1st Christmas with Gran

So we just spent the 1st Christmas with my Mum for my kids and Jeremy.  I have not spent Christmas with her since 2005, right before Jeremy and I got married.  So this was a special Christmas.  My Mum has sadly spent most of her Christmas's alone or with a short visit from my brother in the afternoon, for the past 4-5 years since the birth of my niece who is Micah's age, who was born a week before Christmas.  My nephew Brent also died at 9 years of age in '09' so understandably it was hard for his mother to celebrate Christmas and get together with family.  For my brother and his now ex-fiancee', Christmas was a sad time for quite a few years and probably still is.  My brother went down to his new girl friend's house in Ballarat Victoria, about a 24 hour drive south.  So we happily came up to Mum's to spend it with her.

The drive up to the Mountain was not fun for Lucy, or Jeremy and I putting up with and trying to discipline her winging and occasional screaming.  Micah was happy as Larry with his new Leapster he got for Christmas from Nana and Sir.  We also had his kid sized headphones from the plane so we did not have to hear his new learning game device.  He also did not have to hear Lucy.  Maybe I need a Leapster too with headphones!  It is an hour and a half drive to Mum's.  So I think we will eventually reinvest in a portable dvd player for the car which plugs into the cigarette lighter.  This is how we survived the drive across the mid-west of America before we came to Australia.  We took that trip to say goodbye to long distance family and friends.  But that story will be another blog post.

Almost at Gran's house, her street is round the corner.  This street brings back many childhood  memories of returning home.  It has not changed too much.  The huge towering gum trees that arch over the road are still there.

So we eventually made it to North Tamborine.  After a big hug from Jeremy and some praying as I my nerves felt frazzled, I felt ready to go to church.  We then went over to Mum's church for a traditional Christmas service.  It was great to see so many familiar faces who welcomed us back in.  It is so fun to rejoice with each other in how much God has blessed us with.  To meet each other's growing families.  The children I grew up with and once ran around the church with, now have children of their own as I do.  Our kids sat in on the service and Micah recognised King Herod being mentioned in the service.  He did really well and would occasionally rest on mine or Mum's lap, which she loved.  He drew in my diary for 2011, he loves to draw.  Lucy was good too, although a little more restless.  She has a pretty red and white head band on her head with a Chiefs bow on it that she kept taking on and off.  This kept her amused for ages.  Then she would get up and down and walk over to Mum to pass the head band to her and play the same game.  Of course Mum loved this too :-)

The old church I grew up in.  There used to be a hedge around the grass patch.  I have fond memories of running through those trees onto the veranda playing tiggie (tag).  I have older pics but not digital ones.   It has had some renovations since which have allowed more room for growth.

The church hall at the back where Sunday school was held and a stage where we loved to play on and swing on the curtain ropes.  I could do some great flips on these bars near the blue door.  

Growing up I would go to church with my family 1st thing on Christmas morning and open presents when we got home.  So we kept this tradition, kind of.  We did open presents on Christmas Eve skyping with Jeremy's parent's.  There are more presents to come from the rest of Jeremy's immediate family after Christmas.

So after church we went back to Gran's for the rest of the day.  I helped Mum cook a roast and I put the kids outside for a picnic of appertizer's while we waited for the roast to be cooked.  Fortunately it was not too hot to cook a roast.  Mum has a combustion wood stove and it can quickly heat up the house.  Great for winter, not for summer.

The kids picnic next to the old clothesline, which is still going strong

So finally we sat down to enjoy our roast and then we opened presents.  Mum LOVED her garden gnome.  She loves ornaments and gardening, so a gnome was the perfect gift.

Kids opening pressie's from Gran and Uncle Syd.  Gran got them a beach set each with shovels and  sand castle building buckets & an extra watering can.  Uncle Syd got Lucy a tea party set and Micah a tool kit.  Kids were happy!

The garden gnome's name is Ollie, he looks good there

We all had a lovely day at my Mum's house and she was beaming ear to ear.  I could tell she really enjoyed having grandkids in her home for the very first time for Christmas.  My niece has never been to Mum's house.  Hopefully she will one day in the near future.  So she too can join in the fun with her American/Aussie cousins.  I am also looking fwd to spending the next Christmas with Uncle Syd too.  He is a ton of fun and Lucy is glued to him when she see him :-)  We all get good times from being with Uncle Syd.