Our Christmas

I decided because it was Christmas that I would pull out my good camera, and take most of my Christmas photos on there. Tonight I went to get the photos off my camera, and something was wrong with my SD card and I've lost all my Christmas photos. I'm disappointed that I'm stuck with photos off my phone, but glad that I took pics on my phone so we have the memories for later on.

On Christmas Eve we went to see Aaron's Dad and Step Mum Carrol to exchange presents.  Aaron's Dad seemed quite teary and I could tell that he finds Christmas hard now too, but he always loves it when we come to visit.

For tea on Christmas Eve the boys were excited to do our tradition of a picnic on the lounge room floor, while watching a Christmas movie.  The boys chose to watch Elf and we had a great laugh.

When it got dark I decided that because the boys were too excited to go to sleep any time soon, that we may as well jump in the car and go and see some of the Christmas lights in our area.   We hadn't seen any yet, so the boys were excited to go out.

 It was a nice night to go and do it and we had a good excuse not to stay out too late, as Santa was on his way.

Kobe cracked us up with his card that he made Santa.  Obviously Santa has been very naughty this year and has turned into Satan!

Harri woke up at 2.30 am and told me he couldn't go back to sleep. I told him he had no choice but to go back to sleep, but five minutes later he was back in my room. He ended up sleeping in bed with me till 5.30 am when he couldn't wait any longer.  We woke up the other boys at 5.45 am and they couldn't wait to see their presents.

My brother Chrish arrived from Sydney about 9am so I went and picked him up, and then we had him and the missionaries from church over for brunch.  We love our missionaries at the moment - Elder Nonoa and Elder Chan-Tung.  They're awesome guys and are also a lot of fun.  It was nice to have them over as it gave me something to do in the morning, and they made Christmas morning fun.

The boys couldn't wait to get out on the trampoline with Uncle Chrish.

Elder Nonoa has an amazing voice and is very talented on the guitar as well.  We had heard about his talents, so we asked him to bring his guitar on Christmas morning.  We loved listening to him, and could've listened to him all day.

At lunch time we headed out to my brother Eden's house.   We decided to have our big family 'Christmas day' on Boxing Day, so that my sister Nicki and her family could spend Christmas Day in Hobart without having to travel up, so our Christmas Day was very casual, but really fun. 

We spent a long time playing cricket in the backyard.   I don't love watching cricket (unless it's a really exciting one day match) but like playing it. It was so much fun that we couldn't wait to play again on Boxing Day.

My sister in law Steph put on some music and all of a sudden there was a dance party on the deck. It was fun watching the kids dance away together.

Even some of the adults got up for the nutbush!

It didn't really feel like Christmas, but we had a lovely day just hanging out with my family and eating yummy food.  That night we stayed at my Mum and Dad's house, and went to look at a home near theirs that goes all out on the Christmas lights.

On Boxing Day morning we took Milly to the dog beach, and she had a lovely time fetching the ball.  She would go for hours if we let her.

When we got back Mum had made us a yummy brunch.  Dad has been keeping us entertained with all of his stories which are starting to come back to him. 

When we went back to my brother's house, my niece Chloe told me she had a little shop set up and I could come to get hair chalk, nail polish and could have my portrait drawn.    It's fun to do girly stuff with my nieces.

When my sister Nicki and her husband Alex arrived, I noticed her tummy straight away and thought she was pregnant, but then thought how embarrassing it would be if I asked her, and then she wasn't, so I didn't say anything! I did quickly run over to my sister in laws and told them I thought she was pregnant, and once they had another look they agreed too.

I was waiting patiently for her to make the big announcement, and finally as we sat down to eat they told us the exciting news that she is not only pregnant - but is 27 weeks pregnant!    Living in another state makes it easy to keep such a huge secret.  We are very excited to be getting another nephew in March.

After lunch my brother pulled out the black plastic for an awesome water slide. It wasn't warm enough for me to brave it this year, but the kids loved it.

It seems to be our new Christmas tradition since Aaron passed away, and I love it.

All of the grandchildren (except for Noah and the one on the way) with Grandma and Grandpa.  Apparently Jalen's silly face is very serious :)

The whole month of December is hard with the lead up to Christmas, but Christmas Day and Boxing Day were actually okay this year.   It was nice to have some fun and laughs and not feel too sad on the days.  I think because all of our Christmases since Aaron and Noah passed away, have been different to when they were here, it has made it easier.  It's been good to make new traditions, but also have some of our old ones as well.