How we spent Christmas

Christmas is over and I am back to work again. What a quick year. This Christmas was really special because it was the first Christmas Matthew understood what Santa does and he was able to help out with a few things.

The weekend before Christmas we did some baking. We made some nice butter cookies, a German recipe and topped them with chocolate, icing and sprinkles.

Christmas Eve we watched a family movie. I was well organised and highlighted all the movies I wanted to watch in the RTE Guide. Of course with 2 children you get lucky to even watch one movie, if even. Because mammy is from Germany we did both traditions. After some tea and cake we decided to unwrap a few presents.

He was delighted with his Minion Breakfast set. He absolutely loves the Minions. (He calls them “Inions” which I find is the cutest) He also received a Minions Ravensburger jigsaw. So it means he is equipped with the Minions now.

Here he is himself opening one of his presents. What an exciting face on him.

Chloe received a lovely teddy bear from one of my relatives in Germany. She absolutely loves it. It is a very famous brand called “Steiff”. They make all sorts of teddies in different shapes and sizes. Every teddy from Steiff has a button in its ear which is the identification. I got one myself when I was a baby and I still have it, so I am really happy she likes hers.

Another of Matthew’s favourite presents from Christmas Eve is this Wooden train set.The trains are magnetic. He gets hours of fun out of them.

In the evening time we put out the milk and cookie for Santa and carrot for Rudolph in front of the chimney.

When the kids went to bed at 8pm, I decided to get their sacks ready and put them in front of the Christmas tree. I just love these bags as it means every child’s present is kept together. They got so many presents this year (just like every year, and we never learn to buy them less) that I don’t even think they would have all fitted under the tree with mine and daddy’s presents.

Christmas morning…it’s funny how the 2 kids are having a lie in every morning since they are home from creche. 9am we all went downstairs to find Santa has been and drank all his milk, ate half a biscuit and the reindeer had some of his carrot. Matthew was so excited about it, he couldn’t actually get over it and kept pointing at it saying “Look, look!”.

I made lovely Irish breakfast that morning which Matthew really enjoyed. Lately he has been off his food and doesn’t want to eat much. He just snacks but could possibly be just a phase or he is sick of getting the same thing. Anyway, he certainly enjoyed the Irish breakfast. That’s the Irish in him.

After the breakfast we all sat down on the ground to open the remaining presents. Chloe was very focused opening her first present.

She mainly received some musical and educational toys. Her brother Matthew loves playing with them too. He seems to be getting around the idea of sharing now.

At lunch time we went over to grandparents and spent some time with them. We enjoyed some snacks like crackers and biscuits and made a toast with a glass of bubbly. Matthew got a guitar off hubby’s sister. I have never played guitar before but I am sure I can teach him a few tunes over the next coming years. Chloe got a lovely dress.

In the evening time I was busy preparing dinner. This year we decided to go for the turkey. I didn’t throw in a big bird in the oven, we went with the simple solution and bought a turkey breast joint from Lidl which is basically the same thing.

While preparing the dinner, my cat Bailey was waiting impatiently at the table already.

Chloe is still not great with lumpy food. She manages soft things to bite on but she can’t seem to chew on soft carrots yet so for her Christmas dinner she got the special edition from Ellas’s kitchen which she really enjoyed.

After dinner the kids had some ice cream and hubby was enjoying his Christmas pudding with ice cream.
We all started playing with the new toys the kids got then until bed time. They were even allowed to stay up a teeny tiny bit later than normal.

I hope you enjoyed your Christmas as much as we did. Now it’s time to organise the New Year’s Eve celebration.