Everyone was up bright and early to start preparations. We'd asked Santa to leave any gifts for the kids with Grandma and Grandpa back in England so instead of opening presents in pj's, our typical festive routine, we set off a for a walk and a long play in a local adventure playground - we thought it better that we stay out of everyone's way!
When we returned, the house was bustling with activity. There were presents under the tree from Kris Krimble ( a bit like Secret Santa, where everyone is given in advance the name of one person to buy a gift for) and so much food everywhere!
Uncle Jack was busy in the garden, keeping an eye on the 10kg turkey they'd put in the BBQ at 5am!!
The temperature was quickly rising and by 11am it was already well into the thirties. Despite good intentions to get dressed up and ready to receive guests, the lure of the refreshing pool was just too much for some members of the family to resist...
Cousin Ben celebrates a volleyball victory:
Uncle Jack models his turkey chef's hat and festive attire:
Just before the others arrived, around 1pm, we had a champagne toast to get the party started.
A taster of the many beautiful dishes we were to enjoy.
At around 230pm, after a quick pre-dinner water volleyball match (it was about 35 degrees) we began our meal. 23 people gathered around 3 tables enjoying the great food and company and trying to stay hydrated and cool!
Cousin Kira and Sarah had brought with fantastic crackers that they had handmade. Each one contained a beautiful hand painted hat, a riddle, and a prop to help guess the famous person. There seemed to be an awful lot of famous moustaches! Much laughter ensued:
Louis and Julia were pretty happy with their cracker surprises:
The two Davids spent some time trying to work out how to operate Hugo's new walkie talkies.. This is what concentration looks like:
For the main meal there was turkey and stuffing and trout and so many beautiful veggies and salads it was difficult to know where to start! A lot of people had contributed something and it was so delicious!
It was so hot by the mid afternoon that after everyone had eaten as much as they could possibly manage, it was pool time again. At one point there were about 17 people in the water! We were all having so much fun that no-one really thought about having any dessert until around 7pm.
Before we tucked into our final course of Andrew's homemade ice creams, Ra's divine gluten-free Christmas pudding, Norma's crumble and much much more, it was time for Kris Kringle, an annual tradition for the Oz side of the family.
Here are the children delivering the anonymous gifts to the appropriate members of the family!
Here's Granny and Popps with Abigail and her brand new outfit from Auntie Anna and Uncle Jack.
After lunch was over (around 8pm) people started to bid their farewells and head off home. Here is little Sylvie chilling out with Gryff:
And again with Abigail, both girls proudly wearing their new gear!
After the kids were finally in bed and the bulk of the clearing up had been completed, Nush, Josh, Anna, Jack, Judy, David, Ben, Sarah and Mieke (Jack's mum) gathered by pool for some late night tea and some of Anna's Christmas cake:
Raising a massive cheer to Anna and Jack for all their hard work and preparation and immense hospitality. X
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