BEEP, BEEP, BEEP! I turned over, still half asleep, and looked at the clock with blurry eyes, not recognising what the beeping until a few seconds later. 5am. It was my alarm.
“Merry Christmas Boo! Did you sleep ok?” I asked Aaron.
“Not really. You?”
“Horribly. Between the wind and the garbage trucks at 3am, I hardly got any sleep.” Maybe some of that sleeplessness was due to excitement. I couldn’t wait to see the kids’ happy faces when they opened their presents. But seriously, who allowed the garbage men to collect the bins at 3am? So uncalled for.
Aaron and I wanted to be showered, and have our stockings already opened before the kids woke up. They are too young to sit around watching us open stockings, they want to open their own, and we didn’t want to miss them opening theirs by being distracted with ours.
Daniel and Hannah with their stockings. Daniel was still half asleep and had no idea what was going on.
We were super naughty and ate some of the s’mores Pop Tarts that I got in my stocking. Aaron managed to find all sorts of American goodies for me. I guess it was more of a pre-breakfast snack. We had a proper breakfast with bacon, eggs, toast, and hash browns after church. But you know, it was Christmas, so calories didn’t count. Especially since I went for a 4 kilometer run that evening, which, at the time, was my longest run ever. I’ve since completed a 5K run, after which, I nearly exploded, but that’s another story for another day.
My Christmas evening run. I had to make the most of the cool weather.
We went to Aaron’s Mum (YaYa) and Grandma’s house to open more presents and have lunch. Nothing like the gigantic gathering of relatives my family in the states has, but it was a gathering none the less. Christmas time is always weird for me over here. It just doesn’t seem right having Christmas in the summer.
This year felt a little more normal. The clouds opened and saturated the area with what turned out to be the most rain on Christmas day since 1942, and the coldest in 5 years. A mere 21 degrees (69.8f). That’s more like a Seattle Christmas. Only far warmer.
Hannah decided she would be the present hander-outer. Which of course was difficult, since she can’t actually read.
“Mommy, who is this one for?”
“That one is for Aunty Jess and Uncle Jim.” I told her.
She skipped off, present in hand and gleefully handed it to Aunty Jess. “That’s not all Aunty Jess, there’s a coffe machine too!” Hannah told her as The Jess opened up a box of chocolates.
Everyone froze for a second, looking at each other wondering what to say, quickly followed by bursts of giggles.
“Well, I guess you can open it now then.” I said, giving The Jess the wrapped coffee machine.
Everyone opened presents all at the same time. There were no turns, there was no order, just chaos as we all got handed presents and opened them at our leisure. Turn order would have taken hours and the kids would have been over it after 10 minutes. Maybe when they’re older….
Daniel was running around putting things on his head and trying to steal Hannah’s things until he opened a box full of Dora figurines, his present from Aunty Jess and Uncle Jim. He does love Dora.
After about an hour of present opening (I know, there were way too many presents, Grandma and YaYa always buy the kids way too much stuff and spoil the them rotten), it came to the end. I took Hannah out of the room and when we came back, there was a big thing sitting there, in the middle of the room, covered in sheets.
“Hannah, that’s your present.” We told her.
She excitedly ran up to it and pulled the sheets off, revealing a shiny new pink bike with a basket, tassels, and even a seat in the back for her dolly. Or in this case, an obnoxious penguin that sings Jingle Bells over and over again. Hannah cuddled that penguin all day.
Hannah on her first bike ride
She was over the moon. Immediately, we took her outside to give it a spin, which we filmed with our new GoPro camera (that Aaron and I got each other for Christmas) mounted on her handle bars.
Hannah got to ride for about 15 minutes before it started pouring down rain.
We stuffed ourselves silly at lunch time, followed by a decadent, choc mud mirror cake that I made from an Adriano Zumbo cake mix. Oh. My. Gosh. Delicious. It was an expensive mix, but totally worth it.
Adriano Zumbo choc mud mirror cake. The one that I made.
And then after the kids went to bed, I went running. On Christmas. As you do. And yes, I am a hypocrite. Earlier that day, I told The Jess she was crazy for wanting to work out on Christmas, and earlier in the week I told another friend the same thing. Oh well….
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- Hannah doing gymnastics on the handrail
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- Hannah with one of the sparklers Aunty Jess got her
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- Grandma’s table decorated for Christmas lunch
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- The Jess and me with our Christmas earrings
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- Hannah after eating her small piece of mud cake. We had to take her shirt off because it was covered in cake
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- The gingerbread house Hannah and I made in November. She finally got to have a piece on Christmas day
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Copyright 2012 Sheri Thomson
Mommy Adventures 