The Baynhams

It's been a very festive weekend.

On Saturday we put up the Christmas tree. Not without drama I might add! Damaged tree branches needed gluing, UK plugs needed rewiring to Australian ones, lights not working anyway when the rewiring was done! Isn't that what Christmas is all about...?!!

The kids were very excited as they decorated the tree. There were the usual arguments, sorry, discussions, about who made the various home-made decorations that have come home from pre-school over the years. The finishing touch was bringing all the brown paper parcels in that have arrived from friends and families overseas and opening them up and putting the gifts inside underneath the tree. The kids were very excited squeezing and shaking the various presents as they lay them down, hoping for an idea of what is inside!

Sunday was the day we decided to visit Santa to tell him what was on the kids lists. They were very excited waiting in the queue. They had their faces painted while they waited. Sian was painted as a reindeer and Rhiannon was a Christmas fairy. Gareth wasn't letting the lady anywhere near his face with paint or glitter! They were able to sit down and do some colouring in while Byron and myself waited patiently in line. It was funny watching the families in front have their turn with Santa. There were the usual shy smiles from the younger kids, a 2 year old who took one look at Santa and screamed till she was blue in the face, and a tiny baby girl in a pink dress who must have been about 3 months old, whose Mum walked up to Santa, passed her over and stood back while a bemused Santa posed cradling this tiny blob in his his arms for her first official Santa photo!

At last it was our turn. The kids walked up timidly holding hands and then turned and smiled shyly for the official photo. They told Santa what they wanted and he chatted back to them making them totally at ease. By the end he had them in stitches laughing. He was admiring Rhiannons face paint but asked Sian if she had got brown mud on her face! When Sian said she wanted a surprise for Christmas he said he would give her a surprise alright... a face-cloth and soap to clean the mud off her face!

Back home at last, A quick bath, into pyjamas, they wrote their official Santa letters and then an extra surprise. Granny had sent over a present to be opened before Christmas, a Christmas pop-up book! They sat around the tree in their p.j's and we read and re-read the book before they were thrown into bed. The Santa letters are under the kitchen table (Gareths idea!) next to the glass of milk and cookies for Santa when he collects them.


All is quiet, not a sound from the bedrooms, 3 kids sleeping fast.....

I wonder if Santa will have been when they wake up in the morning?.........