Everything went according to plan and we started just in time. Only my brother-in-law Larry and his family were slightly late due to parking issues.
My mother-in-law started cooking at around 3pm. She was doing 3 dishes so I gave her the kitchen until I was ready to start with the gammon. The cheesecake was chilling in the fridge reay to be topped with the blueberries just before serving.
Honey roasted gammon, pork barbecue on sticks, baked spaghetti, noodles, Arooz Valenciana, puto pao and hotdogs on sticks
Honey roasted gammon, pork barbecue on sticks, baked spaghetti, noodles, Arooz Valenciana, puto pao and hotdogs on sticksWith 10 kids expected to be present, I was armed and ready with chocolates and candy! Mini candy canes, bite sized Snickers and Mily Way, Rolo and holiday M n Ms were a-plenty but the kids had other things in mind so there’s still plenty leftover.
The loot hidden in our bedroom!
The loot hidden in our bedroom!
The cute candycanes with mini stockings and jelly Santa and friends
I had to move some of the guppies and borrow their square bowl for a night
Dinner gave me an opportunity to use the wide angle lens because the space we were in was not all that big. Here is the view of the dinner table with most everyone. We had to do a buffet set up because my table can only sit 6. Notice the tree with all the presents underneath it!
Everyone added presents as they arrived so we had a sizeable stack by the time we started dinner.
I love this photo of Aibi!
The boys posed for me just before dinner.
Patrick had to be coerced into posing with Tita Cathy in his new striped jumper.
And of course it was Ronan’s 8th birthday at exactly 12.20 am so we had cake!
I was stuffed by the end of the evening and we still had plenty of leftovers which we took to the park the following day. Photos on that adventure later.
For now it’s chilling out, cleaning the house, knitting and catching up on sleep before we get right on to our New Year’s Eve plans.
Ten Thousand Dancing Stars 