For most of December we have had lots of snow, which kind of took away the anticipation of a white Christmas, but it was nonetheless very pretty and didn't cause too much disruption. With the snowy weather, we have had some spectacular sunrises, the best of which was Christmas morning. Strangely, I couldn't drag the kids away from their pressies to look out of the window with me!
Christmas Eve is one of my favourite days of the holiday, and we spent the morning dashing around the shops before heading over to Charlotte's sister, Laura's house for the afternoon. This made a lovely change, and it was lovely spending time with this crazy family! All of the stresses of Christmas preparations seemed to be left at the door and we had a smashing afternoon. After an evening of wrapping and general busyness I went to Midnight Mass with Mam and Grandma, which was really lovely. There's something special about spending the first hour of Christmas morning with both of them. I then spent the next 3 hours finishing the wrapping and sorting the kids' pressies ready for them getting up. A lovely chat with my brother just before I headed off to bed started my Christmas just perfectly.
The kids were up 3 hours later, and that was one lie-in I didn't miss - I was as excited as they were. For the first time since they were small there were big boxes for them to unwrap with a keyboard and TV the 'big pressies' for the girls. The kids spoiled me rotten and there were tears when they gave me a lovely handbag, with a ticket for Take That inside!! We had a lovely morning opening presents and having a stream of visitors, with the obligatory Mars Bar sandwich for breakfast! Mam arrived to help with Christmas lunch, and it all went very smoothly. I'll never forget James' face, totally creased up as Grandma joined us in a Christmas toast, raising her glass of....prawn cocktail!! Prawn toast!! haha!!
I think the best part of Christmas Day was our Skype link to Barry in Minnesota, just after lunch. Still in pyjamas, being just after 9am, it was lovely to watch the boys open the presents we had sent for them, and seeing them all almost felt like they were close by, and Grandma was over the moon, though she has no idea how it happened. We even pulled Christmas crackers with them!! He showed us the garden, with the chairs we had lounged on in the summer, buried under the snow!!
Tea at Grandma's and then home to feast on Cadbury's roses and Bailey's rounded off a lovely day. Stevie, the girls and I played with new wii games until the early hours, then collapsed into bed, knowing we had an early start and a busy Boxing Day ahead. James and his football team did the Boxing Day Dip, which was fab fun, despite the freezing cold! A great atmosphere, hundreds turned out, and nice to have some fresh air to start the day!
We then headed off to St James' Park for the match, Stevie's first and around two years since I had been to the footy with James. I was in my element watching the team I love, with James and Stevie either side of me in the stand. We lost, but it was a great game, and brilliant atmosphere.
All in all, a fantastic Christmas so far with family all around, even those who are miles away being a part of it all.
I hope you all had a lovely Christmas too and I wish you all a Happy and Healthy New Year.
Much love from Michelle xxx
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