Christmas 2015 with the Rickeltons

So I was supposed to be having a 10 day break from blogging but it turns out I can't quite manage it! I really wanted to record and share our Christmas this year as it was simply lush!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is my absolute favourite part of Christmas, it has a certain magic about it that just doesn't happen on any other day of the year. We visited my Grandma at lunch time before heading home to create a Gingerbread house. This is the first year we've done this and it is definitely recommended and something we'll do every year from now on I imagine. We bought a kit for less than £5 from waitrose and it contained everything we needed - even a piping bag! It was something we all got involved with - even dad! and we were pretty chuffed with our creation.

Pretty soon it was time for Christmas Eve baths. Elf on the shelf had left us a note saying he had enjoyed a wonderful stay but had to return to The North Pole when we were at Grandma's house. He left the children some chocolate coins and new PJs. You may remember the Hot Chocolate Santa Spoons we bought from Fenwick earlier this year - we enjoyed them before bed and they were lovely. 

We took it in turns reading Christmas stories to each other from our Christmas book box with The Night Before Christmas, A Smelly Sprout and Santa's Beard all being favourites.

Bless Heidi she was so excited that she wanted to go to bed at 5:30pm! Haha! We let her as we knew it would take her ages to go to sleep. We watched Christmas tv with the boys and then shouted her down at 7pm to leave cookies for Santa. Jack also left 8 carrots for the reindeer to share between them and a cup of his favourite blackcurrant juice for Santa. The reindeers must have been in a rush as the next morning we found a half eaten carrot on our garden path! ;-)

With the kids tucked in bed it was time for some grown up time. We ALWAYS treat ourselves to a nice meal and bottle of champagne and this year's didn't disappoint. We bought Waitrose own-label champagne which was fab and a Sirloin Beef joint from Aldi which hubby cooked perfectly. There wasn't much on tv but we enjoyed a few hours chilling out, drinking and eating sweets before Santa's arrival. 

We think Santa must have arrived at around midnight as we went to bed at 11:30pm and didn't see him. Harry and Jack heard some banging and are sure it must have been him.

Christmas Day

The kids woke up at around 8am on Christmas Day (I was awake from around 5am!) and I LOVE listening to them as they run into each others rooms and tip out the contents of their stocking. Whoopee Cushions and Satsumas were the hits this year! Jack was so excited to find an orange in his stocking and had to eat it there and then! After opening their stockings the kids piled into our bed for excited cuddles before we headed downstairs.

Santa had left a present with a note on for all three of them in the middle of our living room this year and H,H and J were delighted to discover their very own X Box and Minecraft! Just what they've always wanted.

Our grocery shopping is always delivered over Christmas as I can't face the shops but this year it was minus Bucks Fizz (booooo!) so Christmas Day breakfast was a sober affair this year but our extra special bacon sandwiches were superb (I think the bacon had been marinated in treacle!) We had a lovely chilled out morning before getting ready in our new Christmas outfits to head to Grannie's at lunch time. 

We take it in turns celebrating Christmas Day with my family and Steve's family as it is too much travelling between lots of houses. This year it was the turn of Steve's family and as they live around 7 miles away I was the designated driver for the day. We had a huge pile of presents waiting for us all in Grannie's living room and were spoilt rotten. The men headed to the local social club for a few hours and it was nice to catch up with the ladies. 

Christmas lunch is always a family affair and our in laws living room was transformed with one huge table to accommodate us all. We were served a lunch of Prawn Cocktail, Turkey and all the trimmings then Christmas pudding or Yule log. Lunch was delicious and we all chip in preparing part of it (we were in charge of pudding this year). 

Christmas day lunch was followed by a few games of this year's must-have game, 'Pie Face' haha what a laugh! Although I think we found Grannie cleaning everyone's faces with a dirty wet dish cloth the funniest part :-)

After a long day we headed home to play with a few of our new toys before heading up to bed. Steve and I were too full for our planned cheeseboard or any alcohol!

My favourite present!

Boxing Day

Boxing Day AKA Christmas Day no2 was spent with my family. Again, the kids were spoilt with a huge bag full of presents at my mum's house to keep them entertained. We all headed to a local pub (this year it was The Hastings in Seaton Delaval) for lunch and a catch up. The Hastings is a lovely pub serving some of the best homemade chips in the region in my opinion!

Burger and Chips at The Hastings

After lunch we headed back to my mum's to crack open the Champagne and dig into the Pudding Buffet! 

This is what we all wish we could be doing!

Instead of this........haha!

After a lovely afternoon together we headed home in the evening to enjoy a glass or 2 of our favourite Christmas tipple.

So that was our Christmas 2015 in a nutshell! We had such a lovely time together and so far NO ARGUMENTS to report! The rest of the Christmas holidays will be spent lounging in our PJ's and eating the mountains of food we have left over. However you celebrated Christmas, I hope it was a good one xx