CHRISTMAS DAY 2020...

 It's not a Latham Christmas this year...

In fact our children all go to the in-laws this year so really Steve and I should have been just spending Christmas Day on our own...

We are definitely blessed by the families our children have married into.  Chloe''s in-laws invited us to spend Christmas with them, so we were very spoilt to be able to have Christmas with some family this year...

Normally we would go to church Christmas morning before any celebrations but this year we were so exhausted we overslept and didn't wake in time to get there...

Our grandchildren in Brisbane called to wish us a very Happy Christmas and also thank us for their Christmas presents.  They loved them.  Max especially loved his fishing rod...

 Willow was also pretty excited to get her gymnastic bar for Christmas and had to demonstrate how she can use it...

 

 We joined the Bertucci's a little after 10.30am for the opening of gifts...

The presents were all loaded underneath the Christmas Tree and it certainly looked like everyone was being spoilt this year....

It seems that everyone has been good this year... Santa had arrived at the Bertucci's and all their Christmas stockings were full...

It seems we were all pretty spoilt this year.... 

We used this opportunity to get some family photos too, so once we had opened all the gifts we got some shots before preparing lunch..

Then Dylan took some photos of us with Dan and Chloe....

I managed to get a few photos with my girl also...

 

 

Whilst the boys played with their toys, the girls the girls worked on getting lunch ready.

 

 

Sharyn had set the table beautifully for our Christmas lunch, and Dylan had made our bon bons.  It is a Bertucci tradition that he makes them, and he includes , some jokes and puzzles which we all take turns of sharing around the table...

Our special Italian Champagne - from the Tuscan Hills..

What a wonderful meal was in store for us.  Sirio and Sharyn were the perfect hosts and had cooked up a storm for us all...  Chloe had requested that I bring my special Cherry Christmas Salad to share...

Once we had eaten our meal, we pulled our bon bons and then it was time to share the jokes, riddles and puzzles from our bon bon.. We all took turns going around the table...

We were pretty full by the time we had eaten our Christmas lunch so decided to have a game of Zilch before we had our desert.  My now it was mid afternoon anyway...

It was such a good afternoon with lots of laughs and by the time we were half way through our game, we figured we could finally fit our desert in. 

I was responsible for providing desert for Christmas day.  I thought I would do a Grazing board so bought some mini pavlova's and then made a Black Forest Chocolate log using the chocolate ripple biscuits... It went over like a treat...

We continued our game and in the end I think I was the winner...  It was half past four by the time we finished playing...  We have had the best day, certainly different to how we thought our Christmas would play out...  So blessed to be joined with this family... 

Sharyn and Sirio were going out for dinner, so we packed up and left around 5pm.  We were keen to get home and give Pete and Maria a call to wish them a happy Christmas also and to watch Theo open his Christmas presents...

We rang them once we got home... Theo was quite excited and once he opened our gift, he only wanted to play with it.  He really wasn't interested in any of the other presents under the tree.  He is ever so cute.  We also got to see some more of our new precious little grandson Elliot too.  What a wonderful Christmas present to our family he was....

We had ordered a Construction Duplo set for Theo from a Danish store and had it delivered to the house...  

Managed to get a few photos of Pete with his boys also...

It really has been the most perfect day.  We have managed to connect with all our family and grandchildren and been blessed by the hospitality of the beautiful Bertucci family.  It is hard to believe that Christmas 2020 has come and gone... This year has not been the year we planned at all, but amidst all the uncertainity and sadness there are still so many things we are thankful for.  We have been blessed with wonderful family and friends and a chance to stop a little and just reflect on the things that are really important to us.  I feel like we have been blessed beyond measure..