We got to celebrate two Christmases this time round! A four year old’s dream, am I right? My family are in Auckland and Northland, and Hayden’s family are in Hawke’s Bay, so this Christmas we decided to spend Christmas in Hawke’s Bay and enjoy a little holiday at the same time.
To that end, we held an early family Christmas for my family at Wonderview a couple of weeks before we headed away. It was a lovely, low-key day – we ate snacks, did presents, drank champagne, had a delicious late lunch (and a really delicious dessert!), then played some games, had a swim, and followed it up quickly with a spa (it was not quite hot enough to swim, but we were keen!).
Amelie had a wonderful time with her cousins, grandparents, aunt and uncles. It’s so much fun seeing how much she loves spending time with her family!
Then not too long after, it was off to Hawke’s Bay for Christmas Day itself. I feel like this photo of Amelie below nearly, just about, shows maybe half of her excitement. She did a good job of not waking up at the crack of dawn, but it was still quite a sudden start to the day, shall we say.
Amelie may not have woken us up too early but we still needed to start the day with coffee…but we changed that up fairly quickly on. A seamless transition below!
Stocking stuffers are some of my favourite gifts to buy. I really wanted to get her a kaleidoscope this year as I remember loving them so much when I was little. It was a hit (all her presents were a hit actually!).
Amelie had the time of her life at Christmas #2 as well – again, she just loves spending time with her wider family so much. Her cousins on Hayden’s side are older and she just loves and admires them so much – and they’re so good and so patient with her.
The rest of Christmas was spent eating delicious food, drinking champagne, playing games and swimming…sound familiar?! We very much have a tried and true pattern for family Christmases, and I wouldn’t change any of it. It feels so right for our summer Christmases to be laid-back, family-focused celebrations.
I hope that the memories Amelie takes away from these are around how much fun she has spending time with her family, and how much they all love her. I think they will be. ❤️
The Judd Crew 
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