Christmas day itself started at some ungodly hour (6am, I think) unwrapping presents with the kids (and drinking a lot of coffee), after that I had a quick nap before Mat’s family turned up for lunch.

Lunch was the usual sort of Aussie fare – cold roast ham, chicken & lamb; shitloads of prawns; salads and desert (pavlova, cheesecake & custard tarts supplied by Mat’s family).

After lunch we jumped in the pool and played around with the kids for a bit, then it was time for another nap for me – my sister Alia had given Mat a hammock – very comfortable for napping outdoors, but my arms got a bit burnt from sleeping in the sun :(

Then we all sat down and watched Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – the kids had received a box set of all of the Harry Potter DVDs – before Mum drove me home where I laid on the couch watching TV and recovering from too little sleep & too much good food :)

Here’s what Santa brought me this year:

• Copy of Mad Magazine from the month I was born (Jan. 1978)
• 2 DVDs (Snatch and Life of Brian)
• Salt & Pepper grinders
• Chip cooker
• Lego! (two sets of old-school ‘80s space Lego – the kind of stuff I lived for as a kid)
• T-shirt from Diesel
• A copy of My Story – Peter Cosgrove

Today (Boxing day) I’m spending a nice, peaceful boxing day at home this year – playing around with my presents, watching cricket & cooking chips.