Family Christmases are a great time to catch up with everyone and spend time around loved ones.
Today in New Zealand is Christmas Day. We started celebrating Christmas last night at my parents’ house because my brother was going to be traveling today. We started with presents under the tree at Mum and Dad’s, followed by a barbecue on the deck with a selection of salads and meats.
Life doesn’t suck…
because I get to have amazing family Christmases.
This morning we started the day at home with presents before heading to my fianceés parents’ place for presents with all their grandchildren. The kids were super excited to open their presents and had even counted how many were under the tree.
Watching kids open Christmas presents is great. You get to see the excitement in their faces as they unwrap all their new surprises and compare what they’ve received. The lounge ends up covered in torn wrapping paper and it looks like Christmas has exploded everywhere.
From here we moved into our first lunch of the day, a series of salads with my partner’s parents and siblings and a select group of friends. We ate, we chatted, we caught up on the months since we last saw each other. Salads lead to pavlova, fruit and ice cream.
Once we’d finished lunch dessert number one we headed to my aunty’s house. We got there just in time for lunch number two. This was the full-on Christmas experience with ham, turkey, lamb and salads. We joked with my cousins and ate with Nan. We had our second dessert, more ice cream, fruit, trifle and brandy snaps.
Once we were done eating it was time for the usual Christmas food coma. We spread out around the lounge. We got to about six o’clock and it felt like bedtime after eating all day. We made our way home, having survived another giant family Christmas. I’m grateful to have most of my family together and enjoy our family Christmases together. There are a bunch of people I don’t get to see due to distance, but I’m grateful to get to have any family time at all.
Current gratitude streak: 31 days
Did you miss my post from yesterday? Read it here Gratitude, Day 30: I’m grateful that my hard times are easier than others