xmas kids

are you meaning us adults? Yes im dropping major hints that santa wont forget me this year . Have been talking to my mum also who i think is santa's secret helper.

Yay for christmas!!! Its such a great time, i have always loved the whole "family" thing (dramas aside..) and I think it wil be neat to be sharing it with my bubba! We are having christmas with my whole fmaily this year, so Jake will be able to see all his wee ocusins, it will be full on, but fun!

lol, sounds right - we got the girls a cubby house - but i'm sure mike will spend half the day playing in there with paris. i did a marathon present wrapping session over the weekend, and still not done - funny how much longer it takes when kids interupt you.. as soon as i would get them out at night once paris was asleep - ayja would decide to wake and be a monkey. And most things were in square boxes - but still took FOREVER to wrap!

I think I'm gonna miss the whole family thing this year - usually we used to have all the cousins, but since one of my sisters moved to aus at the start of the year and took her 5 kids, it's gonna be pretty quiet really in comaprrison - only thing i won't miss is having to try and get all the food before her kids scoffed the lot, lolol.

We'vw got the monster christmas planned (warning: novel ahead!) Both my Mum's family and my Dad's family are having big get-togethers this year. I'm just glad that they are all meeting at my parent's house! Nathaniel's extended family doesn't quite do this - his dad is one of 9 (7 still alive) so as Nathaniel's cousins started marrying they began to just meet as immediate family groups.

We're going to be staying with my family in Katikati for the 10 days before christmas, including Christmas Eve. We'll spend the morning with them, then Mum's family is coming round for lunch. There will be somewhere between 17 and 25 people, depending on how many of my cousins come.

In the afternoon, we're off to Tauranga to spend Christmas Night with Nathaniel's family. There will be Gran and Grandad and their 3 children & spouses (including Nathaniel & me) and the 7 grandkids. Kiya is the oldest, and the youngest will be born by c-section on Dec 1st. We're going to stay with Nathaniel's parents for a week after christmas.

On Boxing Day we go back to my parent's place for the day, for my Dad's family christmas. There will be between 15 and 23 people depending on who comes.

So much running around!

None of my other cousins are married or have kids. On Dad's side, that's not that surprising as I'm the oldest grandkid by 4.5 years. Kiya and Josiah are going to be spoilt by their great aunts and uncles! My cousins are facinated by Kiya, so she won't be short of playmates!

On Mum's side, a couple of my cousins are in serious relationships, but only one of them does the "christmas with both" thing. My Nana has been married 3 times, and had 2 children who are similar in age to the oldest of the grandkids - in fact my uncle (Mum's brother) is 6 months older than his neice (my cousin), who is 1 year older than her aunt (Mum's sister)! This aunt is 4 years older than me. Her children (my cousins) are young too - the oldest is 8, the next is 6 weeks older than Kiya and the youngest is due around Christmas. So Kiya will have someone to play with. Nana loves having great-grandkids, and my aunts are (nearly) all jealous of Mum for having grandchildren, so they will all spoil my kids too!

I would not be surprised if we hardly see Kiya except for when she wants something!

Edited by becca.l

it's so hectic when you have big families - but at least there's alway splenty of other people to chip in with the food prep and dishes - so you can run away and hide soemwhere till it's done .... not that I do that of course. lolol

Arna has a wicked slide going on when she goes to mum's. She is renovating her new house (ex-state house) and ripped up all the carpet so its now all wooden floors, Arna slides and hits the wall then falls back on her head.. Poor wee thing.. got her non stick shoes now!!

As long as you keep an eye on them and then if they do it a few times they don't get so cocky... (Hopefully)