The final day in a jam packed weekend was actually my first thought in having an awesome time together and ended up being the one with the least amount of effort and thought to it. It has been so long...more than 10 years...since we all spent Christmas together and I initially wanted to decorate the whole house as if for Christmas so that when everyone arrived on the Friday evening it would have that Christmassy feel to it. However with more and more ideas bubbling over in my brain I decided in the end to just make it an end to a great time together. I knew the weekend was going to be full and hectic, so thought that it would be best to down play the entire idea. I did not want everyone to be so exhausted from their time away that they felt they had to escape home to recover. So it was that in the early hours of that final day together I gathered just a few decorations and scattered them around the living areas of the house, adding some brightness and colour to it. My mum had been in cahoots with me all along and my original plan for us all to make gifts to give away turned into the idea of my mum showing us girls how to make a Christmas tree decoration using fabric pieces and a polystyrene ball. That only happened much later in the day though as at about 10am we all went off to Ludwig Roses for brunch. Being a Monday it was very quiet and we literally had the place to ourselves. Still a bit nippy, NiQi asked if the gas heaters could be placed closer to the table so she could warm up and everyone was very spolit with knee rugs being offered for extra warmth. After brunch we had a walk around, looking inside the hall, inspecting the dam for any rogue crocodiles...haha and enjoying being kids again in the play area. Even my mum enjoyed a swing for a bit. Thinking back now to that day makes me wish we could have more times like this together....
While the boys napped - aka Johan and Matthew - we sat in the warmth of the afternoon sun on the front verandah and set about making our decorations. Needless to say, as easy as it was, I ended up unpinning and starting over again more than once as I discovered that I had folded and pinned my squares of fabric back to front on the ball. Eventually I had it fininshe and in the same time I managed to complete one decoration, Sara had made two. It was fun though and gave us a bit more time to chill together.
As they say, time flies when you are having fun and before I could blink the day was done, the weekend was over and Matthew, Jess, Paige and Tiffany were on their way home. How I miss having them all around me, it's at times like this that I wish for the days when my sister and I lived round the corner from each other and walked to work together in the mornings. When our kiddies were young they saw their cousins just about every day and I think that is one reason why they are so close now. I am so grateful for the weekend spent together...one day we may have more special times like that, just not right now.
The thorn amongst the roses....
NiQi aiming to touch the tree
NiQi pushing Matthew and Jess on the 'merry-go-round'
Matthew napping
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