GammonWell, here’s to hoping that you all had a fabulous Christmas celebration period… because I know that I most certainly did! :)

This year’s festive feast’s setting was none other than pop’s house and so after Chantelle finally finished up serving Christmas breakfast to her guests at the lodge, we dashed through to Bellville bearing a carload of presents, gammon, chicken, artichoke tart and trifle – all of which was immediately added to the simply humongous mountain of goodies already present on the main table by the time we finally arrived!

Shame, seeing as Monty was stuck with work for the day, we had invited Cheryl and Robert to join in with the Lotter clan celebrations and they joined a group which included Claire and Riley, Mom and Pops, Ryan, Uncle Basil, Aunts Nadine and Wendy, Granny Sedge, Granny Lotter, Aunty Marilyn and even a pop-in visit from Uncle Mike, who I haven’t seen in absolute months!

The weather decided to play along this year and we were blessed with an absolutely splendid, sun-soaked summer’s day of which we made full use, with Gazeebo up next to the pool and us all seated around the long table under the patio roof, enjoying a simply scrumptious feast! As per usual by the time I finally moved away from the table I was completely stuffed, and yes, this was once again way before pudding was even meant to be served!

There was plenty of Andre Rieu playing in the background (seems all the old folks are quite fond of his classical stuff) and I even got in a couple of dart games with Ryan, and of course, Chantelle managed to squeeze in her current favourite ‘Suplise’ and ‘Jamming’ jokes, much to the appreciation of everyone else in earshot. ;)

In retrospect, the day passed by pretty and I think that everyone that attended had a throughly enjoyable time. My one regret was that we didn’t have a big present opening ceremony like we always do (thanks to Riley and Claire’s other family commitments this year), but it was still pretty good to see everyone’s faces when we handed over the wrapped goodies! (Sorry Claire, but Chantelle just couldn’t resist! :D)

Oh, and speaking of presents, I got the most awesome of gifts from the combined Montgomery and Lotter clan – my very own TomTom GPS system! Talk about being spoiled rotten indeed! :)

Yup, so we can mark this one down as yet another successful Christmas in the life of Craig and Chantelle. So thanks to everyone who attended and who made the occasion such a success, thanks Mom and Pops for hosting, and thanks to Ryan for helping to clean up on the next day! ;)

(Next time, I suggest using paper plates!)