Hello! Remember me, and this place, on the strange internet machine, we meet again… why not go retro and blog about our Christmas rather than post a million photos to my Instagram stories? Yes? Good. Let’s go.
We had this Christmas Eve and morning with Matt’s parents down by the sea – the money shot is always Christmas morning with littlies, let’s face it, and we hadn’t had a Christmas morning in Inverloch for a few years. The magic of Christmas Eve needs to be bottled: the anticipation, the carrots left out for the reindeer, the laying of the Santa sacks, the thrashing little bodies in beds too excited to sleep…
I wish I were joking, but our darling two eldest children were up at 2.50am looking for Santa. ARGHHH!!! We managed to keep them in beds with further giggles and thrashing until about 6am when we discovered that St Nick had indeed popped by. Turns out the Steendam sisters were on the nice list after all.
Cousins galore and delicious salads at ten paces are what our Inverloch days are about – and they did not disappoint. Having cousins a similar age to spend Christmas morning with is super special, I hope our girls remember them always.
We had baked trout, prawns, crayfish, oysters, Cypriot salad, nectarine salad, chickpea chilli avocado salad, oven roasted tomatoes, whole baked potatoes (of course) and washed it down with pavlova, pudding and I made a mango panna cotta cheesecake. All enjoyed at Matt’s aunty and uncle’s home “Shirwell” which adjoins my in-laws house, across the road from more cousins and generations of the Western’s of South Gippsland.
Incredibly full hearts and full tummies! Our annual family kk round robin game on the lawn, with stealing of gifts, clever marketing ploys and after market trading permitted, before we packed up some very sleepy and stuffed people to head home to my family in Thorpy…
…where more presents awaited! This time from Mummy and Daddy, and in the form of two wheels, some pedals (for some, not for Mary and her balance bike) and brain bucket helmets. Happy trails, girls!
Unbelievably… more food.
So. Much. Food.
A full turkey, ham, pork, roast potatoes, delicious carrots, cheesy broccoli and cauliflower. Did I mention there was a lot of food! Then the pavlova, the second of the day. Because: CHRISTMAAAAAAAAS!
Post dinner food coma of not being able to possibly move off the couch and vaguely supervising/witnessing the children open even more presents from their cousins and my siblings and Grandad. Dogs galore with a sheepadoodle, a cockelier puppy, a labrodor whippet cross and poor old Tess somewhere in there too.
Complete and utter chaos and joy. Christmas is quite something, isn’t it?!
We are full to bursting with all of the good stuff: time spent with our people in our places, celebration and joy by the sackfuls and ham. Lots and lots of ham.
I hope your Christmas was as love bombed as ours – be it a quiet affair counting your blessings or a full Griswald’s bonanza with overexcited kids and a mountain of wrapping paper to swim in! We have some very tired little elves here post-Boxing Day come down, in the strange time warp that is the week between Christmas and New Year (but also business as usual for farming!)
Merry Christmas from our little family to yours – 2021 was all kinds of… something! Here’s to a more connected 2022 with more of the good stuff for the soul, people and experiences, and less of the distanced, isolated stuff.
Kathy Aylward says
Loved seeing all your family Christmas Photos and having a record of them on your blog too. Stay safe. Kathy, Brisbane