Christmas is Done and Dusted

On Christmas Eve we went to Mass, put the presents under the tree, left treats out for Santa and his reindeer and put the girls to bed. We were well prepared but relieved to go to sleep that night.

My mother-in-law made this wonderful Christmas cake which the kids helped decorate. This was cut up for Santa.

Our wonderful Christmas celebrations started early with stockings being looked through and then the mountains of presents being opened. This year we gave the kids two presents each and a share trampoline. The got a mountain of presents because there are 4 of them and they each gave the others a present.

The house was cleaned and the food prepared before our first lot of guests arrived at 10:30am. It was fantastic to have my nephew, a strapping lad of 23, share our day too. The next lot of guests arrived at 11:30 and we began handing out presents. It was a very hectic time with 13 people in our library. Being the memory keeper that I am I had a little stress out that I wouldn't be able to know who gave the kids what gifts. I received some lovely and very thoughtful gifts, probably the most special was a gift voucher from my in-laws for a clothing store because I have lots a lot of centimetres and don't have many clothes which fit. My sister and her Mum arrived and she went out with the kids on the trampoline. Lots of bouncing occurred today.

Lunch as a simple BBQ, with the guests bringing something to share.  I was reflecting on the day last night and thought the table was rather crowded, everyone had to squeeze past each other and I thought we may need a different set up next time we host Christmas but then I realised that it is actually part of Christmas. Lots of people crowded in one place, lots of noise, lots of food. A little bit of discomfort is not too hard to deal with. Apart from the wonderful company, the best part of the day would have been the desserts. I'm a sucker for good food. Mrs Granny Weymouth always brings the trifle which it is delicious. Everyone brings something to share; salad, dessert or nibbles. It's great. Little stress and so much fun.

Cousins. Isn't he a wonderful young man?

Gran with Princess Aurora with the lilac flowers she got for Christmas.

Kevin's loot.

Lisa's first Christmas loot. That doesn't include presents she got before Christmas. We only gave her one of those presents!

Packing up the tree to get ready for Lisa's birthday on the 31st

My Aunt and Uncle, cousin and her kids, my brother and my new sister in law and their kids. Kevin had to stay home and look after a sick Lisa. It was great to get everyone together. I'm so glad everyone traveled to see us. It's a great place to meet up at as there is plenty of space for the kids and enough chairs for the adults. 

The Big Move

We arrived here on Sunday and showed the girls where we were going to live. Kevin carried Lisa through the door as he had done with each Knight girl as he had brought them into our home.

The removalists arrived on Monday with a container bursting at the seams with our belongings. We unpacked the beds and enough kitchen things to make a meal.

Lisa's first night in the Castle

We didn't waste much time settling in. On Tuesday we set up the Christmas tree and the lights. The kids loved finally being able to get into Christmas.

Almost all of the boxes have been unpacked. We still have some boxes stored at Kevin and Pauline's house which we are yet to pick up or if we have picked them up we have not yet unpacked and sorted through. There are years of school resources which will most likely get chucked. Don't suppose I'll be needing those any time soon. There is still the scrapbooking room to unpack. Gosh so much to do. At least our room, the kids room and the kitchen is unpacked except those boxes from the in-laws.

We had a lot of rain for the first week we were here so it made unpacking the perfect job to be doing. It also made us have to mow quite a few times in the first 2 weeks.

The kids seem to have settled in really well. Hollie has her school uniform, a class number, a teacher and books ordered for next year. Jessica has checked out the kindy we'll be sending her to and seems to like it. All is left to do is contact mainly music and find a playgroup to attend. Maybe I should just start my own with the people I know around here?

Kevin has been allocated a school where one of his mates teaches, has all of his trains in the one spot, has his shed back and is planning his first train club meeting.

Me? I'm just hoping everything is clean and tidy enough for our guests in 4 sleeps time. I can do it. I really can. I can make this home presentable in 3 days. NOT. Family and friends are just going to have to put up with it aren't they. Well the least they could do would be to keep quiet about how messy, disorganised and unclean it is but I'm sure everyone will be so glad we're back they won't notice the mess. I won't be able to fix it up by Sunday that's for sure. My scrapbooking room won't be finished but that is ok. Kevin has erected the shelving system for it so I have started unpacking. I'm so excited to have my own space. Close the door on the projects and the kids can't destroy them. I'm so lucky and so excited.

We have already spent a lot of time in the garden pulling out unwanted plants and pruning, even breaking a pair of secateurs in the process. This morning I spent 1 and 1/2 hrs in the garden pruning and pulling before heading to the shops. Upon my return I returned to the garden to prune, pull and dig the horrible weed out of the gardens. We had hired a trailer to collect the last of our large items from the in-laws yesterday and were still in possession of it today so it was loaded up with garden waste. It was a 5x7 cage trailer and it was full. It was 10:30 before I finally stopped. What a morning and there is still so much to do. The next thing to bring back from the in-laws is the mattock to dig out all of the plants we have cut back. It is looking a little bare but we think it is best to start with a fresh look.