Two more.........

Sammy......

Abby Banana.....and her new 'Daughter' Emma!

Please note: Abigail chose her own outfit today ;)

Samsam enjoying the gift opening....

We opened our gifts around 3pm today and it's always something to look forward to and makes the day last much longer than if we opened them all in the morning...of all our traditions, the children say it is THIS that they hope to continue with their own children!

Gift time.....

The older children get just as much as the younger two, but the boys especially are not so keen on having their picture taken ;)

Christmas dinner.....

The children after enjoying the crackers and starting on their dinner....which is actually lunch lol....Lloyd cooked this year again and it was DELICIOUS!!!! Best yet I think! The parsnips were GORGEOUS!!!!

I was very lucky this year :)

The sewing machine is wonderful and is what I really wanted - but the snowshoes are fantastic and I can't wait to try them tomorrow! Such a surprise - I've wanted some since we moved here so it's brilliant :) Last year the snow was so deep I couldn't walk the dogs up on the field so now I CAN :)

All the gifts I got were lovely - Lloyds parents sent me the Willow Tree Angel to add to my collection - she is called 'Thinking of You'...and the book about the Queen (one of the things my Mom and Dad sent me) made me laugh out loud because, as you all know, I am well aware that the Queen carries a string of sausages in her hand bag!!!!! Funny!!!

Our kids know us so well!

One of the gifts from the children was matching flashing shot glasses!!!! Coz, you know, we do shots every night in the dark....... ;)

Actually I love them - they also got Lloyd a flashing beer glass to match last years pink flashing martini glass!

Merry Christmas from 'the pets'.....

Charlie singing 'Santa Baby'.....Rosie enjoying her dog chew 'candy cane' and Jasper not looking amused at having to dress up 'like those stupid humans and that fat pig'!

Chris's latest sarcastic t-shirt!

Chris loves slogan shirts - the ruder the better so I thought this was perfect for him...although I'm not sure he can wear it to school!

A surprise from Santa!

Abigail found a surprise at the bottom of her stocking this morning.......LAST YEARS mandarin!!!!! Oops!!!

So this is what a year old mandarin looks like ;)

Sam still sleeping...

Abby names her baby - test

I recorded so much this morning and now all my clips are too big to post - so I have to figure how to make them smaller (anyone?????) so here is a test to see if this works....this is one of very few that are small enough to post

Our Christmas Pickle....

...which kind of reminds me of Susannahs comment today:

"I LOVE pickled carrots...they're just like pickles but they're carrots"!!!! ;)

Christmas Eve at our place...

It's been a lovely day....Lloyd left me to sleep in and he ran into town to get the last of the groceries - fresh vegetables etc for tomorrow. Sam and I woke up just after 9am and were up and ready when Lloyd got home...then I headed into town with Chris, Laurence and Susannah.....they each went off to get their last minute gifts for each other....after that we headed to Wow Factor Desserts to buy a Tiramisu for Lloyd as thats his favourite dessert. Then we went to McDonalds for coffee and we shared a large fries - that was kind of fun - just a quick snack and we were fighting over the fries lol...then we headed home and all decided not to bother with Lets Play this year....we were all tired from our late night last night. Lloyd and I wrapped gifts...I spoke to my Mom ad Dad briefly (my parcel to them has not arrived - in fact they said a million or more parcels are delayed in the UK because of the overwhelming use of shopping online this year......) thats a shame but they do each have a gift from us to open which is good.

The children are now at the table making gingerbread houses....Sam has decorated more cookies and is now curled up with Lloyd.....I made a tray of coconut Ice for Lloyd which he loves.....I found a card addressed to me left by the computer.....this years gorgeous card from Lloyd that made me cry AGAIN!!! And I gave him his with a cup of tea just now :) Its a Christmas Eve tradition that we swap cards having each searched for the card that says how we feel perfectly!

Our Christmas Pickle is ready to go on the tree (more about that later!) and tonight we are curling up by the fire to watch Deck The Halls :)

Last night we had friends over - they came over around 4pm and stayed until VERY late but it was such a fun evening....we sat outside for hours by a roaring fire and that was so lovely....and then we came inside and I helped Samantha create 3 scrapbook pages she had to do for her Moms 70th birthday album - that was fun :)

Anyway, have a wonderful, safe and happy Christmas Eve everyone! If I have time later I will post the piccies I have taken the last couple of days.......from last night and today......

Off to drink my tea and curl up with my Husband on our first Christmas Eve as Husband and Wife :)