When the kids woke up on Christmas morning, Iman was convinced that she had heard Santa's sleigh on the roof ! Of course, Jack on hearing this fantastic story, then told us that he had heard bells. Ayden was still snoring and needed a strong push to get him out of bed at 6.30am to see what delights were waiting downstairs !
Excitement, screams of 'Surfboard' followed by 'Can we open the other presents?'. In the McCarthy household, a tradition has developed that the kids get their presents from Santa and from their grandparents in Ireland on Christmas morning and then open the rest (yes, the rest!) of their presents after Christmas lunch.
Jack was one happy camper, with his Nerf gun which allows him to fit into the gun swinging tradition of the rest of the compound. The fact that his has a laser light for better aiming was greatly appreciated so thanks to Santa for including that !
Iman likes to sing - any time, anywhere ....... mostly Dubliner's songs so she was mighty impressed to get a 'Hannah Mantana' microphone that plays some of the songs from High School Musical and you can sign along. Endless hours of noise to follow ! Ayden also did very well from Santa Claus, getting a Fast Wheels set on top of this Surfboard.
Christmas lunch this year was great - Iman even made a special effort by preparing place names for everyone, including our guest's, the Cowley family. With military precision that can only be achieved by pure luck, we were sitting to have our starters at 12.15 ! The kids sat up at the table and enjoyed the banter but poor Ayden hasn't been feeling well for a few days and wasn't in the 'party' mood.
Starter was Wild Irish Smoked Salmon (Frank Hederman, from Little Island in Cork) and fresh soda bread made by a lady here in Brunei - an excellent start !
Main course of turkey, spiced beef (a very Cork tradition and something that had our guests raving !), roast and steamed spuds, veg, lovely chestnut stuffing and a wonderful gravy ! More than enough for everyone to eat (with leftovers for some more guests later in the evening). Juliet's christmas pudding went down a treat along with some very cold ice cream with the everyone leaving the table feeling rather full !
Of course, the kids were very keen to leave the table as it meant that it was time to open the rest of the presents. Some were wrapped individually and with care (i.e. Jack's present for Iman etc) and one particular attempt said more about the person wrapping that present (My present along with the kids for Maria - all wrapped in one single bundle ...... we were saving the environment!)
What better way to relax after a lovely Christmas lunch ...... a movie for the boys to keep us entertained.
Glad to report that we managed to get a Christmas swim in at the end of the movie (needed more than a swim when I look at the state of my feet in the photo !).
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