Christmas in Coffs

We had a five night stay in Coffs over Christmas.  On the morning of our arrival, Nanna Trace had fractured one of her toes and was hobbling about quite painfully on crutches.  Not what she wanted for Christmas with the five of us, my brother's family and one of her daughters all arriving and staying.  Also the first two days poured with rain and we were house bound for most of it.  We managed a trip to the Big Banana and took the kids to FlipOut trampoline park to keep them entertained during the rain.

Come Christmas morning the sun was shining and we were lucky enough to have Santa stop in on his way back to the North Pole to personally hand out the presents.

 
As always with Santa in charge the present opening is a very ordered affair.  Each person had a turn and before long our children had a bounty of presents being piled high on their Dad.  Michael was very busy assembling lightsabers, supplying batteries, unscrewing toys from their boxes, and reading instruction manuals.

The aftermath of the present opening was Christmas chaos.  With more people arriving for Christmas lunch it didn't take too long to fill the garbage and recycling bins with the carnage.

Meanwhile, the kids set about playing with their new toys.

Milly had a great time in Coffs Harbour with her two aunts, Nikki and Yin.  They made jewellery together, Nikki braided Milly's hair and played hand clapping games.  Yin taught Milly some Cantonese words and writing, and they did lots of colouring in together.

Buster and Casper had fun together.  They are both little chatterboxes and self-willed.  It was lovely to watch all the cousins playing together.

Grandad Bryan received an XBox for Christmas, complete with car games, a steering wheel console and accelerator pedals.  The kids took over and had difficulty playing it.  He was probably looking forward to us all leaving so he could have it all to himself again.

Another thing the kids look forward to when visiting Grandad Bryan and Nanna Trace is their dogs.  Poor Rusty had passed away since our last Christmas visit but his brother Harry was very keen to accept the cuddles, pats and tummy rubs offered by the kids.  He now has his half-sister Lucy as a companion, but she is still a puppy and was overwhelmed by all the extra people in the house.    

Finally, what is a trip to Coffs Harbour without having your photo taken with the Big Banana.  A huge thank you to my Dad and Tracey for their generous hosting and feeding us all.  We had a wonderful stay and they are probably now enjoying the peace and quiet.