Christmas Day at our house

I said I was going to take a week off from blogging but we had such an enjoyable Christmas Day that I couldn't resist sharing it with you all.

Hubby went to Christmas Mass while I set up for Breakfast. For the last couple of years, we have started the day with a healthy breakfast and hopefully avoiding too many chocolates before lunch.

 After Breakfast, it is time to gather in the living room for gift giving, lots of hugs and kisses and present opening.

this is my much anticipated gift from Red. Sam from The Wanderers and The Wolves had us out for photo shoots on two weekends and it was so much fun.  The results are stunning. Go and visit her web site here and look for the other photo's of Callie and Lila (Clover as well)

When we had all unwrapped our presents and oohed and aahed over everything, it was time to pay some attention to the doggies.

Patiently awaiting the surprise

the bags contained a doggie treat, a tennis ball and a big chew bone....look what they were only interested in!

By this time it was time to prepare the lunch. 

This year it has become a family affair with hubby getting the two boys to join him in shelling the 2kgs of prawns (enjoy the rare view of my boys!)

hubby organises and prepares all the seafood including these devine Tasmanian Lobsters......oh so yum! No hot Christmas dinner of turkey or ham for us....hey, the A/C was turned on at 8am!!

Miss M and I were busy preparing the salads and the rest of the meal as well as setting the table fit for this feast.

close to 5L of Sangria, seafood and salads

oh yummy, yummy.........positively mouthwatering!

After lunch when most people head off for a nap, we watched a movie.  Hubby is not a movie buff so he occupied himself cleaning up after lunch (bonus Xmas present for me!). Two hours is long enough to make room for the pudding. This is the only traditional part of our day and steamed plum pudding with custard is a must.

normally I pop a gold chocolate coin ontop of the pudding but I forgot to get them this year. No fear, plenty of other chocolates floating around.

Talking about floating around...4pm means that conditions are just right for splashing in the pool.  The dogs love this and Callie came for a swim too.  Lila slipped and "accidently" went for a swim while Clover very cleverly avoided going too close to the edge. Ted had left by this time for another engagement so hubby, Miss M, Red and I took the dogs for a walk down to the river (takes us about an hour) to work off all that food and alcohol consumed. It was thirsty work so on our return home we had a cup of tea with a mince pie. Well we tried to work off the excesses.

Christmas is my very favourite days of the year. I only wish I could spend it with more of those that I love most in this world.