Well Christmas is finally over. Missed Son no 2 terribly this year. This is my first year where I have not had the pleasure of having all 4 of my sons with me. I could ramble on about empty-nest syndrome but I will leave that for another post.

Summary of this week’s events as follows:

• Monday – did nothing – sat on the couch and watched TV.
• Tuesday – went to see Mission Impossible and then went out for lunch.
• Wednesday – Went last minute Christmas shopping at Sandton City and had brunch with Son no 1’s wife and her mother.
• Thursday – Decided to have a braai – purchased a Lamb pack a week earlier which stated the contents as Lamb “Chops” – upon defrosting, there were around 5 chops and the rest was stewing meat – so very annoyed with Pick ‘n Pay (our local Supermarket) – I hate being lied to! Should have taken it back and complained but just did not have the energy. 
• Friday – Went out early and had breakfast at Wimpy. Bought dog food and went to the pharmacy for Hubby’s chronic medication.
• Saturday – Hubby woke me up early. I made some tea and went back to sleep on the couch for awhile. Then got up, cleaned the house and washed clothes etc. (I like to wake up to a clean house on Christmas morning).

And finally it was Christmas morning…

Got up early, had tea with Hubby and then had a bath. Now that the kids are older – there is no mad rush to get up at the crack of dawn anymore – the kids would rather sleep in.

Woke Son no 3 and 4 up. Son no 1 and his wife arrived at around 7am. Made more tea and we all sat and opened presents. I must admit that we are not very religious and we celebrate Christmas for the sake of having one day where we spoil each other rotten.

It is getting more and more difficult to buy presents each year as our Sons have grown up. There are no more toys and Lego under the tree, no more stockings to fill the night before. These have been replaced with expensive gadgets and computers. This year we decided to buy one gift only for Son’s no 3 and 4 – we bought them each an iPad. I purchased these early to avoid the Christmas rush so it ended up with us buying more gifts as time went on. The iPads were exactly what they wanted so they were extremely happy. I got some “bling” from Swarovsky so I too was very happy.

I then started to prepare Christmas lunch. This year there was only 6 of us to cater for – this is the smallest Christmas lunch we have had for many many years. There is usually my 4 Sons, my mother-in-law, Son no 1’s wife, Son no 2’s girlfriend, and Hubby’s sister and her family and occasionally a few friends. This year however was different – mother-in-law is in Cape Town with Hubby’s sisters (Joburg based sister moved down to Cape Town this year), Son no 2 now lives in Dubai and him and his girlfriend are no longer together. So this year it was just Hubby and I, 3 of our Sons and Son no 1’s wife.

Still prepared the usual Turkey, Ham, Yorkshire Pudding, Roast Potatoes, Gravy, Chipolata Sausages, Bacon, Brussel Sprouts and Pumpkin. As you can guess – we ate far too much and and we now have loads of leftovers.

Spent the rest of the day watching “Ridiculousness” – the kids loved this and we spent the rest of the day laughing at other peoples mishaps.

Finally the day was over. And just like that we are almost at the end of the year.

I hope you all had the privilege of spending Christmas with family and friends too.