Oops, I found these photos sitting in my Unposted Blog Post Galleries folder (which sadly is rather massive). These are from December 2016, when a very excited little Emily and very excited slightly bigger Jessica were eagerly counting down the days to Christmas on mom’s mouse moving advent calendar.
Our usual shenanigans of opening Christmas presents up on the evening of the 24th involved supper at our house, all the grandparents (and uncles/aunts who could make it), some wine from Saronsberg, and of course a sneaky plan of distracting the girls by making them take out food for Santa via the back door while we secretly brought in presents through the front.
It was a great success.
On that note, Christmas lunch was at our house for a change as well, meaning that the next day the feasting got even bigger and better. Which is never really a bad thing now is it? ;)
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See, I wasn’t lying when I said said I was looking forward to Christmas 2016.
Christmas Day Lunch with the Montgomery Clan (2014-12-25) Photo Gallery 29 DEC 2014
With the incredibly enjoyable Christmas Eve present unwrapping event done and dusted, it was on to the main event, Christmas Day itself. This year we opted to join Monty (now a pensioner, so guaranteed to be home every Christmas from here on out), Cheryl, and their brand spanking new kitchen for Christmas lunch at the Montgomery Clan Stronghold, which was a particularly good choice given the fact that all parties attending were to bring some sort of mains – in other words, a LOT of varied food would be on offer! :)
Robert, Peter and Gail joined us for the day, and what followed was a fantastic day of lots of talking, laughing, Christmas crackers, Christmas hats, drinking and of course eating (gammon, lamb, sirloin, pork neck, etc), not to mention the sheer delight that Jessica exuded after learning that there were in fact, lying under Oupa and Ouma’s Christmas Tree, still a few more presents which HAD to be opened.
Oh, and Chantelle capped off a marvellous day with some ice cream and her world famous baked cheesecake (topped with cream and raspberries) for dessert!
All in all, a Christmas day well spent I (and my stomach) would have to say…
Photo Gallery: Christmas Lunch at the Carpenter’s Stronghold (2012-12-25) Photo Gallery 25 DEC 2012
Claire and Riley played host for this year’s big family Christmas get together, and as luck would have it we were blessed with the perfect weather to really enjoy and make the most of a really great day. The venue was awesome, the lunch spectacular, the swim refreshing, and of course, the present opening and Secret Santa shenanigans loads of fun!
And in case you were wondering who all was in attendance, let’s just say that the Carpenter clan, the Montgomery group, and the Lotter horde all made a good showing! :)
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Christmas 2011 My Life 26 DEC 2011
I’ll start off by saying that this was probably the most unfestive Christmas season ever. Neither Chantelle nor I could get into the Christmas spirit, and despite having no excuse whatsoever (unlike last year where Jessie in the NICU was a good excuse to be preoccupied), our house was devoid of anything Christmas related whatsoever!
The lead up to Christmas Day was actually pretty productive, in that Jessica was shipped out to Oupa Monty and Ouma Cheryl who had asked for her to stay over a couple of days, freeing me up to get cracking on the multitude of projects that have been piling up in front of me. The fact that Chantelle was also working over this period meant that I could work uninterrupted, so I made the most of the time available to me (seriously, this is not much of a vacation at the moment – if I’m not looking after Jessie, then I’m working! Bloody workaholic I tell you…).
Anyway, Christmas Eve was a loss, with no Jessie and no wifey, I pretty much wiled it away behind the keyboard, stopping for breaks with a bit of X-Men and Wolverine anime for company. On her late return, wifey and I did exchange presents though, with her surprising me with an awesome package containing t-shirts, lindt chocolate, slip slops and the latest hardcover Terry Pratchett, Snuff. This kind of make it extra sucky when she opened up my gift to her, loving the Annique massage voucher contained inside, but a little sad that the electronic kitchen scale I had gotten for her failed to work out of the box! Oh well, back to Game it goes, especially now that I’ve found an even cooler one for her over at Yuppie Chef! :)
Christmas Day itself was all hands on deck (well mine actually as Chantelle was on duty, and would only be coming home for her lunch time split). This meant getting all the prep done for the big Christmas lunch we were hosting, featuring an array of beef fillet, roast chicken, potatoes, butternut fritters, spicy cheese bread, spanspek and baby peas. Pudding was left in the capable hands of Cheryl, so I didn’t have to worry about that for once.
Chantelle arrived home just in time to finish up the cooking for me, just before the Montgomery Clan pulled in, and I have to say, I was absolutely thrilled to have my little nibble monster back. Seriously, it was like she had grown at least 20 centimetres since I’d seen her last! :P
Presents were exchanged, the wine and champagne cracked open, and soon everyone was in a pretty festive mood as we got the final preparations for lunch in place, cranked the air conditioner and fan up to full, sat down, said a toast, broke open the Christmas crackers and then tucked in to what really was an excellent Christmas lunch!
The overwhelming heat of the day and the richness of the food in our bellies meant a bit of a wait until pudding, but pudding we did eventually have, before Chantelle had to up and return to work, followed by the Montgomery Clan shortly after.
In other words, another successful, warm Summer’s Christmas Celebrations officially over! :)
(The photo gallery of the lunch can be viewed here)
Photo Gallery: Christmas Lunch at Country Mews (2011-12-25) My Life | Photo Gallery 25 DEC 2011
For probably the first time ever, we hosted Christmas lunch at our pad here in Country Mews. Joining us for the delicious spread was the Montgomery Clan, and as these pictures show, it was a pretty good way to spend a warm Summer’s Christmas afternoon! :)
(Although I did have to go to the shed to drag out the fan – the air conditioner alone wasn’t good enough!)
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Christmas 2010 My Life 27 DEC 2010
Can’t say that the Christmas period has been all that fantastic this year, considering the fact that I’m working straight through and the number of associated public holidays are nothing more than scraps here and there, never mind the fact that Chantelle is spending each and every day, seven days a week, in the hospital feeding Jessica, with me stopping by for a visit every second day or so.
Nevertheless, we did end up spending a marvellous Christmas 2010 in the company of family and friends, kicking off proceedings with Christmas Eve hosted at Claire and Riley’s pad there in Newlands.
Photo Gallery: Christmas Lunch (2010-12-25) My Life | Photo Gallery 25 DEC 2010
Mom and Dad hosted us, the rest of the Lotter Clan and even the Montgomery Clan, as we enjoyed a lazy Christmas lunch on a beautiful Summer’s day, complete with lengthy swim in the inviting pool!
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