Christmas Wrap Up

This year's Christmas was awesome.  We packed all our bags, pressies and kitchen stuff for our two night stay at Casa Kai.  It was so nice that we could spend Steve & Cherie's first Christmas in their new home.  The kids had a blast to say the least.  They played so nicely together before and after all the new and wonderful toys they received. Many priceless moments, one being Owen's call out to 'iy-y' (for Lily) all the time.  The two have become such buddies now following and chasing one another.  Megan and Nora were always up to something, cutest when we'd find them in S&C's walk-in closet which was fully set up as their doll's houses, complete with doll beds, doll bath, clothes and semi-kitchen!

Christmas Day was busy busy and jam packed.  The kids slept in till 8:15am, whoo hoo for everyone!  Then it was non-stop opening gifts, interrupted by a quick breakfast, a big skype with our family in SA (my mom's side), Christmas Mass, lunch and then preparing for dinner.  I think we were still unwrapping gifts at 3pm when we finally sat down for some tea! :)

Lily, more interested in the candies on the Gingerbread House than the decorating part

Lots of cool new toys to play with!

Ready to party!

Then it was the colossal family gathering of 18 people for dinner!  It was so nice to have our immediate family, plus Cherie's family and Trav's family in on the dinner.  The making of dinner was awesome, I just LOVE how spacious Cherie & Steve's kitchen is... at one point (when it comes down to the nitty gritty), we had Steve carving the Turkey, Gong Gong bbq'ing the boerewors, Trav doing mash potatoes, Howard stirring the gravy, Patti making the salad, Grandma Pat warming the stuffing, Christie attending to her yam dish, while Cherie oversaw it all and made it all perfect!  A true feast was born.  Then it was time to eat... deliciousness.  Mmm Mmm, way to go and thank you again to S&C for hosting everyone.

What a memorable holiday, such a great time for the kids.  They loved each other's company and there's always talks of how we wish we all just lived under one roof.  We honestly never saw any fights or tantrums.  It was such a good mix and balance of adult time / kids playing.

Owen loved Christmas and he had the best reactions for each toy!

Trav has the rest of the week off until New Year so it's been great having him at home.  The girls received a Quadrilla Marble Run and Trav and Nora haven't stopped playing with it.  They love it.. build all types of runs, they can play for hours with it... Trav definitely feels like a kid again (plus I think he's a bit thankful he hasn't had to do any princess dress up... yet!).

Fun watching the two figure out a new way to build the next run!

We hope that you and your family also had a wonderful Christmas.  Catch you in the new year!