Festive fun

Compliments of the season to you all! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!!
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It's been an awesome two weeks for our family but I'll give you the Christmas rundown first. Trevor and I started our vacation time on 15 December and summer showed up just in time. Because we never go away over the festive season, we jumped at the opportunity to spend the long weekend in Hermanus for some quiet time alone, rest and relaxation. It proved necessary for both of us and we came home on the Monday morning feeling refreshed and ready for fun.

Being cool in Hermanus for lunch

First thing we did was get ourselves a nice little Christmas gift in the form of a baby travel system. We had decided months ago we really wanted a Quinny pram and, thanks to some clever shopping on Gumtree and Trevor's skillful negotiating, we got a bargain of note! The second hand set we bought includes the Buzz pram, Dreami carry cot, Maxi Cosi car seat in a matching design, car seat base and every single accessory that comes with the Quinny system. It's previous owner bought the whole system in the UK, it's hardly been used and she sold it to us for less than what the pram alone retails for brand new. In total, we got everything for 60-70% less than the brand new purchase price of the full system. SCORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wren's rides

Feeling very chuffed with ourselves for getting the major purchases done so far in advance, we had a relaxed build-up to Christmas which included our first swim in our pool for the summer. Swimming is weird now but more on that in another post. On the 23rd, we enjoyed a group pre-Christmas dinner. We were 5 couples, all dressed in something red, and we had a beautiful evening together. Of the 5 couples, 3 are expecting so it was unusual for the bumps to outnumber the non-bumps LOL! It was so festive around the dinner table with candles, music, crackers, Secret Santa gifts, Santa hats and heaps of food. There was laughter, good conversation and we gathered around the piano to sing carols. Everyone enjoyed the celebration that we're going to try to make it an annual event. It was one of those gatherings where you could walk away saying that it was a true example of the Christmas spirit and I must say a huge thank you to Clint and Tanya Morris for welcoming us into their brand new home and hosting a splendid evening.

Awesome Xmas cupcakes!

Singing in our Santa hats :-)

Now, I'm used to being at home on Christmas Eve. And by home I mean either my house or my folks' place. So, when Trevor realised that we'd have the entire day and evening to ourselves for a change, he decided we should do something different and go watch a movie that night. It felt super weird walking into the mall at 7pm on Christmas Eve but the movie was fun and it was kinda cool to be doing something out of the ordinary. We then went to my parents to welcome in midnight and exchange gifts.

And there it was: Wren's very first Christmas gift! My parents, clearly getting a head start on buying Christmas gifts for this kiddo, signed the tag by the names which she'll call them, "Nan & GD". They bought her a beautiful white lace Anglais quilt for her cot. I really wanted one but never told anybody so it was quite lovely that my mom and I had a moment of syncronicity which is rare for us. Next to Wren's gift was an equally sized gift from my folks to us and it was the Angelcare Baby Monitor I told my dad about back in October. His only two grandparental tasks were 1.) Pick a name for the baby to call him and 2.) Find a baby monitor. He completed both before the year was out! Well done Dad!!!

My dad, Trevor and I are all gadget geeks so the baby monitor is like a cool toy to all of us. Dad still doesn't quite understand how it works but he'll see when its in use.

It was scorching hot on Christmas day and I made it through church service with flying colours. My children's choir did me proud for my last hurrah, playing Christmas carols in the orchestra was loads of fun and I totally rocked my solos. I'm a bit sad to be out of the music rotation but I know my body was literally pushed as far as it could go. Trevor said he could hear how my voice is starting to take strain between the heat, dehydration and the pressure on my abdomen. I seem to be the only one who forgets that I'm 7 months pregnant. Oh well, I'll sit still and enjoy the music from now on.

I match my parents' Christmas tree LOL!

For the first time ever, Trevor's family and mine had Christmas lunch together. In fact, it's the first meal our families have ever had together. Don't know how it's never happened in the decade we've been together. Anyhoo, it was a great success! The meal was lovely and our families had a good time celebrating the last Christmas BW (Before Wren ha ha ha!!). I came home that night, sat in the dark on our patio and quietly contemplated a very busy and hot day before giving in to exhaustion. Must say I slept quite happily :-)

And so Christmas week came and went. Next year, I'll be running after my little girl, helping her wrap and unwrap gifts, teaching her carols, watching her stare at Christmas trees and lights with faschination and seeing Christmas anew through her eyes. My goodness, it's going to be fantastic!!!!!