Christmas day.

It seems that I got a little ahead of myself over the last couple of days!  I didnt tell you what we did for Christmas!  Well....here goes!

This year, we only had 5 of our 8 kids with us.  Weez was with her Nan and Poppy and Corky and J-Man were with their Mum.  Happens every 2nd year for us....a quiet Christmas - well, as quiet as it can get with 3 young boys with an endless supply of energy!

Christmas Eve we headed down The Boyne, set up camp outside my Dad's house and settled in for the night.  I took my sewing machine down, fully planning on sewing up the Christmas stockings that I bought from Spotlight a couple of days before (at 75% off of $14.95 - which made them just $3something - they were hard to resist!).  Problem was....I had no foot to go with my sewing machine!  Somewhere along the way (between house, car and Dad's house) I lost it.  With no spare ones with me, I abandoned mission and sat about, catching up with Dad and chatting with Pete.  We were not late to bed, because we knew that the kids were going to be up early the next morning.

Yep - the boys were up early!  After not being able to make up the stockings, I decided to 'steal' their pillow cases and provide them for Santa to deposit their presents in.  this proved to be a bad move, as Mickey and Bubba both woke up, crying for them!  I had no idea that they were so attached to their pillow cases!  Bubba was the first up.  He ended up sleeping beside me, so he woke me at the same time with "Mum!  It's morning time!"  LOL  Of course, Mickey was next up and went straight upstairs.  Bubba probably forgot about presents, because he was straight onto his bike!Will was left sleeping in the van....he had been up most of the night - new bed, new noises (or lack of at Dad's place), etc to get used to.

The boys soon found their pillowcases again!  And soon delved into the depths to see what Santa had brought them.  There were plenty "OOO's" and "AAAH's" as they poured over their gifts. 

Next up was brekky - nothing really special, but Will had fun, all the same!

At around 10am, we decided to head on down to the river and play on the beach to fill in time before we were to head over to my brother and SIL's house for lunch.

They enjoyed splashing in the water.

And Will especially enjoyed ruining the sandcastles that Daddy made!!

On the way home, Will enjoyed being perched on Daddy's shoulders.

And Bubba Pete enjoyed riding his bike.  This is a particularly cruel hill for kids to ride up (a long, gentle slope) - I did it many a time when I was a kid and dreaded it all the time!

That is all for the photos!  I forgot to take my camera to my brother's house and, as a result, forgot to take photos for the rest of the day!  My brother, Dad, Pete, Lenny and Moo enjoyed a little bash with the hockey sticks out the back of Dad's place while SIL and I looked on.  I cant tell you how much it pained me to see everyone with those sticks in their hands and me unable to join in because I could twinge my back, again!

That night, we had leftovers from lunch.  We didnt feel like eating much, because we had been eating and drinking all afternoon, but the kids still had a fair meal.  We said goodnight to my brother and SIL early that night, because they were heading off to Carnarvon gorge early the next day.