Happy New Year

Happy New Year!  I hope it's one of happiness, success, love and laughter for you all.

So here it is - my first blog post for 2012!  I was planning to write a little sooner but time just keeps getting away from me!  There are certainly not many 'spare' minutes in the day with three little boys aged four and under in the house, and when I do find some free time, I usually resort to doing housework or washing to try to keep up.  Anyway, it's a new year and I envisage finding myself a little bit more 'blog' time - somewhere, somehow ...

I hope you all had a beautiful Christmas with your loved ones.  Ours was just lovely!  Such excitement on Christmas morning as the boys discovered their Santa Sacks full of toys!  Little Kallan celebrated his very first Christmas and although he really had no idea what was going on, he did appear to enjoy the atmosphere and his new toys! Damon and Rowan really seemed to embrace the concept this year - ahh, precious times.

We spent lunch and the rest of Christmas Day and Boxing Day with family - many of whom we only see a few times a year - so it was really special.  The boys had a wonderful time with their grandparents, aunties, uncles, little cousin, great grandfather, great aunty and great uncle, and thoroughly enjoyed their stay at Gran and Grandpa's on the farm!  With the help of the family, Mum put on an amazing Christmas lunch and dinner as always.  We have some clever bakers in the family too, so we were rather spoilt on the food front!  The Christmas pudding with white sauce was divine!  I must admit I had plans to make all sorts of wonderful treats this Christmas, but since I found myself busier than I thought I'd be, I just ended up making these ...

Reindeer Crackles - can you spot Rudolph?

Gingerbread Biscuits

Mini Christmas Puddings

Oh and as far as presents go ... we all got way too spoilt!  The boys ended up with so many amazing new things, which they really love and should definitely keep them entertained for quite some time!  Thanks to my wonderful family, I received some fantastic things too.  Here is just one of my gifts (from my wonderful hubby) that I absolutely adore ...

My Moroccan leather pouffe - isn't it just lovely?

Amongst all the excitement, I made sure I didn't forget to ponder the real meaning of Christmas either.  I don't think the boys understand it just yet, but hope they will have a better appreciation of it when they are a bit older.

As every New Year approaches, I find my (very sentimental) self reflecting on the past year, in particular all the wonderful times we've had as a family.  It was certainly a special one with the arrival of our third little baby boy! For me, it is also the time to make my New Year's Resolutions - I usually have a few ... I figure it never hurts to have some direction for the New Year and a few new goals to aspire to.

Now, it's off to bed I go, but will firstly share some pictures I took in attempt to capture some of the joy of Christmas morning in our house ...