Hello there friends! It’s great to be back today to share a Christmas Eve and Christmas Day recap. It sure was fun!
I was super excited that this year Christmas Eve fell on a Sunday. So that meant that my husband could celebrate Christmas with us as Sundays are his day off and he didn’t have to go to work. It was also a big bonus for me because I could go to my usual 10.30 am church service and enjoy singing the carols. I love Christmas carols, don’t you?
Typically, I miss out on the Christmas Eve carol service because they are always on at around 6 pm. This is the time that my family gets together for our big Christmas celebration. But this year I got to sing my heart out in the morning at church and then enjoy Christmas Eve with my family -win/win!
Christmas Eve Carol Service
The church was packed for the Christmas Eve carol service and I don’t think I have ever seen it this full. There was a fun ‘Lego masters’ challenge where contestants had to build the nativity scene out of Lego pieces within a certain time frame of two Christmas carols.
After church, I went home to prepare the Lime and Macadamia Glazed Ham to take to my cousin’s house as this year she was hosting. I was so happy that it turned out great and tasted so good!
I also took a cheese and bacon Cobb loaf which had three types of delicious cholesterol-inducing cheese as well as cream and of course bacon.
My clever cousin and her creative daughter (our youngest cousin in the family). They made everyone personalised glasses and mini cheese boards. How cute!!
We enjoyed some delicious nibbles and cranberry cocktails to start with.
We had a naughty table and a nice table.
Then we tucked into the most amazing Christmas spread! On the menu, we had turkey, ham, potato salad, Waldorf salad, beetroot salad, and caramelised sweet potato.
After all that delicious food it was time to open presents. Followed by a bit of karaoke and then the highly anticipated party games! Every year I think to myself how on earth am I going to come up with new games? But sure enough, thanks to scouring through Instagram and YouTube I always find some hilarious inspiration.
This year my little cousin helped me with the games. She read out the instructions and started the games with a ready-set go. She was also a champ at keeping score. My skills as a preschool educator came in really handy for crowd control! Geez my family are such a roudy bunch and so hilariously competitive too! I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard in a long time!
I love to play music for each game and I picked out a playlist full of fun dance music to get everyone pumped. Not that anyone needed much pumping up! There was so much laughing, yelling and chaos and we had the best time.
I think the musical candy cane game was my favourite. Everyone had to dance around a table with their hands in the air. Then as soon as the music stopped they had to grab a candy cane. The last person left with no candy cane was out!
Rolling up the toilet paper with a glass of water sitting on the end had us all just about dying with laughter. Once all the toilet paper was rolled up you had to drink the water. One of my younger cousins was so desperate to win, that he tipped the water all over the front of his shirt as he tried to chug that water down fast. Now that’s commitment!
It was such a great night that finished in the early hours of the morning and went by all too soon.
Christmas Day
Christmas Day we slept in and then opened our stockings. At around 2.30 in the afternoon, my husband went to work. Ah…the joys of working in hospitality!
In the evening Sam and I went to my oldest son and his partner’s apartment. They live about 30 minutes away and now Sam has his license he drives us there. I’m too chicken to drive on the motorway and it feels so strange having my youngest son drive! I might have had my eyes closed the whole time even though he is a very safe driver.
We don’t go to Luke and Bec’s apartment very often as they tend to come over to our place more. They are both into high-tech gadgets, Japanese anime and Lego. I love how they have decorated their apartment to reflect their tastes. I couldn’t believe how neat Luke’s desk was! I’m laughing now just thinking about the state of his room when he was living at home. Oh, how things change when they move out into their own place!
We had dinner while we watched “It’s A Wonderful Life” the old black and white movie starring James Stewart and Donna Reed. I had purposely never watched it before because I’d heard that it was sad. But I absolutely loved it and even though it was sad (yes I cried), it had a happy ending(phew!). Now I’m thinking that I will have to add it to my list of favourite Christmas movies.
After the movie, we admired the pretty view from Luke and Bec’s big apartment windows. Then we had pavlova for dessert before Sam and I went home around midnight.
Can you believe that Christmas is over? After the big build-up to the day. As well as a sense of panic because the days had flown by and I wasn’t prepared. Everything came together beautifully and I am so grateful. It really was a wonderful Christmas! I hope you had a great one too.
Linking up with Andrea.
What a fun time! It’s a Wonderful Life is great. My kids said it was boring though, when they watched it last year!
Oh no! Haha, maybe they’ll love it when they get older 🙂
Your Christmas eve party games do sound so fun and so rowdy! That is a sure sign that everyone loved them. Wishing you and your family a very happy new year as well.
Happy New Year Joanne!
It sounds like you had a wonderful Christmas!! It was wonderful it the way it fell in the week, my fella actually had 3 days at home which doesn’t happen often. It sounds like you had the best time at the carol service and that ham looks amazing, in fact all of the food looks delicious and the glasses and cheeseboards were a lovely addition.
The antics with the party games made me smile. It sure looks like your family know how to have a lot of fun!
My fella would love a computer set up like your son has x
It sounds like you had a lovely time with family. I liked your instagram stories showing the games, lots of fun! That’s great you have a chauffeur now!
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year Sarah!