December's Diary

In 2011 I learned how exciting December with two young children can be.  December is ALL about Christmas and this was the first year that Jacob FULLY understood the concept of Christmas and that Santa would be visiting, although Bella obviously can’t remember her previous two Christmases she sure fed off Jacob’s excitement. However before I start going on about Christmas let’s take a look at what else we Taylor’s got up to in December.

Present Opening on Bella's Birthday

December is also Bella’s birthday, which of course shouldn’t be overshadowed by Christmas.  We decided on no parties for the kids this year.  Bella can have one for her third birthday, like Jacob did and we thought Jacob could have one for his Sixth birthday and invite all his school friends.  Unfortunately Jason is always busy at work in December as they prepare for Christmas and usually has to stay back later, so Bella’s birthday was a quiet one.  She loved her special day though and loved the spot light being on her.

Bella with her Supermarkert

Her supermarket was a BIG hit and both kids played with it endlessly for a few days.  Jacob got Bella a Christmas tree for her bedroom, which she also loved.

Candle Blowing

And of course there was cake.  I NEVER had a SINGLE birthday cake as a child, the first birthday cake I ever had was on holiday in Crete as a 21 year old.  Jacob and Bella will have a cake EVERY year.  {Note to my mother} -  Mum if you are reading this, this is not meant as a criticism, it’s just something our family didn’t do.

We also a little family tradition, that whoever birthday it is gets to decide what the family has for dinner that night, Bella choose McDonalds or that’s what she would have choose if she was old enough to communicate this to us.

Bye Bye Kindy

Bella’s birthday also turned out to be Jacob’s very last day of Kindy.  Emotional?  Hell yeah emotional.

In December we also:

Went Bike Riding in the Park

Picniced in the Park

Made Spaghetti Cupcakes

Christmas Crafting

Okay so now onto Christmas.  On the build up to Christmas, the kids and I did lots of crafting activities; I have already blogged about this, which you can view here.

Parents v Kids

The Christmas events kicked off on December 2nd with Jacob’s Cricket break up night were the Kids took on the parents during an age appropriate, child friendly version of the game.  We got Granny to babysit Bella so we could relax and really enjoy the evening with Jacob.  It was great to see the little kids showing off the skills they had learned and to watch them work together as a team against the mums and dads.  We finished the night off with some nibbles and socialising.  We all had a fun night.

With Kindy Santa

On the 9th of December we had the Kindy Christmas party to attend.  Which meant MORE nibbles; a lot of nibbling sure happens in December.  The Senior Kindy kids put on a little concert first followed by Jacob’s preschool class who did an excellent performance of “Santa Wear Your Shorts”.  Santa visited and another great night was had.

Breakfast with Santa

The following morning we headed off for breakfast with Santa.  For a measly $10 family ticket we had a full morning of fantastic entertainment followed by a premiere showing of 3D TinTin.  I sure will be looking out for these tickets again next year and cannot highly recommend it enough to parents with young children.

Enjoying Christmas Entertainment in the City

On the 19th it was off to the city to see the Myer Christmas windows, which are a display the Myers department store put on every year.  We also watched the Christmas parade, headed to George square to see the tree and street performers.  It was a wonderful atmosphere and really got us in the mood for Christmas.

Ice Cream for the Trip Home from The City

Despite all the lovely things to look at in the city, the highlight for the kids would have to have been the ice cream cone in the car on the way home.

On the 22nd we did our annual street tour to view the Christmas lights.  We went to the award winning house at Gumdale, no photos could capture the true magnificence of the display, and it really was awesome.

Visiting Grandad

Christmas Eve was as crazy as ever.  We did manage however to fit in Christmas lunch with grandad (Jason’s dad) at the nursing home.  I knew the kids would be super excited when we visited on Christmas day and we perhaps wouldn’t be able to stay too long so it was nice to take the opportunity to go on Christmas Eve too.  We got some fantastic family pictures.


Christmas Eve Presents

In the evening the kids were tired out and keen to get to bed so after tea we had our little annual family tradition of a present waiting under the tree for the kids when they come out the shower.  It’s always PJ’s as well you want to look your best for Santa visiting.

Goodies for Santa

Next we got our biscuits and beer out for Santa.

Goodies for Reindeers

Set up a water station and snacks for the reindeers.  We did this under the house as the weather was predicting rain, so we thought it would give them the chance to dry off a little.

Christmas Bedtime Story

And then it was story time

Sleeping

Before going straight to sleep for Santa coming.

Santa's Been

  It’s CHRISTMAS.

The Devastation

Jacob woke at to 2am shouting has Santa been, well he had been but I wasn’t about to tell him that.  He woke again at 4.30am but I was cruel and made him stay in bed until Bella woke at 4.45am, FINALLY it was time for presents.

After presents we headed over to Jason’s mum’s house for presents and breakfast.  We had a lovely morning, LOVED our presents and cooled off with a swim before heading to see grandad.

Bella's Beautiful Kitchen

After visiting grandad we headed home to play with the new toys, which meant endless box opening for Jason and me.  I swear it gets harder every year to get toys out off boxes.  We then enjoyed a scrummy lunch and FINALLY we sat down with a well deserved beer (Jason and I, not the kids) whilst the kids turned the front yard into a white Christmas with polystyrene.

And that was our Christmas.  We had a complete blast and it was by far the best Christmas yet for our little family unit.  We carried on our little family traditions and made new ones.  We LOVE Christmas.

Wow this is turning in to a long blog entry and having typed for over half an hour now I am a tad bored (I don’t know how people sit at a computer all day for a living) this said I think I will wait to Blog about our new year celebrations  in next month’s entry.  Bye for now.