.
I had the nerve racking task of deciding on and making all the dessert. I was very nervous about as it's always the much anticipated finale to any meal. I knew that pavlova was generally a hit, and trifle is a Christmas staple so these 2 were definates. I then found a recipe for rocky road ice-cream which looked and sounded delicious.
I'd never made pavlova before and obviously didn't beat it for as long as I should have as it stayed flat and spread out all over the tray. I am a great improviser though (hubby is often scared when I say that I've "improvised"!) so I whipped up some cream, slapped it on the top with some raspberries and kiwi fruit and rolled it up like a swiss roll. Looked a bit dodgy but come serving time I topped it with more cream, bananas, kiwi fruit raspberries and chocolate. It still looked a bit bleurgh, but tasted delicious!
I also made a summer berry trifle that was laden with blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, jelly soaked sponge cake, custard and cream. Very easy to make and looked great. The ice-cream cake was also really yummy and going by the fact there was not much left over, it must have been all right. I had also made about 40 little Christmas cake balls that had been dipped in chocolate and topped with white chocolate and jaffas - apparently supossed to look like Christmas puddings. Mine didn't really but tasted magnificent - huge hit!
After lazing around for another few hours, it was time to head home to have a play with all the new toys.
An unorthodox game of twister was a perfect end to a perfect Christmas day.
Christmas 2008 was filled with the 4 f's - family, friends, fun & food. Just how it should be!
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