Coralie's christmas day and the day after

Coralie had a lovely christmas day, and it was made extra special because a very thoughtful friend called Terry sent her not one but two presents to open on the day.

Here she is already wearing a bling bracelet from Terry while she opens her second gift, all the while watched by our little Charlie.

Terry very kindly made us both matching quilted placemats, they're so lovely they're almost edible. Mum was delighted to receive these gifts, it really made her day, thankyou Terry. It goes to show that older people also get a huge thrill out of opening beautifully wrapped handmade presents, not just the young-uns. She also received a huge bagful of cards from rellies and friends, including a wonderfilled e-card from her niece Katrina and a phone call from her brother. She really had a lovely day

And here are some of the christmas gifts we received from each other and from kind friends. Terry sent me a beautiful little brooch pin cushion, you can see it on the diary cover above. Actually it's too nice to use as a pin cushion, it makes a lovely brooch just as it is. We also received a christmas cake from Marcia, she always makes us either a chrissy cake or pudding which is very generous of her, and one of our "nice neighbours" gave us some delicious little shortbread biscuits. We are a very small family nowadays, basically just the two of us here in Bathurst with a very small number of other family members scattered across two states, but too far for easy visiting.

Later that evening we drove around our neighbourhood to look at all the decorated houses which was quite amazing, some were totally OTT while others were very beautiful. I didn't take my camera as it was dark, however i retraced our steps this morning and took some in the early morning light. Not as spectacular but still you get the idea. Enjoy.....

The Santa in the blow-up chimney here moves up and down the chimney as he is fan powered, we love to stop and look at him.

I hope you all had a lovely, safe and sharing Christmas day wherever you are. There is a huge storm happening here right now so i hope there are not too many people out on the roads, there will be local flooding all around the Central West. Stay safe.

As a final postscript can i urge you to have a laugh and look at Sarah's blog and watch Molly "opening" (ie ripping up) her presents.