Miss Zinnia turned 6 weeks old on Christmas day.  As a bonus for her, she got her 6 week immunisations delayed as everything is closed between Christmas and New Year…… but on the down side she was too young to eat turkey or Christmas pudding! She of course will remember nothing of her first Christmas, but there were plenty of photos and the big kids had a ball. Christmas is fabulous when you are 7 and 5!

Here is all the photo fun of Christmas 2018, Camelid Castle style (with  a bonus newborn this year)………..

The lead up to Christmas left plenty of time for wearing reindeer ears (even Zinnia).  Astrid is pretty much always wearing reindeer or cat ears so was happy to share them around.  Both kids cracked out the Christmas T-shirts (and onesie in Miss Z’s case), and Zinnia got to attend her first school Christmas concert at 3 weeks of age.

We weren’t quite up to getting the tree up on December 1 this year, but we got there in the end and the kids had their special baubles and stockings up. Granny had been hanging out for Zinnia to be named so she could order a special bauble and stocking for her too!

By Christmas Eve the tree was laden with gifts (as we were hosting lunch everyone had left them at our place) and the late night Christmas-Elf-Parents were glad the wrapping was all finally done! The kids also got their traditional new PJs. Astrid a ‘llama-corn’ set and Soren his favourite dinosaurs………

Zinnia decided after the second of her overnight feeds that she wanted to sleep in the bed on me (a standard occurrence) and I was trapped under a sleeping baby when I heard rustling in the presents. Anto went out to investigate and it was Astrid ‘sorting’ them into piles.  She  had waited until 7am  I guess, but her brother was still asleep (as was her little sister).  The alpacas were already up enjoying the hot Summer day.  Zinnia smiled and snoozed for a bit until she decided it was milk time and Soren eventually emerged, excited it was finally the big day!

First it was time for breakfast. The kids had requested brioche french toast with strawberries and cream……

 

Finally it was time to crack into the presents, luckily Astrid had already sorted all the gifts from our family into piles, to help with efficiency of opening, of course!

The opening commenced!  Miss Zinnia got to observe from her bouncer, a bit perplexed by the whole process,  especially when she was repeatedly given her presents to model (which were mostly clothes way bigger than her)!

As is traditional anyone receiving clothes has to try them on. Anto got a lot of bike gear and it was already 30 degrees so he was getting a little warm with multiple layers of winter weight bike clothing (and a dinner shirt) on. Zinnia got to try all her new headbands on at once and was thoughtful enough to gift me some chocolate I could turn into fresh chocolate milk for her! Soren got endless things he could build, and his much requested mini-drone.  Astrid scored an awful lot of pens, books and stationary and a hit music box and real jewellery among other things.  I had a definite theme with my presents, coffee cups galore, very useful due to my current need for caffeine to survive newborn sleep deprivation!

By mid-morning Uncle Mikl, and the grandparents arrived.  This meant more presents and lots of playing and snacking on cheese and dips.  Zinnia got to engage in her favourite pastimes of milk drinking and napping on people.

Finally Soren got to crack into the giant present he had been hanging out for. His robo-raptor from Granny that he had been eyeing off all year.  Astrid’s giant present was a keyboard from Grandma and Grandpa. The big boxes are always full of fun stuff!  Zinnia was less enthused about gifts, but luckily her older siblings were happy to open things for her.
While the kids played Anto was working hard on his turkey and preparing the other food.  Then the table was set and it was time for a leisurely lunch, at 2.30pm (clearly playing with presents and snacking on cheese was more important than lunch)……

Our simple Christmas lunch this year was roast baby carrots with cumin and harissa, deep-fried brussel sprouts with lime, green beans with confit garlic, roast veg, stuffing 2 ways (vegetarian and meat lovers), turkey and a vegetarian main of roasted stuffed butternut pumpkin.  There was also cranberry sauce and 2 types of gravy.  No one starved!

Zinnia had to observe from her bouncer, relegated to milk only. I’m sure she’ll be into the turkey next year based on her siblings love of turkey.

All a little stuffed it was time for more playing (or napping while guarded by robo-raptor). Astrid had already read a hundred odd pages of her new book and the rest of us were debating whether we could even fit in dessert……..

It got to 5pm and we had to give dessert a go. It was mandatory to eat at least some of the Christmas pudding and custard Anto had made and the profiterole and summer fruit trifle my mum had whipped up.  The aged eggnog washed it all down……..

It had been yet another 35 degree Summer day, so we’d happily all hidden inside in the air conditioning all day eating, drinking and playing. By 6.30pm the bite was out of the sun and despite the heat we figured we needed to stretch our legs and give the kids a chance to run off a bit of the food while the alpacas had their daily walk.  Inti was forced into the Christmas spirit with Astrid’s jingly reindeer ears and the kids ran off some energy while Zinnia napped in the sling……….

After a long day of eating, drinking and playing it was all bit much for tired kids.  I think Zinnia had the right idea napping the day away!

That’s a wrap on Christmas 2018, Zinnia’s first.  Next year her siblings might be in for a rude shock when she  insists on ripping open presents herself and stealing their turkey!