Helicopter Christmas

In the lead up to Christmas Henry had told us that he wanted Santa to bring him a Fireman's costume, a fire helmet and a fire hose. Santa searched high and low for those things and found them all. At the last minute Santa also decided to get Henry a toy replica of Tom's Helicopter from his favourite show - Fireman Sam. Once that was opened everything else was forgotten about. He went through the actions of tearing paper off presents but wasn't really interested in anything underneath it. The only thing he truly loved was the helicopter.

He woke late because we'd been out late on Christmas Eve at my parents house. Maya insisted on sleeping in his room beside him so that she would be awake when he woke up but she was up a long time before he was. She kept prodding him and poking him in the hope that she would get him up.

My sisters had called at around 7AM hoping they'd get here in time to see Henry wake up and see what Santa had brought him. He slept until almost 8AM and then took a few minutes to take it all in. He looked around the room, spotted his santa sack full of toys and said "oh, is that for me?" and then set about tearing the paper off whatever was in it.

We spent Christmas Eve at my mum's house and had, of course, a very special and delicious three course meal prepared exclusively by her. My family joined us for Christmas Day at my house. We ate, we drank champage, we played cricket in the park across the road and then played some more board games until late in the evening.

All of us scored this Christmas, especially Henry and Maya.

We hope yours was joyful, peaceful and rowdy all at the same time.

It's that time

Henry just woke up at 8.30PM after four hours sleep. When I mentioned how tired I was and that I was looking forward to going to bed he told me...
"Mum, you can't go to bed until 20 past a clock ago".

I guess that means I won't be going to bed any time soon.

Do they know it's Christmas

This is the first year Henry has really been aware of Christmas and that awareness is awesome. It's incredibly joyful to be seeing it through his eyes for the first time but I'm not sure if it's just me but things seem to have much more of a Christmas bent this year. Homes in the streets around our house have suddenly gone all out with the Christmas lighting, people are playing carols at night and there's Christmas everywhere.

It's nice. I love it.

What is very pleasant is that it's not ridiculously hot. We can still breathe and take walks and eat and have conversations comfortably. Normally at this time of the year people are exhausted from the heat and the humidity. They're normally grumpy and find it hard to open their mouths to say hello because if they do they'll use up some of the precious energy they need to keep them alive in the heat.

Last night my mother and stepfather came to collect us to drive us all over town to look at the lights of the suburban houses. We came across one street in which every house had done their bit. It was like a fairyland. There were sausage sizzles to raise money for local charities, people milling around everywhere, kids laughing and bus loads of retirees driving by to check it all out. I would love to live in that street. One little girl told me that people had been asking if there were any houses for sale. Obviously everyone wanted to get in on the spirit.

Because we're finding it so exciting we've decided to host Christmas Day at our house. Of course while one side of my brain was thinking about the nice parts the other was thinking about the work required. I decided there will be no food served that requires cooking. It's going to be cold meat, salads, prawns and oodles of champagne.

Henry is very excited about Santa's visit and would like him to bring a Fireman's costume, a fire hose and Tom's Helicopter (from Fireman Sam). Fortunately Santa was able to find most of those things and more.

It's Christmas Time in the City

This year Myer's display is based on Graeme Base's book, Uno's Garden. I am not familiar with this book but am with many of his others. The display was very artistically clever and colourful but it wasn't christmassy in any way. In fact the city was decidedly lacking in Christmas spirit. If it weren't for the odd fairy lights strung up in the shops and the giant Christmas tree it could have been any other time of the year.

The thrill for Henry was the ride into the city and home on the train.

Firefighter Ablutions

Henry: Mum, does Fireman Sam have a doody?

Me: Yes he does. He's a boy just like you

Henry: But he doesn't go to the toilet?

Me: He does. just like you do

Henry: But he doesn't have a toilet at the Fire Station

Me: Doesn't he?

Henry: No, he had to go and buy one at the shop.