Presents to fit in a backpack

Christmas presents were always going to be an issue when everything has to fit into a backpack. We tried the line that just being in a wonderful place, in the snow, as part of a world trip was a pretty significant present. But Declan was having none of that – there had to be presents under the tree. And in all honesty I couldn’t blame him.

The tree came to us thanks to Uncle Bob who brought a little tree with him from Madrid. We also had our classic nutcracker which we’d bought in the Munich Christmas market. A two-dollar shop in Ruhpolding provided Christmas stockings and it all started looking very festive.

After much thought before we left Australia, we settled on some small things for the boys. So they each got a small selection of Star Wars Lego, some Lego mini-figs and a small variety of balls. All relatively compact, lightweight and possible to play with in a variety of ways. To this was added t-shirts from Uncle Bob – which will have them being mistaken for Spaniards as we travel from now on. Then we added in a variety of chocolate, some cute marzipan figures and, to add bulk, some small boxes of the sort of unhealthy breakfast cereal they are not usually allowed.

Callum, who typically feels less need for ‘things’ than Declan, was probably most pleased with a variety of new games on his iPad. In fact, on Christmas afternoon, Callum passed on one of his physical presents to the little boy who lives downstairs.

It all came together nicely and the boys were happy with Santa’s efforts. Add to this a day which was saw not only a white Christmas, but actually had snow falling, and the day was a great success.