A Merry Little Christmas...

Our Christmas this year was just exactly what it should be. Lots of laughter, lots of smiles and lots of happy memories. Two little girls who were delighted at the whole day... Of course, it was not without its testing moments... Ava was more concerned when she awoke that the snow had arrived than that Father Christmas had come and was therefore somewhat disappointed. Not even a little frosting on the rooftops. And yes, although we were up bright and early, we still had the mad rush to church to get there in time.

Some things never change.

But excepting those two mad moments, we had a wonderful day. We took present opening nice and slow, and the girls were very blessed this year with some very lovely presents without it being excessive. They were utterly delighted with their much longed for dolls house, and also spent a significant amount of time pouring over the magazines that Papa had bought them the day before... proving the truth that less is more, that actually, children are very easily pleased and also that as long as a Disney Princess is stuck to the front of something, even bubble bath can be the most exciting present ever.

We had a wonderful morning at church, remembering the birth of our Saviour and savouring the delicious smiles of a lot of happy children.

And then it was back to my parents for Christmas dinner complete with turkey, pigs in blankets and crackers with awful jokes.

Yes... we even get a starter on Christmas day!

The afternoon was spent opening a few more presents, watching our girls race up and down the hallway on their new Trunkis (thanks Nanny and Grandpa) and the usual analysis of the Queen's speech.

And of course there was Frozen dancing in their new Elsa nighties...

In the evening, we headed back to ours for one of my favourite parts of the day. The nativity. The end of Christmas Day for our girls and the reason we celebrate at all. All the characters from the girls Advent Calendar act out the story, while the script is made up of the verses they have opened every day throughout December, all coming together to tell the story of that very first Christmas.

Heidi, ever the mimic, took great delight in repeating back the lines of the story, seconds after our narrator (Dave) had spoken.

Her favourite line: "My eyes have seen your salvation" made for quite a toddler comedy as for the rest of the evening our one year old would sporadically announce "MY EYES HAVE SEEN! MY EYES HAVE SEEN!"

Kids, eh?

We packed the littles off the bed, and spent the rest of the evening catching up on Call the Midwife and Downton Abbey Christmas Specials. Yup. It was a TV feast here...

I hope your Christmasses were wonderful, fun-filled, memory-making occasions, and that you too were able to spend time remembering the reason for the season.

Special thanks to my bro, Alex, for some of the photos - you are a legend!