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Wednesday, December 26, 2012

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 :-)

10 comments:

twinpeakprimitives said...

Just lovely Maria.
Best wishes for a happy New Year too!

Anonymous said...

what a wonderful day you had Maria.xx

Maria said...

Pleased to see you and yours had a great Christmas...
Lovely Advent presents...

Sue Grier said...

Wow you had a very busy christmas Maria. Love and best wishes to you and your family. xxx

duchess_declutter said...

That looks like a very Happy Christmas to me Maria! Enjoy the Festive Season. cheers Wendy

Cheryl said...

Looks like you had a wonderful xmas with your family Maria. am glad you loved your advent swap pressies. I have loved doing this swap with you as my partner

Anita said...

Hi Maria,
It looks like you had a wonderful Christmas with all your family. Love the Christmas mats made from the folded star technique!!!
Cheers, Anita.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing your Christmas with us Maria. You have a lovely family. I am looking forward to following your blog in 2013.

Chookyblue...... said...

looks like christmas was lots of fun for you and your family.......it is always nice to bring people along who have no one to share the time with.........

Becky said...

What a wonderful Christmas!!!! We will be going to my folks place on Sunday to celebrate Christmas with them. I'm really looking forward to seeing all our special "little people".