Wow we made it through the Christmas week to another Monday. We had a great Christmas with 17 here for lunch (dinner) on Christmas Day.  Our beautiful No 1 daughter and son-in-law and their children came late on Christmas Eve and it was wonderful to spend time with them.

The celebrations started with our Christmas Eve service at church with the children doing the Nativity play.  They did a great job and I believe that it really reminds them about Jesus being the reason we celebrate Christmas.

We had my husbands parents and some of his aunts and an uncle for lunch on Christmas Day. They are an interesting bunch all with their own personalities and they bring colour to every gathering, so it was a great day.

We smoked some of our pork and beef, I bought a ham (this is a tradition and my children would be very upset if I didn’t), everyone bought salads and sweets and it was a great mix.

I must thank my No 1 daughter for all her help, without her and our younger daughter it would have been a big job.  I started to feel ill on Christmas Eve and had a sore throat and temperature during Christmas Day so I wasn’t quite feeling my usual bubbly, energetic self (!!??). So my daughters really filled the gap for me.  Thank you No 1 and No 2 daughters xxxxx.

Here are some photos of the family at present opening time:

Here are the presents.  We don’t have a tree but we place the presents around and under a nativity set.

Here is our No 1 granddaughter wearing her new sunglasses, and her dad and little sister in the background.

No 1 son and I bought my husband a 4 string banjo, he was shocked and thrilled.

Here is dad and granddad with No 1 granddaughter and No 2 son.

No 2 daughter was just thrilled with her tenor ukulele and has been playing it on and off ever since.  She has been wanting one for months, and I get such pleasure to see everyone so thrilled with their gifts.

All in all it was a wonderful time of family and giving, caring and sharing.

I’m now looking forward to some of the people from church coming out for tea on New Years Eve.  We usually get the older couples out and they have tea and enjoy some fellowship and are home well before midnight.  We have some younger couples as well and that helps keep the party moving along!!!

How was your Christmas???? What are your plans for the New Year celebrations????

I am looking forward to a few days to relax, tidy up, finish a few UFO’s and plan and prepare for our schooling for next year.  I don’t believe in New Years Resolutions but I make plans and endeavour to carry them out, my main aim is I want to be more organised this coming year (I can hear No 1 daughter chuckling from here)…

Now on to the next Good Morning Monday.

Our top three posts were:

Why Santa doesn’t come to our house by Growing in His Grace

Book Musing Mondays No 4 by Mary Hill

The Art of Homemaking Mondays Link Up No 32  by Jes at Strangers and Pilgrims.

My favourite for the week was:

Max & Makeya will be home for Christmas by Homespun Devotions.

Thank you ladies for linking up and to everyone else who took the time during this busy Christmas period.  Once again I must tell you how blessed I feel with this.

So with the New Year fast approaching I am still feeling convicted to remind myself that the caring and sharing that we have celebrated during Christmas is something Jesus wants us to do all year.  Let’s try to continue to look to others to help them in their time of need and if we can’t do anything physically we can always pray.

Love and blessings from our family to yours.

Ok let’s get the link up started, please link up any posts that relate to God and christian living – especially encouraging or challenging posts, also recipes, crafts, gardening or homesteading as you call it in America and just plain old country living here in Australia.