Christmas...

 On Christmas Eve, the family gathered at our place... We started with a lovely spinach dip made in a hollowed out cob loaf that has become a speciality of DD1. Then it was time for the prawns that my brother brings each year...

 The main course this year was a variety of roast meats, accompanied by 3 large baking dishes of baked vegetables, steamed greens and gravy.

That's my dinner in the foreground :-)

 I had put a lot of wrapped gifts under the tree but as the family arrived the pile of presents grew dramatically. (I always get a bit 'thingy' at this time because I feel that there are too many presents but the family chooses to ignore my suggestion that they limit the spending :-/)
The pile of presents was just so overwhelming, that I suggested that each person, hands out the gifts that they had bought and I would hand out the Secret Santa gifts that the 5 girls do between them. So pretty soon the dinner tables looked like this!

DsD3 brought along Roberto as he has no family here. He is from El Salvador. I told him that I had planned to fry some plantains to make him feel at home, but decided not to when my local fruit shop expected me to buy the whole carton as it's a special order :-) Roberto didn't mind...he was impressed that I'd thought of him

DD1 brought along her housemate, Janelle who is sitting between my 2 girls...

DsD looking a bit pensive here...

Our Son in Law to be!

My 'little' nephew is now 14 and over a foot taller than me!

My lovely DH who had peeled lots of vegetables and brought tables and chairs out of storage...and was generally a great help!

My brother and his partner gave me this magnificent hydrangea 

 Then on Christmas Day we went to my BIL and SIL's place for lunch... more food and more presents! lol

 But we'd already had a cooked breakfast with DD2 who had come  over about 8.30.

 Now a couple of photos of the Advent swap goodies...

Haha! Blogger keeps turning this photo on its side...All these beautiful items from Cheryl took me up to Christmas Eve... On Christmas morning I opened the last parcel and what a lovely surprise!!!

Two lovely Christmas mats made with the folded start technique! They will make a wonderful addition to Christmas in 2013. Thank you so much for being my swap buddy Cheryl; I've loved everything and it was so much fun!

So that was Christmas! And pretty special it was too :-)