Before we begin, the year in the title isn't a typo - I really am that bad at going through and archiving old photos... I don't know why (and I only did it now because I need some space on my iCloud so that I can write my post about our day out on Sunday.). When I get started, I quite enjoy seeing a short video of the boys playing or photos of them with their toys. It almost makes me forget how difficult I found this stage in my life.

I'm not one for sharing photos of the kids on social media - quite the opposite in fact. I'm the parent who puts their hand up when asked "Does anybody object to their child being plastered all over social media by a total stranger?" and if I'm not asked, I'm the one who says "please avoid taking photos of my child, I don't want him on social media". One day, I'm sure that my children will thank me for this... when other children are being bullied because their over-proud mum shared a video of them shitting in the bath when they were 2, my boys can stand there proudly and say "I didn't do that", whether it's true or not.

This does rather limit the number of photos available for me to share here though... and I've also included one from November because I like to show off every now and again 😉 (and the winking emoji's reminded me to include more random emojis...) I think that the photo 5 is the best (even though it's not really a photo) and as "Top 10 things the FBI doesn't want you to know - Number 7 will blow your mind" as this might sound, I really think it's a gem 🛊

🛋 Photo 1: Home Made Chocolates

Did you know that I fancy myself as a bit of a chocolatier?

I'm not sure how long ago it was that I learnt to make chocolates but over the past couple of years, I've slowly started to buy some decent, professional, polycarbonate chocolate moulds. The first of which, was a snowman. Ideal for making some Christmas gifts with chocolates that better Lindt themselves. I think these were a classic milk chocolate outer with milk chocolate ganache - made for the-4yo-gorilla's school teachers. I should've put the better quality ones closer to the camera. Yum yum yum 🛌

🛍 Photo 2: Snow!!

It's gone very cold again on the Sunshine coast and little over a year ago, we had a nice amount of snow. School was cancelled, I got the sleight out and pushed the-1yo-gorilla and 4yo-gorilla down the drive on it - we're lucky to have quite a steep drive heading down into a cul-de-sac so no risk of getting run over by a car (the-mrs-gorilla still obviously panicked as though I was pushing him onto the Paddington Main Line). the-4yo absolutely loved it, also insisting on being pushed down backwards. the-1yo... not so much - it was probably a bit cold and he opted to go indoors in the warm with the-mrs-gorilla. Not before we made a snowman though...

🛎 Photo 3: The Snowman

A decent team effort which stayed around for a few days, even after all of the other snow had departed us.

🛏 Photo 4: Ring-necked Pheasant

On Christmas Eve, this fella popped up in our garden. I knew it was some kind of pheasant (Google filled in the blanks) and it could be considered lucky that I'd already bought a chicken for the following day's festivities. It would appear that the Ring-necked Pheasant is a popular dish in America although I'm not sure I could do that to a guest.

🛐 Photo 5: You'd Better be Good

As most parents will know, you do whatever it takes to keep your kids out of trouble and at Christmas time, this equates to threats of being moved to "the naughty list". Some genius has provided the perfect tool to support this...

Me: "Oh look, I'd better take this. It's Santa."

Screaming Child: "Huh? Santa?"

Me: "Yes. Hello. Oh, hi Santa. Uh-hu. Uh-hu. Yes, he's been screaming a little bit..."

Whimpering Child: "No, no. I've stopped now. I'm being good."

Me: "Oh right, ok. Yes, yes. I'll let him know. Please keep him on the good list..."

Sobbing child: "I'll be good, I promise I'll be good..."

Me: "Ok, thank you Santa. I'll let him know."

~ Call ends

Me: "Santa says that you've got to clean up your toys in the lounge or he won't come to our house this year."

Child: "Can you call him back, tell him I've been good."

Me: "I can't call him. Only he can call me. It's magic, you see."

Serious child: "Ok. Let's tidy now."

It's win-win.

🛑 Photo 6: Santa's Been

Of course, Santa comes to visit and he spoils the boys something rotten.

December was a nice month to archive, with so many more photos of happy memories. Hopefully, we'll get some snow soon and we can go out and do it all again 🛒

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