Lathams News: CHRISTMAS DAY 2021....

Another Christmas Day signalling almost the end of 2021.. A way different year to what we expected...

We are staying at Chloe's this Christmas so were not woken up early by the grandchildren opening their presents. We managed to sleep in until almost 7.30am which was really a nice Christmas present in itself.

Chloe had us come onto her bed to open our Santa presents. Ever since our children were little, they always had a Santa stocking with a few gifts in that we would all sit on our bed and open when we first woke up. That way they had a few things to play with until we sat as an extended family and opened all our gifts.

That tradition has continued as all of our children still hold the belief that if they still believe in Santa gifts will arrive and who are we to disappoint them. Our girls now have a few little gifts to put into our Santa stocking so that we also receive a couple of gifts.

This year I even had to make a stocking for Dan and Chloe's dog Mia. I had done one previously for Sarah and Colin's dog Penny, so Chloe put her order in a few months ago that Mia would need one too..

Dan scored well.. Bat and ball for Christmas afternoon fun, although we ran out of time to use it maybe for New Year's Day.

One excited pooch had to be in on all the action also...

Poppy was pretty happy with his new stash of Ruggers for Christmas

Mia scored lots of new doggie toys...

I wonder what this one will be...

Still some more pressies to open

Wow this looks interesting....

A New Christmas dress to wear.... Thank you Santa...

Wow love these... I reckon Max would love them also as these are his favourite birds..

Love this one... definitely one for the caravan..

This is Mia's first Christmas with us and she got spoilt rotten... This beautiful puppy was Dan and Chloe's Christmas present last year, although they had to wait till mid January until they were able to collect her... She is well loved and such a special little puppy... Hugely intelligent and such a beautiful nature...

Steve scored well from Santa in the sock department this year getting two different packs of socks.. Some good black ones which have fish on them and then his white casual socks which he mostly wears...

Once we had opened all our Santa pressies, it was time to get ready for church. Another of our family traditions is to attend a Christmas morning service before coming home and opening our presents...

Since the whole reason for Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus, we like to remember Him and the greatest gift that God has even given us in the fact that he sent Jesus as a tiny babe, to come to this earth and to be a Saviour for us all. It is only through Jesus that we came come to God the father. It is the sacrifice of his Son Jesus that gives us right standing with God and Christmas time, we celebrate the birth of that baby Jesus. He may not of actually been born on this day, but it is a wonderful reminder for us to celebrate his life and all that we have been given through a relationship with him...

Dressed in our new Christmas clothes ready for Church

As Sarah's church was not holding a Christmas service this morning. (They held theirs on Christmas Eve) we decided to attend their old church at Citipointe for the Christmas Day service. It usually goes for an hour and it was a lovely service...

We all attended Citipointe together as a family to remember the reason for Christmas

Once church was over, we headed back to Dan and Chloe where we were holding our Christmas celebrations this year...

Chloe, Dan and I quickly got the roasts in the oven and the ham on the BBQ so that it would all be cooked once we had opened all our gifts.

The kids were really eager to get the present opening happening.

Too cute for his own good...

Some one is ecstatic about Christmas...

Even Mia got into the festive spirit by wearing her Santa Coat for the day... I was surprised that she didn't mind wearing it...

Mia also dressed for Christmas

I love this photo of Willow...

Time to unpack all those presents from under the Christmas Tree. A large photo share here...There was so much to open. The children certainly got spoilt this year as most of it was for them. They Uncle Dan and Aunty Chloe really spoilt them giving them three or four gifts. They are such a generous couple and Chloe absolutely loves Christmas and certainly embraces the season with her generosity...

Lots of gifts under the tree...

Everyone sitting around waiting to open their gifts. Chloe had invited their boarder to join us for Christmas as she didn't have family or anywhere else to go. She had just planned on treating it like any other day and staying down stairs on her own.. Chloe couldn't stand the thought of her being on her own so invited her to join us...

Although she said she is not a big one for Christmas, I really do think that she appreciated the offer and she really did join in with all the fun.

Dan was offered the job of handing out all the gifts, but he passed the baton back to Steve to do it all again...

Handing out the Christmas gifts.

Dan's in for a treat with some new ear pods for his ears...

Willow scored some Scribble Scrubbies. These were on here Christmas list so she was very happy

Sarah was over the moon with the gift from her in laws who gave her a Soda Stream fountain for making their own soda water. She had been wanting one for quite some time, but it just wasn't in their budget at this particular time of year, especially since all of their car dramas...

beyond excited..

Very happy daughter..

I scored an experience from my girls which includes them joining me for a Pottery and Sip evening... So looking forward to this...

Chloe scored three of four gifts from her husband Dan, but they were all inter related. She ended up getting a new Surface Pro and instead of wrapping it all up together, he wrapped each piece individually..

Some one is very happy with her present...

Colin got spoilt with monetary vouchers this Christmas..

Chloe scored some make up storeage from their boarder Caitlin...

Max was pretty excited to receive this present from Uncle Dan and Aunty Chloe..

Just what he wanted, another dancing Llama. He loved the purple one he got for his birthday.. In fact he tells everyone that it was his best birthday present ever...

WOW... WOW.... WOW...

One very happy little boy...

Again Uncle Dan and Aunty Chloe spoilt them with these amazing Bubble Balls for Christmas. They bought one for both Max and Willow so that they could use them together... They also provided heaps of fun for us all during the afternoon...

Max opening his present from Uncle Dan and Aunty Chloe

Max ended up with a red one, and Willow got a blue one.

I also scored a beautiful caravan mug from Dan and Chloe...

Chloe scored another part of her Christmas present..

Poppy scores a little gift....

More presents for Willow from Uncle Dan and Aunty Chloe... They bought her a lovely pair of new pajamas....

Max gets to open a very big present from his other grandparents... He was quite excited with the size of it and he loved it... It was another present that he could have used this afternoon. Lots of water balloon fights are in order now that he has a super water balloon weapon..

And Willow was over the moon with her next couple of presents from her Mum and Dad. Christmas is so much fun when it involves young children... It really is quite a magical time of year...

Some one is very happy and excited with this Christmas present...

Oh her Aunty Brenda has also spoilt her with some more Sribble Scrubbies....

A new dress from Moppy and Poppy

And some new T Shirts and Shorts from Moppy & Poppy

Max scores some more great presents from his Mum and Dad...

Dan and Chloe scored a new front door mat from Sarah and Colin.... It now is proudly displayed at their front door...

Very happy with their new mat...

Poppy scores a present from Dan and Chloe...

He was pretty happy with his new carry bag for his swag that he got to go up north...

Max loved his boat lego from Moppy and Poppy

I got a lovely big cuddle from Max..

Willow was pretty happy with her Harry Potter Lego also...

I managed to get another lovely new dress from Steve for Christmas... Very happy chappy. Lovely and cool for summer...

Willow gets some nail care and a lovely pair of overalls from her other Grandparents for Christmas too..

And Max scored a great racing car set from his Mum and Dad. He was pretty excited with this one, and they had to set it up for him after lunch....

He also scored some new basketball shorts and singlet for Christmas... These ones were pretty cool as they were "The Lakers" a pretty impressive NBA team in the states...

He also scored something for the beach from his other grandparents as well. These kids have been well and truly spoilt this Christmas...

They both scored giant Candy Canes from their Aunty Chloe and Uncle Dan....

One final present for Chloe from Dan.... It's a bit heavy...

One very happy girl.... Just what she wanted...

Max reading his new book

Willow reading her new book...

This year we all ended up with Matching outfits. I personally have been looking for a lovely white Summer dress for the past couple of years and I came across this one in Target. Steve was happy to buy it for me for Christmas. Chloe happened to be with us at the time and she loved it and wanted one also, so we offered to get it for her as a Santa Present. We got to thinking and thought we would get one for Sarah as well. They didn't have Sarah's size in Rocky so Chloe managed to source it online and ordered it that way.

Then she got to thinking that if we all had matching outfits it would be good to get the guys a matching T Shirt also, so she designed one and had it sent off to be printed for them. Meanwhile just before Christmas I saw this lovely white outfit for Willow so ended up getting it for her so that she would feel part of it also... Of course that meant that we all had to have our photos taken in matching outfits...

Willow and I

Girls photo shoot..

Max highjacks our photo...

Even Mia got her own special Christmas outfit...

The boys in their matching shirts...

And then we had to get a whole family photo. Thanks to Caitlin who was here to take the snap for us....

Latham Family photo..

Moore family photo...

Opening the presents took us till almost 1pm... It's a bit of a long drawn out process but it at least lets everyone enjoy seeing the reactions to each other getting gifts. My the time we had finished though our lunch was cooked and it just became a case of serving it out as the table had already been set the evening before...

After my Dad passed away and we were clearing out the shed, Chloe showed an interest in Mum

beautiful silver punch bowl and cups and we were happy to let her have it as it evoked wonderful memories for her of Christmas with her grandparents as Mum would always have a lovely punch made up in this bowl, so she was keen for us to do the same,,,

Resurrecting memories of past Christmas with Mum's lovely punch bowl.

Lunch is all cooked ready to dish out...

Delicious ham on the bone

Marinated prawns

Potato bake

More prawns

Chloe's lovely chocolate Christmas balls

Christmas roast lunch

All seated at the table for Christmas lunch..

After lunch Max wanted to set up his racing car set..

Whilst Max was enjoying playing this with Sarah, the boys were blowing up the Bubble Balls so that they kids could have some fun with these in the back yard. I am pretty sure that they boys wanted to play with them also, so it getting them blown up was just an excuse for them to be able to play with them also...

Firstly the kids played with them... Poor Max doesn't have much weight to him, so he was on the ground numerous times...

Colin had to help poor Max..

He managed to get Willow down on the ground..

The kids then wanted to verse their Mum, so this is where Dad came into his own.. He was Max's support person and helped him stand up to his mum...

Max and his Mum Sarah sparring

The kids were keen to see their Mum and Dad have a go also. Poor Sarah had her work cut out for her as Colin was so much taller than her and with his martial arts background, she stood little chance of getting him down...

She's down...

Then it was Dan and Colin's turn to battle it out... They were a much more even match and it was fun to watch the determination of them of them to get the other down... In the end they scored probably quite even as they both seemed to get the upper hands at time..

Whilst all this was going on in the back yard, our good friends Ian and Kathy arrived... They were joining us for our Pakkeleg game and then have Christmas dinner with us. They celebrate Christmas with their families on Christmas Eve and then their kids go to their in laws for Christmas Day so they normally have a very quiet Christmas on their own, so it was nice that they were able to join in with us....

Ian and Kathy with Steve on the back deck...

It was time to play the game as the children call it. Max was super keen but it was a different story when it came to throwing the dice. He would get so disappointed when he didn't throw any sixes. It was even more painful for him when Willow would throw them and her presents started mounting up.. He found it hard to understand that there was more to the game and many more chances to win a present... It was quite hilarious and lots of fun...

Everyone all ready to play Pakkeleg...

The stash of presents all wrapped up the same ready to play...

Initially no one was throwing a six so this game looked like it would go on for ever. We decided that we needed to have a second dice in play... This kept the game moving and suddenly the sixes were being thrown pretty rapidly and the presents started disappearing...

Once all the presents were gone from the middle of the table, is when the game really heats up. Now we get to steal presents. For an unspecified time (only the stop watch keeper knows how long the game will play for), we play but this time if you throw a six you can steal a present from any other member and if you throw a three, everyone must pass one of their presents to the person on their left. When the timer finally goes off, any present you still have remaining becomes yours.

Max might have started off slow at playing Pakkeleg and throwing sixes initially, but somehow he more than made up for it towards the end where he seemed to have scored quite a few presents. My number seem to have diminished and I am pretty sure there were a few that were not handed on. Still we all had lots of fun.

Sarah had sent over a couple of gifts and Chloe was keen to send them home with her but she was determined to leave them at Chloe's place. In the end it all became a game of cat and mouse with the items being hidden in Sarah's bag, and then Sarah re hiding them at Chloe's again. It was the following day when I went to do some washing that I found items in the washing machine...

Kathy got goggles...

Chloe won a POO fishing game - she was keen to send it back home with Sarah...

Sarah was happy with her stash... Glo sticks and a $5 note...

Very appropriate for the jokester in the family

Steve managed to score a new boat, motor and all... Not quite as good as his new boat at home...

It was super fun and it took us almost throw to dinner time. Whilst Chloe and I prepared our left overs, Sarah got the kids bathed and then Steve entertained them...

Lots of fun with Poppy...

We weren't having a big meal for dinner, just left overs and a dessert grazing board, as we were all too full at lunch time to even think about dessert.