Merry Xmas to all..

Christmas Eve in Australia...  It's 38 degrees C (ie HOT!), I'm sitting here in tank top and shorts sweltering...

We had "christmas lunch" with Pete's side of the family yesterday - the kids spent most of the day in the pool.

We'll open family presents tonight, Billy and I will watch some of the broadcast Carols by Candlelight while making Christmas crackers to go on the table at my Mum & Dad's tomorrow.  I have some Xmas sweets to make but I'll wait until it's cooler. 

Then we'll read Twas the Night before Christmas and attempt to get Billy to sleep sometime this side of midnight, before the big man arrives. 

To all my friends who take the time to read my blog - especially those who comment - Merry Xmas to all... and to all a Good Night!

Back from holidays

Once again, we spent two weeks up the coast with family at Stuarts Pt for our Xmas holidays. For a change, the weather was wonderful - sunny most days with only one half-day of rain.

New Years Eve was celebrated at 9pm by the kids (and that was as far as I made as well!) with sparklers and glow-sticks.

Slip-n-slide mayhem...

Swimming

Fishing

And some down time with the computer..

Billy also went waterskiing with his aunt, uncle and cousins, but I don't have photos of that.  This year he managed to stand up (and stay up) on the toboggan and had some massive stacks on the biscuit.

I did lots of writing (10,000 words - huge for me!), lots of reading, spent time gazing at the sky and relaxing, and took some walks on the beach - by myself.  Bliss! 
(That counteracts the usual cooking, laundry and grocery shopping that still had to be done!)

Merry Xmas to all..

Thanks to everyone who has read my blog this year, and especially to those who have taken the time to comment.  It makes my day!

Merry Xmas, travel safely and enjoy the time with friends and family.  I hope Santa is good to you all!

Carols night

Billy's education was lacking.  He claimed he had never been to a Carols by Candlelight.  I think I have taken him once when he was little, but he obviously can't remember it.

So in order to rectify such a grevious oversight, we met my mum, sister and nieces at a local church run Carols night.  The weather hadn't been kind all day, but in an optimistic spirit, it went ahead outside as planned. 

Waiting to start - the empty spaces soon filled up quickly.

While waiting, we were 'entertained' by a local magician (whose jokes were corny when I first saw him more than 20 years ago - and he's still using the same material lol).  He's a local icon and does a lot of fundraising for charities.

Before the magician could even finish, the heavens opened up, and everyone ran for shelter in the hall / church.  While the organisers and helpers were busy transferring all of the equipment inside and trying to get Plan B underway, we had a surprise visitor with lollies for the kids.

Finally the carols got underway - by this time though, their planned programme had been tossed away and they just did about half a dozen of the more popular kid's ones - Jingle Bells, Rudolph etc. 

And the weather finally cleared enough for their grand finale - a quite spectacular fireworks display.

It was a fun night.  I felt sorry for the organisers that their plans were destroyed but people still seemed to have a good time (if slightly damp lol).  I'm not sure if that qualifies as a proper 'carols by candlelight' for Billy - we'll have to try again next year!

Busy day

Yesterday was a busy day.  We had the family Xmas lunch with Pete's side of the family - lunch for 17 at our place!

Time for fossball

Lots of time for opening lots of presents!

A bit of backyard cricket.

After the Xmas lunch, we had out street Xmas party at a neighbours house (literally straight after - as I was waving family off, I was already heating the oven ready to take a plate of food to it!).  There's about 12 houses in our section of street that get together every year to celebrate Xmas.

Some of the kids went for a swim - it was a mild night, but not warm enough for the pool in my opinion!

Our street party has been going for about 16 years. 

How to make a Xmas pudding

We went and helped my father-in-law make the annual Xmas puddings today.  He makes 2 each year - one to eat at our family Xmas lunch, and the other to divide between the families.  This was our 1st time at helping him.

He has two gigantic bowls that are the traditional pudding mixing bowls.

Cream butter and brown sugar, add eggs, brandy, breadcrumbs & mixed fruit.  Try really hard to stir it but hand over to Mum because its getting pretty stiff.

Add flour, bicarb soda and mixed spice.

Line a bowl with the boiled pudding cloth, and cling wrap.  Spoon in the mixture.

Tie tightly.

Boil in the copper for 6 - 7 hrs, turning every hour.  Then hang for a few more hours to drain.

While waiting, clean up the cooking utensils :)

Less stressful Xmas

I commented to a friend yesterday that I felt so much more organised for Xmas this year, even though we're hosting it this year - most of my present buying has been done, menu organised.  I'm not feeling stressed (as yet).  I said it was the most organised I'd been in years.

And then I started thinking why.  This time last year, we were organising passports, tickets & itinerary for going to the US in Feb.  Billy had his performances of Wind in the Willows, rehearsals & a cast party.  We went away for a week to Coffs Harbour in Dec (combining a work trip for Pete and a holiday).  We had a homeschool excursion, swimming lessons and art classes.

No wonder this year feels relaxed by comparison!


And yes, I am aware I've probably just jinxed things :)

Correct me if I'm wrong..

but there appear to be only 6 weeks left until Xmas.  I'm honestly not sure how that happened - every year the days seem to accelerate in about October and the time just flies..

Looking at my calendar, most weekends are filled up until the end of the year already.  The weeks are starting to fill up with end-of-year parties and activities, plus those extras like getting the caravan serviced before we go away on holidays. 

I looked at my list of work yesterday - I have 4 customers that have said they want websites but haven't committed to them yet, one website that's underway plus general maintenance bits and pieces that pop up all the time.  Given that I can only work at most 10 hrs / week, I think I've reached the point where I have to start telling any new queries that I won't be available until January.  Knowing the way things tend to work, at least 3 of those potential customers are likely to suddenly decide they do want me to go ahead - and they want it done by Xmas.  Xmas seems to be this magical deadline that spurs everyone into action around this time every year!

We have two Xmas dinners at our house this year - Pete's family on the Sunday before Xmas, and mine on Xmas Day.  So two menus to be planned, food to be ordered, bought and cooked, a house to be cleaned, yard to be tidied etc. 

I'm actually well underway with Xmas shopping.  I've bought or ordered maybe a third of gifts, and know what I want for some of the others.  I'm really at a loss what to get Billy this year - I have a couple of ideas, but nothing really spectacular.  But then presents to wrap, cards to write...  I don't actually send that many cards anymore - one thing I've pared back.

So what about you?  Do you celebrate Xmas?  How are you going with preparations?

Merry Xmas to all...

Wishing everyone a happy Christmas and a safe holiday season.  If you're travelling, take care.  Enjoy the time with family & friends and more importantly - make sure, in best Xmas tradition, that you eat way too much :)

We're back...

After 3 nights in Coffs Harbour, 1 night at Hallidays Point, and 1 night at my sister-in-law's house, we're home - and more than ready to sleep in our beds tonight!

Yesterday was the family Xmas with Pete's side.  A few tears were shed at times, being the first one without Pete's Mum, but we all rallied around and supported each other.  Present time was a flurry of unwrapping - you can imagine the chaos with 8 kids opening at once..

Even Santa made a surprise visit :)  

Santa's certainly a busy little vegemite at the moment.  He came to visit our neighbourhood this afternoon in the fire truck, handing out lollies for the kids..  (The local bush fire brigade do the rounds of the neighbourhood streets at this time every year - kids suddenly appear from nowhere at the sound of the sirens mingling with Christmas songs :) )

Summer in Australia

You know its almost summer in Australia when it's 27 degrees C, the cricket's on the TV - and you're putting the Xmas tree up :)

Social butterflies

We've been social butterflies today.

We had an early Xmas party for a few friends at our place.  It was nice and relaxing and good to catch up with lots of time to chat!

No, I have no idea why Santa has no pants on!

Then Billy had an after cast party with his Wind in the Willows cast.  Under 15s needed a parent along for the ride, so I stayed inside and chatted to the other parents while Billy socialised with his 'tribe' :)

The stockings were hung...

Billy is finally in bed, 'Twas the night before Xmas' has been read, Santa's food is out, the Xmas pillowcases (in place of stockings) have been spread out - all is in readiness.. I just checked the Santa tracker and the big man in red is buzzing a fishing boat somewhere, so we still have a while to wait!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Xmas and / or holiday celebration. Enjoy the day - don't stress too much and don't expect perfection. Celebrate whatever the day brings.

We're heading off on holidays on Boxing Day - I'll try to post the odd post while we're away - but until then have a great time and be safe!!

The obligatory Christmas preparation post...

Just 19 days until Xmas!

I'm a bit worried this Xmas as I don't seemed to be stressing about it at all. It makes me wonder what I'm forgetting to do and if I'm going to have a big stress-out in the final week :)

I still have a few presents to buy but with the exception of 2, I know exactly what I'm getting and I don't need to go anywhere near the shopping centres to get them. I've written the Xmas letter to send off to distant relatives - I just need to address them tonight and post this week. Billy has written out his own Christmas cards this year - yay! I do need to wrap presents - that's probably the most time-consuming task I have left to do.

We're on the downhill run with all of the activities - just 1 or 2 of each of them to go. I have 2 more weeks of work to go and need to pull my finger out to get a couple of projects completed, but I think it should be reasonably ok.

We've got a few social things on over the next couple of weeks, but other than that, we seem to be having time to make gingerbread cookies, Xmas decorations and generally not rushing around..

I'm just not used to this!

Merry Xmas to all - and to all a good night!

We've spent the day making shortbread, gingerbread men & fruitcake. Well, apart from a quick unexpected trip down to Newcastle to pick up my new glasses.. (So unexpected that I now have to clean up the kitchen tonight from the aforementioned baking..)

We've opened presents from family & friends that were under the tree (thanks H - love the calendar and the t-shirt fits perfectly - will send a photo when I take one!). "Twas the night before Xmas" has been read as we do every year, the snack is out for Santa (gingerbread & beer with water & a carrot for the reindeers), the sacks are laid out under the tree and one very excited boy has finally been put to bed. I'd say sleep is still some time off yet though!

To all my blogging friends, have a very merry Xmas. I hope Santa is good to you!

Handmade Xmas

We had our "Xmas lunch" with Pete's family yesterday, so now I can share the presents I made for the nieces and nephews. I'm still not confident enough with my crafting abilities to just go handmade, so I added a couple of little bought things with each present.

For 8 year old Nephew E I made a drawstring bag for him to take stuff to sport etc. I printed out the logo of his favourite football (soccer) team onto printable iron-on transfer paper and ironed it on to personalise it. I included a couple of small pool toys in the bag.



Nephew L (no prizes for guessing his name lol) starts school next year so I made him a drawstring book bag out of pirate material, cut his name out of felt and sewed it on. Included an art pad & textas.


Their youngest brother (Nephew I) I made a set of counting beanbags from calico - I grabbed the idea from One Inch World. Again I used the iron-on transfer paper, printed out a suitable clipart and put 1 - 5 pictures on each.


The really cool thing about this pattern is that each bean bag is slightly bigger than the next, so they stack in order as well. I was pretty stoked with how these came out - but boy it took a while to make!


Niece C likes butterflies (or at least her Mum does as she's only 1 year old lol) so I turned this gorgeous fabric into a butterfly shaped cushion / pillow for her. It should hopefully be the right size to take in the pram etc.


For Nephews X and L and Niece M (2 year old triplets) I made up a dress-up box to share. I made a cape (could be super-hero, princess etc etc etc), apron (chef, builder etc) and a head scarf (pirate, sling etc). I also picked up a handbag, neck scarf and tie from the op shop, and Billy donated a builder's hat from his toy cupboard (yes he was aware that he did!)




So all presents for my nieces & nephews were handmade. To be honest, it would've been much quicker to go and buy something, but I really enjoyed making them and giving them, and its 7 less pieces of plastic junk in the world.. (Plus my sewing skills really got a work-out!)

I think they went over well - everyone opens their presents together in one big flurry of ripped paper so it's a bit hard to tell. Oh well, I'm please with them anyway..

Christmas crafts for kids

Here are some things Billy has been making over the last couple of weeks.

Potato print Christmas cards

Take one old motley potato and cut in half.

Cut a design in the potato half (ok, so my potato carving skills leave a lot to be desired lol).

Cover raised part with paint and stamp onto cardboard.

Voila - homemade Xmas cards! Billy used these to give to his friends and teachers.

CD Case Photo Frames

A nice simple craft that's a great gift for grandparents etc.

Take an unwanted CD case and take all of the paper & plastic inserts out of it so that you're just left with the outside.

With the hinged part to the top, stick a photo to the inside (I used double-sided tape), and then go mad decorating it.

The frame will stand up by opening the case a little bit. I also added a piece of cardboard behind the photo so that the light didn't shine through.

Billy also got me to teach him how to hand sew (not that I'm an expert!) - and here he is making me a pincushion. I haven't seen the final result yet - it's wrapped up under the Xmas tree!