Who am I kidding...

It was always going to be this shot... 

Happy Christmas everyone. 

All went swimmingly well. 
We sort of had to wake the kids up at 8.45am(!!!) I kept tossing and turning from about 7am, for I was very anxious to find out what Santa has brought. Either that or I was suffering from dehydration from the couple of beers and glasses of wine that accompanied the present wrapping. 
The kids were delighted. 
Finn, with his own goal posts, his Mane jersey, his first watch ever and other delightful surprises. 
Mimi, with loads of colourful fashion items, ranging from a denim skirt, to leather gloves, to a felt hat to a box of nail varnishes. Oh, and tights and earrings. 
Luca was over the moon with a Colt that looks far too realistic to be legal. And a 1941 Allies -vs- Axis strategy board game. 

The old Venus and Mars thing is still alive and well... 

After the explosion of wrapping paper, it was time for the Christmas swim for Luca and I. With about 75% of the rest of the south Dublin population. Jayzus. The 40 Foot looked like a colony of very noisy penguins, all holding smart phones aloft. 

Back home for some more-straight-forward-than-expected goal post assembly, follow by a penalty shoot out contest (that came as a surprised, I never saw that one coming!) and finally time to get started in the kitchen, with a couple of beers thrown in, to keep the cook motivated. 

Pepe arrived and the bottle of Champagne was opened, and then we hastily dived into Phase 2 of Christmas. (Mimi has worked out all the phases.)

I am in the dangerous territory between Phase 3 and Phase 4 (when Pepe lights the Christmas pudding...)

Phase 7 is when Pepe starts snoring on the couch....