Christmas recap

Merry Christmas everyone!  I hope Santa rewarded everyone with lots of lovely presents.  He certainly rewarded me - I was spoilt rotten!

It's a family tradition to have a big meal on Christmas Eve so I went all out with a traditional English feast (Mr L is English, as are my ancestors) of roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, and roast potato, pumpkin and onion.  My mum and dad came over and we had a lovely meal together.

Christmas morning was lovely with just Mr L and I.  We exchanged presents before everyone came over - I got tickets to see Two Door Cinema Club at Byron in February and some diamond earrings.  I also got a vintage print apron, some of my favourite lollies and chocolates (Cookies and cream Lindt balls....mmmmm) and some nailpolish (Ulta 3 ones that I don't have! Someone must have been looking through my collection!)

I gave Mr L two canvases of photos from our wedding, vanilla coffee pods for our Nespresso machine, lollies, Black XS cologne by Paco Rabanne (I had been dragging that all around Asia on our honeymoon, trying to keep it a secret!), vanilla and coffee soap (can you see a theme here?), a couple of t-shirts, Seasons 3 and 4 of 30 Rock on DVD, and Season 4 of The IT Crowd on DVD.

Soon, my whole family came over, along with my MIL and FIL and we quickly got around to exchanging presents.

I played Santa.  Notice my new apron.  Notice also the champagne and beer beside me.  Yes, they were both mine.

Dad got wine, wine labels to help keep his wine collection organised, and some new shirts.

Mum got a Tiffany bracelet, Fred M babuska measuring spoons, nail polish, Private Collection perfume, massage soap from Lush, and earrings.

This is mum showing off her Tiffany bracelet to my MIL.  My MIL is showing off her new earrings, courtesy of us.

My sister, K, got a Tiffany necklace, Ralph Lauren polo, nailpolish, and a Masterchef cookbook.  Her partner, T, got a Ralph Lauren polo (so they can be matching - it's a bit of a joke), and the second Masterchef cookbook.  They're both foodies so they loved it.

Here's my sister getting excited when opening her Tiffany necklace (the canvases I bought Mr L are in the background).

Here they are getting excited about their Masterchef books (T, you promised us the "super wanky chocolate cake", Source: K.W, 2010.  I know you both read this).  Notice my dad's face - I don't quite think he knows what the present is!

G and I got Gold Class movie tickets, and a photo ornament for our tree from my mum; a VERY expensive wok and cooking utensil pack from Dad (along with more wine); wine, tequila, books, and tickets to see Top Gear in March from my MIL and FIL (so excited about this!); Baileys and beer from T; and a chocolate fountain and a pizza stone from my sister.  I also got some beauty products, undies and headbands from mum, and a personalised notepad with Mrs Y on it from my sister.

This is me enjoying my Baileys.

This is Mr L enjoying his beer.

This is how I set up our Christmas table:

 I'll post some more photos soon - we cracked out the photo booth after a few copious amounts of drinks so there's a few dodgy ones of my family.

Hope you have a very safe New Years!

Source: news.com.au

Merry Christmas!  Hope you're all up and busily giving lovely presents to your near and dear (and unwrapping them too!) 

I'll be doing a lot of the above.....except our table will have cold food, lots of alcohol, and no one behaving.

Have a safe and happy holiday everyone!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

This angel has been in my husband's family for years...and we got it (we're the favourites!)

Presents!

Poppy helping us wrap some presents.

G's stocking is the one all filled, mine is empty (although apparently I have stuff).  The red one is for our cats - Lilly and Poppy.  We don't buy them stuff...but everyone else does! (Admittedly we buy for the other animals in the family).  Those flowers in the background are also from my wedding bouquet.

Those presents down the front are bones for my sister's dog, Charlie, and my MIL's dogs, Saffy and Merle.

Excuse the no makeup look.  I look about 12 in this photo.

We're having Christmas at our house this year since it's the first as a married couple.  It will be us, my mum and dad, my sister and her partner, and my MIL and FIL.  We're doing a completely cold buffet, with different cold meats, my MIL's amazing salads (seriously, this woman can do things with potatoes and eggs that I've only dreamed about), seafood (including WA lobster - thanks Dad!), and a dessert buffet made by yours truly.  I have a recipe for Christmas pudding that has been in my mum's family for generations.  I'm trying mini ones this year, as well as ice cream puddings (since my MIL is intolerant to gluten), and chocolate self-saucing puddings (just for my sister as it's a family tradition).

I'm hoping we can have it outside under our new gazebo but the Brisbane weather just isn't co-operating!

I'm anal a perfectionist so I like to have things just so.  This year I've decided to have a purple, silver and white theme so I've bought some beautiful purple glasses and a purple tablecloth from Spotlight. 

I also bought a white and silver table runner.

We had lots of white bonfav boxes left so I'm cracking out the lolly bar from the wedding again (with white and purple lollies of course).

We're also cracking out the photo booth so look forward to some crazy photos of both my family, and my in-laws (you saw photos of them from the wedding!)

What are you all doing for Christmas?  How do you celebrate?