Better late than never…everyone’s blogged about their Christmas so here’s mine.

From our family to yours…
we hope you had a merry, blessed and peaceful Christmas.

We had our traditional potluck dinner. The meals were planned earlier in the month when we all gathered to celebrate Bellybutton’s birthday. I wrote down on a piece of table napkin the dishes pledged by each family member so that there was no backing out at the last minute. I’m happy to report that everyone held up to their end of the deal.

We had baked spaghetti, crispy pork leg, chicken siomai, chili prawns, dinuguan (stewed pork with black pudding), potato salad, baked mussels and a chocolate cake. Oh and there was a bottle of Smirnoff Raspberry Vodka too.

One of our family traditions is exchanging gifts. We pulled names out of a hat earlier this month too and the kids exchanged among themselves while us couples did a round ourselves. The kids had fun posing for the photos but it was priceless when they all squealed in glee when they ripped open their presents. Erm, someone may have assumed for about 5 seconds that they were getting an iPad he he he. Nope, just some cunning gift-wrapping by yours truly.

Everyone went away with something thoughtful and practical. The kids of course had a bit more than just clothes and bags and cute jewellery boxes. Oh we did walk away without our present! It was too big to carry upstairs so I got a tub of hair mask as a prelude to the actual gift: a bedding set! Thanks to my sister and brother-in-law who picked our name out of the hat.

It wouldn’t be a Viernes Christmas without fun and games for everyone! Something new was introduced this year, a game where you cover one eye and walk forward with the aim of flicking a grape with your finger. It’s a lot tougher than it sounds. And offers plenty of laughs as evidenced by the photos below. I gave it a couple of tries and I was flicking about an armlength away from the grape! Says a lot about my eyesight. Oh and I might have done it after a two shots of the vodka!

We had a great time, still it would have been much more satisfying if the family were complete. My children are back home and I’m glad we managed to chat on Skype and get through to the busy network to speak to them that evening. Hearing their voices was not nearly enough, but it had to do.

Again, wishing everyone a blessed and happy Christmas.