We had a lovely Christmas in Brisbane this year. The weather was perfect (I even had a doona on me last night) – not too hot nor too cold. Funnily enough the mosquitos have for the most part been kept bay.
The lead up to Christmas was very busy. I worked right up to Christmas Eve holding a Dark and Disturbing Pop Up shop. We were open for three nights up until midnight and then a few hours on Christmas Eve.
I really enjoyed being open on the Saturday and think I might do it again. I just have to work on the logistics of having the shirts at the office as opposed to having them at home.
Thanks to us being uncustomarily organised, we managed to use all our old decorations. The kids (2 of 3 & 4 of 4) took care of putting the tree up and the decorating. The highlight of the decorations are the ones they made out of Dominoes Pizza boxes are few years ago. Turns out being organised and storing things properly saves $. The only think I had to buy was scissors (a precious commodity in this house) and sticky tape.
Christmas dinner planning was easy this year with all the families bring their allotted favourites. We did Jian Xi chicken, Namus, Fried Scones, and Belecan. As usual, the left-overs mean we don’t have to cook until at least the 27th. #ftw
We didn’t end up setting up a game of cards, but the Hive Game has been added to the family repertoire. I did have a go but it was way too complicated for my mind. 1 of 4 seemed to have taken to it easily.
All round an satisfying Christmas.
It’s too easy to get caught up in the emotion of expectations of Christmas. I like and am grateful that our family are pretty easy going. We don’t over do the presents and just focus on the food and hanging out. I don’t know how families who ‘go all out’ manage the expectations of Christmas year in and year out. I couldn’t imagine putting all that effort into just one day.
Hope you had a good one.