Wickmas 2022

So for the final blog of 2022 I am catching up on Christmas events with the pictures from our family Wickmas gathering on Boxing Day. As usual we had all the usual shenanigans and lots of fun had by all. I know it sounds biased, but I am going to award myself the Xmas jumper award for 2022 even though I was wearing a shirt (Holly thought it was hideous hence why I award myself best jumper). We didn't vote on a recipe as such, but again without sounding biased I would have to give it to Tina for her delicious brei and cranberry bake. The naff-naff was no contest with Nicky being the hands down winner with the singing cactus which repeated whatever sounds/words/noises it heard.

Lisa arranged an excellent quick as always which I think was won by Zoe. She also did this really cool string competition where you pulled a string through a cone and won a random prize. Michael also arranged a blind drinking competition with 5 or 6 soft drinks to taste - Joshua won this.

Anyway, enough words, loads of pictures from orur day.

Food all prepared and ready for everyone to arrive.

Once everyone arrived, we started the day with the presents.

More present opening.

Selfie with me and some of the family tucking in to presents.

Amy helping Rory open one of his presents.

Zoe tucking in to a present with Rory watching on intently.

Rory's turn.

It's Peppa Pig.

Me with my shirt that Holly thought was hideous.

I know it's cold in my house Matt, but the scarf up and over your mouth.

Uncle Michael got some nice Under Armour gear which I was dead jealous of.

Oldest and youngest siblings having a battle on Mortal Kombat.

David "trying" to get close to my score on Tapper.

Let the battle commence.

Lisa's new game for Boxing Day with the random prize draw by pulling a string through a cone.

Holly taking her turn on Lisa's string pulling game.

Time for the giant cracker which I had to make all on my own this year.

3-2-1 pull.

Dive in and find your present.

Me, Zoe, Nicky and Holly trying out Holly's new Stitch Monopoly. No cheating going on here (MUCH!).

Nicky's winning naff-naff lurking on the table repeating everything everyone says whilst Michael sets up his drinks challenge.

Zoe taking her taste test with the blind drinks game.

Rory taking on Lea on our new arcade machine.

Brandon on the drinks challenge and still wearing his Lorenzo coat!

And David still trying to beat me on Tapper (no chance).

Rory having a chuckle with Nicky's naff-naff.

The intensity on Michael's face as he dusts off some special moves on Mortal Kombat.

The hideous shirt and the drinking challenge.

Christmas 2022

Xmas 2022 and we spent Christmas Day staying at home in our little family of 5. Amazingly none of the kids woke up super early and I think we got to sleep in until around 8:30 to 9:00am. Once the kids were up though, they didn't want any breakfast or to get dressed and wanted to get straight into the presents. However, we did pour a quick cheeky glass of Bucks Fizz to celebrate and drink whilst having our presents.

The two boys were super boring this year and hardly had any presents due to high value items. I think they only had 5 or 6 presents each, but they were all super expensive items. Joshua got a Nike track suit and trainers, some airpods, a 2023 rugby world cup ball, some after shave and that was about it. Brandon was slightly different in that he didn't want Nike and is now into expensive London brands and wanted a Voi track suit and a Lorenzo coat. He also got some airpods, a running vest, some thermals and gloves for football and a Westham shirt.

Holly had tonnes of presents.  I think she got to open 2-3 presents for everyone else's one. Her main presents was a new light up scooter as she had outgrown her old one. Then she had loads of Barbie dolls, books, a jewel digging set, some Ninetendo Switch games, loads of Stitch stuff and on and on and on.

For the family present this year we wanted to get something we could play as the boys had nothing like that as it was all clothes, aftershave, shoes etc which you can't really use on Xmas day. So we brought a Mortal Kombat aracade machine which has 12 games includes some classics such as Tapper, Defender, Bubbles, Toobin and Paperboy. We figured this would make a really good family present and would get plenty of use on Boxing Day with the family around.

Me and Tina were also pretty boring with our presents this year. Tina's main present was an air fryer which she really wanted and mine was a really cool camo DryRobe to keep me warm and dry at football / rugby now that I am a mere spectator and no longer a coach.

As usual we ate loads all day and had a really nice Xmas dinner with all the trimmings. I am not sure anyone managed to finish their mountain of a dinner! Any way Xmas day done and time to start preparing for all the family on Boxing Day.

As usual Holly left out some drinks and munchies for Santa on Xmas Eve.

Santa came when the kids were in bad and surrounded the tree with lots of goodies.

Tina got me this so cool camo DryRobe. Can't wait for the next footy match in bad weather so that I can try it out.

The shape of the family present is a bit of a giveaway. Joshua certainly guessed iet.

Brandon's new Lorenzo coat which is actually really, really nice and super quality.

Holly with a little gem mining kit.

Brandon pretty much lived in his new coat all day.

Joshua with the 2023 Rugby World Cup ball.

Holly with a football Ken doll.

And one of her teddy unicorn eggy things which she seems to really love.

Joshua opening up his Dior aftershave.

Brandon in his Voi tracksuit.

And then all Nike'd out with a new track suit and trainers.

I think the trainers he wanted are actually really nice, but not worth the money we paid for them.

Time to tuck into the family present.

Holly had the honour of ripping off the paper.

It's an arcade machine.

Yeh, Mortal Kombat. Time to teach the two boys what "proper" gaming is all about.

As expected, neither of them were any good.

And who remember this classic - Paperboy? Definitely a big part of my youth and growing up in the '80's.

Holly really enjoyed the Bubbles game and for a long time had the highest score.

Holly also got a VR headset to attach to her Nintendo Switch. So funny watching her use it.

Is this the future for our children? Finishing a day at school/work and then jumping into a virtual reality.

Paperboy got plenty of use on Xmas day. Notice Holly's Stitch naff-naff in the background.

Table all laid for our Xmas dinner.

Merry Xmas from "We 5 King's".