Holly's 1st Christmas

Today was Holly's first Christmas and we had a thoroughly enjoyable but manic day at home as a family of five. Surprisingly the boys did not wake too early, Joshua was about 7:05 and Brandon was gone 8 o'clock. Even then they were happy to lay in our bed with Holly watching Paw Patrol rather than going downstairs for their presents, weird!. Finally I managed to get them up, dressed and washed and then also made sure they had some breakfast before going into the living room for some presents.

 

The three kids curled up in Mummy and Daddy's bed not too bothered about rushing downstairs for Xmas presents.



 

To start the proceedings Joshua helped his new little sister open her very first present which was a teddy bear from one of our neighbour's, Liz.

 

Joshua helping Holly open her very first Xmas present.

Once the first present was out of the way it became a bit of a free for all and the boys were super excitable at opening all their presents. Whilst we spent a lot and bought them far too much, their reactions wee priceless and I think they both got pretty much everything they asked for and more. Probably the only disappointment was Joshua who wanted a drum set but didn't get one. Brandon's top present is by far is golf set which he loves and Joshua is either his stunt scooter or his submarine. All in all they have got so many new toys that today we probably only got to play with about half of them. I am absolutely exhausted with building/assembling toys, putting stickers on toys and crawling around on the floor playing with the boys all day. To think its only going to get more manic over the next few years as Holly grows up and joins the Xmas frenzy. 

Brandon with one of his Dinosaur Train characters, "Tiny".

Of course Brandon had to have some Hotwheels on his Xmas list, so here is Hotwheels Shark Attack.

Joshua with his educational "Hangman" game which he really wanted.

Brandon likes his Hotwheels.

Brandon's favourite present which he was ecstatic about, a junior golf set. Roll on when the golf range opens so we can all get out and hit some balls.

Joshua with the Disney Planes Wii game.

Something Mum and Dad always did for us every Christmas was to buy us an annual and it is something I have also tried to do with the boys. Brandon got a Disney Mickey Mouse Club House Annual but Joshua got a couple. Firstly, Disney Planes and a book on Baby Animals. But the star book which I stumbled across for Joshua was an RSPCA annual. He absolutely loves it. I think I have mentioned before that he is obsessed with watching RSPCA and Animal Rescue programs in the morning (rather than cartoons), so this book is just amazing for him.

Joshua loves his RSPCA annual.

How appropriate for Brandon to have an Angry Birds game. Me, Josh and B had a good game of this and Brandon won.

Joshua with his bright orange stunt scooter which he wanted. The old Olympic scooter seems to now have been handed down to Brandon.

Joshua's next favourite present is this rather amazing submarine with lights, noises, divers, rescue boats, firing missiles etc.

Both boys also wanted ice cream and frosty makers this year and so we ended up buying Joshua the frosty ice drink maker and Brandon a Moo Cow Milk Shake maker. We ended up testing both of these out and made a simple black current ice drink and a strawberry yogurt milk shake with vanilla. Very nice.

Joshua with his black current frosty drink.

Brandon mixing up and strawberry yogurt milkshake.

Brandon's total present haul was quite impressive and almost filled a 3 seater sofa.

Joshua pile of presents stacked up on the 2 seater sofa and his scooter down at the side.

Joshua looking mean and focused as he readies himself for a test drive of the new scooter.

Once the boys had settled down and the wrapping paper cleared away we finally got to sit down and open some of Holly's presents. Despite being a little girl she is still clearly in a testosterone fuelled house and as such her main present was of course her first set of wheel, a soft toy sit-in car. 

Joshua helping Holly open her first ever set of wheels.

Holly test drives her first set of wheels. Just cruising around the living room looking for some action.

Despite all the lovely (and expensive) presents, probably one of the most enjoyable for the boys was a simple painting hand pallet which was purchase from a 99p shop as a stocking filler. The boys thought the pallet was amazing and were both dead keen to don the paint shirts and do some Christmas art.

Joshua and B set to work on a festive painting using their new artist paint pallet.

Brandon's picture was a lovely painting of him playing football outside in the sun,

Joshua hard at work on his festive painting.

We had a very traditional Xmas dinner as always however for the first time in many years we had to buy our own turkey. The meats comprised of turkey and gammon and then all the trimmings on top including goose fat roast potatoes, yum. Very pleased with Joshua today as he ate some broccoli and even more impressive he now likes brussel sprouts and ate two of them for the first time. Like father like son, that means two very stinky bums tomorrow!



Joshua and Brandon settle down at the dinner table for a traditional Xmas dinner.

 

All 5 King;s having our first Xmas dinner together.

 

After dinner we had one final surprise for the boys and that was our family Xmas present. This years gift was the Wii Infinity which I am sure will provide hours of entertainment for the children on those miserable winter days when they cannot get outside. Of course now the argument will be whether they play Skylanders, Infinity or Disney Planes!!! Good luck with me ever getting time to play Gran Turismo 6.

The boys open the final surprise of the day, our family present of a Wii Infinity.

So Holly's first Xmas is over. Hopefully next year she can be a bit more involved and could possible be walking around the house as well. So now its time to get the house cleaned and ready to start all over again tomorrow for Boxing Day.