Isn’t five years old an awesome age for Christmas? Poppy chose and decorated the tree herself, prepared all the traditional things for Santa, had wonderful conversations with the mall & retail Santas she met and was fully engaged in the whole process of the countdown – including identifying the date with her advent calendar every morning in December.

Having her Uncle Christopher arriving on Christmas Eve was an excellent addition to the excitement of the season.  Singing carols at the cathedral steps in Nelson on Christmas Eve was really fun. Lots of presents delighted her this year…. especially the amazing playhouse GranJan and Yogi built at the farm, complete with shop window and all the frills for a little girl.  She also loved the mermaid bike from Santa and the pogo stick from Uncle Chris.  The candy necklaces in Santa’s sack were a wide-eyed surprise on Christmas morning… she had asked every Santa she met for some, including the Santa who called from Santa Call – a wonderful experience she talked about a lot.

A big thank you to GranJan for the lovely Christmas dinner at the farm.  We had a relaxing time playing in the sun and enjoying all the family time without rushing anywhere.

Unfortunately, nothing arrived from her Dad in time for Christmas (apparently it’s on the way) – so she was a little disappointed about that.  We sent an awesome gift over to America that I recommend to anyone with relatives they don’t see a lot – a photo book which we picked up from Grab One on sale [a big 30cm x 30cm hard cover photo book with 50 pages, incl. nationwide delivery] from Photo Deals. We made two books, one also for GranJan and Yogi with photos from activities and highlights throughout the year.

Here is a Christmas wish from Poppy to her relatives overseas – and video of her opening her presents.

After a relaxing morning playing with all the new toys, we decided to make the most of the amazing weather and head to Tahunanui Beach where Poppy rode the trains and walked the beach.  Then after an afternoon sleep, we took GranJan to the movies in Motueka to see Jack Black’s Gulliver’s Travels…. before picking some berries then heading out with Yogi to see the winners of the Light Up Nelson competition.  Poppy went straight to sleep when she hit the pillow at 11.30pm - but not before giving me her answers to these questions:

“Was that a fun day?”  — “FanJollyTastic!”
“Would you please have a sleep-in tomorrow morning?” — “AbsoJollyLutely!”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D6mHdVT7-g

After a fun evening wrapping presents and getting things ready for Santa, Poppy went to bed dreaming of presents and candy canes.  In the morning she was thrilled with all the goodies from her Santa sack.  After church Yogi & GranJan came round to open all the presents and play with toys.  We had a lovely lunch of BLT croissants and fresh cherries before they left us watching the Wizard of Oz on TV.  Poppy’s favourite gift has been her tickets to the Dora The Explorer Live concert from Mummy and the ice-block maker from NeeNe.  She’s played with her teddy bear from daddy the longest, as it needed stuffing (complete with little stuffed heart) and dressing.  She is also very keen to get out onto the pavement with the sidewalk chalk from daddy too.  However, the activity that’s captured her attention the most has been creating JibJab sendables with photos of all her friends.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrWO2V0KJaM

Poppy’s last day of preschool was a Christmas celebration with Santa handing out presents and a picnic for lunch.  Poppy drew some Christmas pictures on the window with her new Window Pens from Santa.

We had a little early Christmas lunch with Ma & Pa whilst they were over from Picton and Poppy sang them her Good Ship Lollipop song.  Then she and Yogi played with the ride-on ‘toys’ in the garden.

Luckily the rain stopped just in time for NeeNe & Rich to host their annual New Year’s BBQ – yes, early this year due to them being away over Christmas! Poppy enjoyed playing with her friend Claudia and new friends Ella & Liam.  We also exchanged gifts with promises of skyping on Christmas morning.

Although the weather wasn’t quite right for swimming, we still had an awesome Christmas party in Mapua where we go every year to catch up with Poppy’s friends from ante-natal group. The kids all get a present from Santa and we have an amazing lunch. We also get to meet all the new babies born since last year….. welcome to Soul, Brienna and Hunter!

As we do each year around this time, we sing-a-long with the oldies!  Poppy loves dressing up and presenting an item in front of them and they have been watching her grow older each year.  This year she sung On The Good Ship Lollipop.  Aunty Alison and her friend Jim were incredible…. along with Yogi as the added entertainment.

Poppy has been having in-depth conversations this year with every Santa she meets.  A big difference to last year where she just sat on knees and didn’t communicate too much.  Our favourite Santa of the season has to be the Mitre10 gentleman who sang Jingle Bells with Poppy.  It was also great to take our own photo rather than have to pay for one.

How many sleeps till Christmas?

A hug with Santa

Some of her answers to questions have been:

What would you like for Christmas this year?  A kitten.  A baby brother AND sister. Whatever fits down the chimney will be fine.

Will you leave me some cake and a glass of beer on Christmas Eve? Nooo, we don’t have beer!  But I could ask my Grandma to make some!