boxing day in the city

after a huge day with heaps of people about, this is how our littlest babe spent the morning well past the time he would normally be causing a ruckus. he was absolutely exhausted...

but got over his grumps quickly when madeline let him listen to bts on her new ipod. he was so proud of himself.

due to the insane people that came along with my husband in marriage (his extended family - and don't worry i have already told them this...) we went into the city for the boxing dale sales. oh my word. i would rather die than do that ever, ever again. there was some adorable photo ops for the kids, but the place was nuts.

this made me laugh so hard, joseph refused to move away from the "nice" door and madeline was very unimpressed.

so an argument broke out...

but she finally got her way. she is nice too. the nicest kid i know.

joseph was bored as anything and kept telling me - and i am writing this down so i can remember it in the future and hopefully laugh about it, but oh. my. gosh. favz and josh and doug went into culture kings and stayed in there browsing and buying up a storm (on favz credit card thankfully) for three freaking hours. oh my goodness. i nearly died. oli and i were outside sitting in the mall with alex who was grumpy as anything, but got a full nap in in the end, because they took that long. people have divorced their husbands for less. and after all that, they bought so much stuff, and nothing for me. i see how it is. 

london court my all time favourite place in the city was decorated festively and looked amazing.

there was still cute displays up all over the place and it was fun (for the first hour hahah) but i was sooooo glad to go home. never again. not in a million years would i go to the city on boxing day. case closed.

 

boxing day 2018

oh how i love my sister in law for having family christmas at her house. they have a great house on the edge of the bush, with huge rooms and a pool (which was empty this year but i'll get to that...) we always have a great time and she's an excellent host.

so late morning boxing day, we packed up the kids, food and gifts and made our way to her house. mum instantly swooped in and grabbed alex and then the gift exchanging began.

mum had wrapped my gifts in this gorgeous paper, they looked so nice i barely wanted to unwrap them!

joseph with one of the favourites of the day - a new scooter from nanna and grandad

alex about to get into his name puzzle with a little help from daddy 

new lego from aunty donna - she absolutely nailed the gifts this year...

as you can see! madeline had been bugging me for a pomsie for months and i was like uhhh no. so i tipped off donna and now she is her absolute hero. good on her. i wasn't buying one. lol.

laura and i ♥

mum and i ♥ 

she is the best. isaac keeps telling dad that every time he sees me i look more and more like her. let's be honest, there are much worse things i could think of.

lunch was a bunch of food brought by everyone, slapped on the table to help yourself. perfect. just as relaxed as yesterday... i am liking these stress free christmas celebrations! makes it much easier to think about what it's really about.

okay. so. the pool. of course the kids were dying to have a swim, but the liner had been damaged and is going to be repaired next week. so no swimming this year. thankfully the kids saw the funny side of it and agreed to all get in and pull a face while i got a shot of them enjoying their boxing day "swim" bahahaha. i love it. their faces are solid gold. such good sports.

another christmas done and dusted... time to go home and rest. ♥

boxing day

boxing day was spent at my parents house... my very favourite place to be. sure, growing up in clackline can't compete with growing up in the big city, but we made our own fun - and had the best time. and now, even as an adult with children of my own, going to clackline feels like going home. the wide open road with bush either side that stretches forever and the dirt roads, the kangaroos... and their house, my childhood home, that holds the very best memories i possess.

as you would have seen from my posts over the years, i love nativity sets... and this is the first one i remember... my mothers one. taking it out of it's black tin and taking it out of the tissue paper to set it up each year was my favourite thing - and definitely began my obsession. 

cooking and fun with my niece laura ♥

and maddie with her favourite cousin emma ♥

my two favourite babes. i love these kids!

i know people might not be a fan of the country, but for me it will always be home. i don't know how anyone could not love this view. the end of the day in clackline... it was a very merry boxing day and -

home is wherever i'm with mum ♥

boxing day sales

at christmas dinner at my brothers house last night, doug mentioned how badly he wanted to check out the boxing day sales... and my niece grace almost fell off her chair with glee... i mean really, what could possibly be more exciting to a 12 year old female than the prospect of all day shopping with newly acquired christmas money, accompanied by someone other than your parents, who clearly is not going to patrol what you buy? absolutely nothing! so miss grace jumped in our car and this morning we headed off to joondalup to check out what was on offer.

to be perfectly honest, although there was lots of bargains to be had, i didn't really get anything too exciting. doug got some shoes and tshirts, grace nabbed some cute clothes and a diary... it was a fun day though, fighting the crowds, chilling with my little family...

and dealing with the hulk. haha