Christmas 2013 was special. Last year Ben was only a wee baba of two months but this year he was a 14 month old wee dude complete with his own personality, attitude and swagger.This pic was taken on the last Saturday before Christmas as this little family went on their now traditional outing to visit Santa Claus (last year Boston, this year Belfast). Check out Ben's face there. Wha?
It's funny how some things can change so quickly. Like here is Ben moments earlier just before going in to see Santa. At this stage he was full of the joys of ........ ehh ......
......... full of the joys of winter he was.Check out the personality, attitude and swagger in this pic - but then take a quick peek back at the first pic to see that just a matter of two minutes later his expression had changed dramatically. That's what a vision of Santa can do to a one year old!
Later during a stroll through the Castle Court shopping complex in Belfast and Ben is mesmerized by the singing of this group of girls who were performing to raise money for the Michaela foundation.
And even later that day here are the two Marguerites as they await their dinner in Robbie Cahoon's restaurant in Dunmurry.
Ben is rocking his super cool new Christmas bib ....... and loving this new balloon his granda has just given him.
After returning from dinner Ben quickly got the hoover out.4 Days to go.
Ben has a wee peek out the window. Perhaps he's looking for Santa Claus. 3 days to go.
Now it's early in the evening of Christmas Eve. This is Jude's favourite time of Christmas, Christmas Eve, it's just great. Everything has to be in place by about 5.00pm and then it's time to have a Bailey's, maybe a glass of wine and even possibly a beer. Throw in a few chocolates, a few stuffed bacon rolls, everyone getting to open one or two presents and folks you've got a yourself a nice wee evening going on. Wha? Here Ben gives his Mama her Christmas card from him and Jude. This card was signed by both Jude and Ben.
Hohohoho!!! Well it is Christmas Eve so here is Marguerite's brother Michael ........ sorry ........ I meant to say here is Santa Claus! Thank God he made it to 6A The Park ......... and just in time too!
Here Ben gives his cousin Riona her Christmas gift. Tonight most of Marguerite's family came over at some point and the craic was great. 
Meanwhile ......... hard at work down the corridor are Santa's little elves ......... Emma and Michael.
Ben shows his Christmas Tree to his Granda.
Tonight Ben was hogging the middle of the floor as he opened some gifts. 
One of Emma's gifts was a framed pic of her God-son Ben. Nice!
Marguerite got to open a gift with Ben keeping a close look.
Jude is all smiles as he is about to open this gift, but what could it be? A book? A new coat? Actually it was a nice new scarf.Soon everyone headed on their way and back to their own homes to prepare for Christmas Day. This was of course a very important time for Jude as he ..............
......... got stuck into preparing the living room for Ben's Christmas morning experience. Here he is working away.One night to go.
And here was the finished scene. And before you knew it ..........
......... Christmas morning had arrived. Here is Ben boxed up in his cot as Marguerite and Jude stuck the kettle on and got set for letting him loose.
Happy Christmas Ben.
Ben had so many toys he didn't really know where to start ............
....... maybe this Old MacDonald farm set .....
......... but he decided to start with this cool wee racing track game.
Ben played and played and played ......... and it was just wonderful. Perhaps he was wondering, 'where did all these toys come from?
Christmas Day or not .....
........ Ben still found time to spend some time poking about in the Christmas tree.
............ Peek-A-Boo!
Eventually Ben managed to get round all his toys and played with each one for a while. Then a quick change ......... a trip to Christmas Day Mass ......... and ......
......... Marguerite, Jude and Ben found themselves back in Ben's Grandparents house again for Christmas Day's festivities. Check out Ben's cool Christmas Day outfit. What a cool looking wee dude he was on Christmas Day.
No sooner was Ben in his Grandparents house than he was opening more presents. This one was from his Granny and Granda. 
Meanwhile in thee kitchen it was all hands to the deck as Marguerite Snr, Emma and Michael were busy preparing the dinner.
Marguerite's Uncle Kevin and Aunt Joyce live in New Jersey - this pic was pulled together to be sent to them. it shows everyone in Marguerite's Mum's house on Christmas day. In case you don't know - Back row: Uncle Fra, David, Michael Snr, Kevin. Middle row: Michael, Riona, Mary, Grace, Emma, Marguerite Snr, Rhiannon, Seaneen. Front row: Jude, Ben and Marguerite.Michael Snr up in the back row there thought that this was the funny face pic but this was actually the normal face pic.
Ben's has just opened his gift of a jack-in-the-box and here is his expression having just seen it pop up.A few moments later and it was time for ...........
........ the funny face pic. Who pulled the funniest face here? Ohhh ...... this is a tough one ....... but maybe it's between Mary, Emma, Jude, M Snr (note same pose as previous pic) and Marguerite Jnr. The winner .......... Ben ...... well look at him ....... he's thinking what am I doing with all these nutjobs! 
One is a funny looking Santa and the other is a funny looking fella dressed in a Santa jumper. In Marguerite family some genius came up with an idea of having a 'Secret Santa' whereby everyone sticks their names in a hat and then select a name and you buy that person a gift to the value of no less than 100 pounds. It's great because it means you just need to buy one gift but you also are guaranteed to get a great gift in return (if you drop enough hints beforehand that is). Today Michael was the funny looking Santa who dished out the gifts.
So Santa began dishing out the gifts. Folks I do not know what is going on with Santa's hair, glasses and nose ............. and where's his beard? But a damn good job he did getting all those gifts down the chimney!!!!
When it came to Jude's turn he was as excited as a kid on Christmas morning ....... ehhh ..... hold on ..... that's exactly what's it's like this secret Santa lark. Here he is opening his gift. 
Jude's a bit useless sometimes and he struggled to even open his gift ....... but thankfully Santa was on hand to save the day. So Jude has been dropping hints for years for a particular item and even though he has never received it he has never actually went out and splashed the cash and bought the item himself (miserable git).
But today he got what he's been waffling about for years ...........
Seaneen gets tucked into her gift.
'Kevin son .......... I don't know if you've noticed but ......... eh ......... your hair is ............ it's ehh ........ sticking up like!'Daddy .......... have you seen your jumper ...... wha?
After dinner Riona and Marguerite are caught pulling an amazing, super, outrageously cool 'selfie' pic.
Rhiannon joins in on this one as the three girls throw some amazing poses.
Does anyone know what they are doing with their faces? Answers on a postcard to: Selfie edjits rock, 1 really Cool Street, Cooltown, County cool.
Check out this cheeky wee number! It's only Jude's new music system.
Plug in in ....... pass my the records ...... pop that beer ............
............. 'Uptown Girl, Uptown Girl .......
........ Riona was giving it the heap on the dance floor ........
........ while Jude and David were chucking down the tunes! Some folk danced on but an hour or two later ...... 
.......... and Jude, Marguerite and Ben were home at 6A The Park for their late Christmas night tradition of opening their last couple of gifts. Here Ben is wondering what his Dada has got this time.
'Look Baba ....... a football book ........ this combines the two greatest things in the world ....... football and a book.
Marguerite is rocking her coo new onesie (that's a new word and a new phenomenon so that's why the spelling looks off somewhat). Onesie's rock in Belfast!And so Christmas Day ran out of time. You always wish that days like today lasted longer than 24 hours.
On Boxing Day Marguerite, Jude, Ben and Marguerite's Aunt Paula are round at Michael's house (he of the Santa outfit the day before).
Ben has discovered that half of his finger fits perfectly up his nose. His parents may be discovering that he may be right-handed!
Emma and Leah chilling out.
Riona and Ben have a boogie on the kitchen floor.
Marguerite and Leah catch up over Christmas before .......... 
Michael loves days like this because he gets to sit and chill out, have a wee swall and spend time with his children and grandkids. 
Eventually Ben, and everyone else, flaked out.
Not even 'The Wizard of Oz' could keep folk up.
A couple of days later and Jude met up with his brothers for Eamon's birthday. Here, left to right are: Jude, Paul, Eamon and Martin.
Tonight the lads were joined by Trisha (Paul's girlfriend) on the left here and Abby (Abby is Ryan's girlfriend and here she is standing between Jude and Ryan). 
'Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Eamon, Happy Birthday to you.
Ryan and Martin have just found the diesel!!!!
As Christmas wound to a close Jude managed fitted in just enough time to hook up with his mate Darren. Darren was back from Toronto and was in in Belfast and so Jude arranged a meeting for breakfast/lunch in TK One. It was great to catch up with Darren.So that was Christmas 2013 ..... it was great fun .... Ben loved it ...... everyone got great gifts .... a few too many chocolates were eaten .... and some funny faces were pulled.
Happy New Year from Marguerite, Jude and Ben.
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