We had an early Christmas present opening session last night at my parent’s house, with my brother and his family.  They weren’t going to be with us on Christmas day, so we had a Christmas Eve celebration too… and the kids opened a few of their presents.

Erin had asked Father Christmas for a Ken doll, and we heard about this and knew that Santa wasn’t bringing her one, so that was one of the gifts that we bought her.

And then, Pavya, and ex-colleague of mine, who lives in India, sent the kids gifts too.  She’d spent last Christmas with us, and decided to send them Christmas pressies… so unexpected!! And so very special!! So anyhoo, she sent Erin the most gorgeous Barbie in Indian dress… the most gorgeous sari.

Isn’t she gorgeous?

Erin was so so funny, with the 2 dolls.  Within 5 minutes of them getting untangled from their boxes… she had them kissing!!!

… Much to the disgust of my boys…

LOL!! Carl, my brother, was at a complete loss for words!

I decided to take a few extra days leave, and I ended my year of corporate work yesterday.  Corporate work only, because I’ve got so much editing to finish before I can really relax… and in fact I’m hoping I do get to finish it before the next shoots start next year and I do get a break.

So my idea for my blog post was to show you photos from my day… but alas… that’s not to be.  I’m reviewing a Sony camera and after using it, I realised I didn’t get a cable to connect to the Mac… and I don’t have a SD card reader.  And now I’m just freaking annoyed.  I went and bought a SD card reader tonight while Christmas shopping, and the bloody thing doesn’t work… so no photos I’m afraid.

Anyhoo, what a busy busy day!

Took the dogs to Walkhaven, and Connor, like normal forgot to take shoes (and I only realised too late), so he spent most of the time waiting for us at the car because there were too many thorns and rocks on the ground.  I have SUCH problems getting him to wear shoes!! He’s only got one pair of flip flops again… heaven only knows what happened to the other 2 pairs… it’s not like he wears them!

Then we went home for a quick swim before heading off to the shops.  I only wanted to get boxes for my photography, because my stock is too low and my custom boxes are only arriving in Feb… but the shop seems to have closed for Xmas (I found a new packaging place that I wanted to try).

Then we dashed home again to have a spot of lunch before the kids’ friends arrived for the afternoon.

And while they played and swam and played again, I edited… and finished another shoot

And after supper, I went shopping again.  That’s right, I started my Xmas shopping at 7pm.  That’s how I roll every year.  Thankfully one of the shopping centres still opens that late!! I was so surprised when planning my shopping this year, that Sandton City’s idea of Christmas trading hours is until 7pm… and Cresta until 8pm! Madness! Anyway, Clearwater got all my business then.

So I’m done… all presents bought and just need to be wrapped… and tomorrow I can relax… and edit some more.  And try get the photos off this stupid SD card.  So far, I’m not enjoying this camera… not just the hassle getting the photos off, but I don’t really like the way it works (it’s almost their top of range DSLR, the A77)

Ooh I do have a photo… one from Walkhaven that I took with my iPhone using Path –  and that’s my new latest favourite app btw!!  How awesome is that grass… next time I go, I’m taking a proper camera.

Big excitement in the house tonight!! The boys have just received their personalised video from Father Christmas via the Portable North Pole site.

I must say that Connor was rather nervous that the naughty/nice machine’s light would be on red, because that apparently happened to a friend of theirs… and Santa is giving him  a piece of coal!!

Connor’s video is here

Bradley’s video is here

I love the magic of Christmas!

And now… I’m taking them to the Spur and then we’ll drive around the suburbs and find those 2 houses close to us that are covered in lights.

Not sure what the point of this blog post is going to be, just needed to jot a few things down about Christmas and the kids this year.

Firstly, let me explain the title… that my friends, is my favourite part of this Michael Buble song  .  I bought the album and the first time the kids heard it, Connor piped us “Mommy, he’s being really rude about Father Christmas”… now he shouts that part really loudly every time we hear the song

There’s nothing like music to get you into the Christmas mood… so this year I’m making a concerted effort to play Christmas music as much as possible.  I’ve even got my iPhone blaring music in the kitchen while I’m cooking (which reminds me, if you haven’t bought me a gift yet, a iPod/iPhone music system for my kitchen would be appreciated).  And I dance to the music and for the last 2 nights, the kids have come to join me, and we spend an hour in the kitchen cooking and dancing and singing it’s a little chaotic!

It’s all about making memories.

As far as gifts is concerned, I’m a little concerned. I haven’t done much shopping, and now all my ideas I had seem to be unavailable.  I’m a little stressed about it, considering the 7 shoots I have to edit as well in the evenings.

And then Bradley’s list is also concerning. He’s asked for a drum set or an electric guitar.  Seriously?! I chatted to him about this in the car the other day, because I think it’s a bad idea and I know Father Christmas won’t give gifts that are a bad idea.  Not because of the noise, but that kind of thing is fine if you’re learning to play the instrument, KWIM?  He’s not phased though, because apparently there’s some TV program on Disney XD that teaches him how to play the chords on an electric guitar.

I think I’m going to have to get hold of my cousin in Canada to find out the best way to start drumming.  My mom seems to remember that he learnt on an african drum.  I like that idea a little more… and get him drumming lessons for next year. Or he can go to guitar lessons at school… and then maybe revisit this idea for his birthday.

And it’s not like he’s got staying power when it comes to extra murals anyway… he didn’t stick to horse riding or karate for very long.

Oh well… we’ll just have to see what the big fat man with the long white beard pitches up with…

I haven’t done this meme in a while, and I’m literally bursting with random things that are not big enough for a post

• I’m driving to Dullstroom tomorrow for a wedding. I’m really really not looking forward to the drive, because I’m going on my own… but the wedding will be gorgeous.
• I’ve been invited to the long-service awards at work… just the thought that I’ve been working at a company long enough for an award makes me feel old
• My hair looks much better when it’s really short… and this week I dyed it a purply shade of red
• I’ve lost touch with most of my friends now I’m quite sad about it but I seriously have no time for myself let alone phoning someone to chat.
• I hate randomly chatting to someone… I can never think of anything to say
• I haven’t got a clue what to buy the kids for Christmas this year.
• We’re trying to plan our big bucket list trip for next year… it was going to be Vic Falls, but that’s ended up being too expensive.  Now we’re thinking Mauritius, but OMG that’s so expensive in April!
• Did you know it would cost us R50k to get to New Zealand to visit Michelle (Lance’s sister) and Marlise… that’s JUST for the flights!! Holy moly I had no idea it would be that expensive!
• I just love getting the Yuppiechef emails… and I want this new toy… a Zoku Quick Pop Maker.  How cool is that?! (excuse the cheesy pun)

I get asked often what is so different about Christmas in South Africa… especially related to the fact that there’s no snow… and it’s hot hot hot.

Well, just before I hit the sack, I’ve thought of one very big difference.

The sun rises very early because it’s summer, and it’s light from about 4:30am.  I would love to tell Bradley not to wake us up before the sun rises… but that’s an insane thing to do.  So he has to watch the time tomorrow, and he’s only allowed to wake us up at 5:30am.

I know it’s going to be a stretch for him, because he’s so so ultra excited about tonight… but seriously before that is just cruelty to parents.

It’s now 10:50pm. The milk has been drunk, the cookies eaten, the carrots munched…. Santa has arrived… we better get to bed!

So, Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Tweeters are just awesome… seriously… they are.

A few days ago I was getting frustrated because I wanted to send my grandmother a gift.  She lives in an old age home in Hermanus.  I went to my usual haunts… Woolies, Pick n Pay and NetFlorist.  Neither PicknPay nor Woolies deliver to Hermanus.  And Netflorist’s range… well… nothing caught my eye, because I wanted a simple gift.

So I tweeted about the fact that Woolies and PicknPay didn’t deliver there.

A few minutes later, there was a reply in my stream from Tertia.  She was going to be going to Hermanus the next day, and she wouldn’t mind delivering something to my gran.

How cool?! How totally awesome is that?!

So yesterday, Tertia dropped off some flowers, biscuits and chocolates at the home. She’s too awesome, isn’t she?!!

I phoned my gran last night to make sure she got them.  Tertia had said that my gran was in the shower and she’d given the gift to her neighbour.  My gran was so confused.  She said that because there was no card on it, they weren’t too sure who the gift was for.  Also, once her neighbour described the person who delivered, my gran became convinved that it was me.

She sounded quite disappointed when I told her that I was in Jo’burg still

I really need to make a plan to visit.

And how cool is Tertia?!

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I’m not ready for this yet!  How did Christmas spring up so fast this year?

Bradley came home determined to write his Christmas list tonight, and was quite upset when I told him that he wasn’t going to put the letters in the fireplace tonight.  I’m only putting the tree up on the 1st, not earlier!!

I did let him write the letters though it was the first time he’s written them without help from us.  Spelling could be better, but fabulous effort considering the words he was trying to write… like Construction and Ultimate etc

And then in the bath, they started singing Christmas carols!! Seriously?! I’m not ready.

This means I have to start thinking about gifts.  Oh lordy!!

One thing I did tell Lance this weekend though… no gifts for me… he HAS to fix the bathroom door instead!! I would much rather we sort out something with the house, than get gifts this year.

I was going to blog about what we did over Christmas, and how nice it was to spend time at my parents house having our traditional family dos over the 2 days… but this evening Bradley’s dilemma overshadowed that all!

You saw this photo on my other blog, didn’t you… well… I took it just before the kids started opening gifts at my mom’s house on Christmas Eve.

Look how excited Bradley is!

And remember I told you all about what Santa at Crest Shopping Centre told him about the Transformer Mask?  That it was going to be under the tree?  Well… that has now caused endless drama!

As he opened more and more gifts between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the quieter he got.

And then he seemed fine after that.

Tonight however was a different matter.  He came to me this evening almost in tears and said he wasn’t feeling well.  Eventually he told me that he was upset because Father Christmas’ helper (that’s the shopping centre Santa) had lied and the toy wasn’t under the tree!

It took me about an hour to calm him down and explain why he couldn’t get every single toy that was on his list, and that the helper couldn’t have known what Father Christmas was actually going to bring, and whether Father Christmas actually had enough masks for all the kids that asked for them.

Never mind the other stuff he got that was also on his list!!

And then to make matters worse, Connor pipes up from downstairs “But Mom, I was a good boy because I got my bicycle”.  Ho hum!

My heart really broke for him, but I suppose he has to start learning about disappointment at some stage.