This was one of those days where we were completely ordinary and I forgot to take any photos whatsoever. Sooooo, I thought I’d share with you some of the things on MY Christmas list this year.
1. A cute yellow handbag
2. Jean Paul Gaultier Le Classique perfume (I’m almost out)
3. Apple Mighty Mouse (no more RSI from using the lappie mousepad!)
4. Kikki-K recipe binder (or anything from Kikki-K – stationary lovers heaven!)
5. iPod dock so we can listen to tunes when we go away
Now, I just need to make sure Santa reads my blog!
Summer fruit was always a big part of Christmas to us growing up. The first nectarines, peaches and plums of the season would be in a big bowl on the Christmas trolley, ready to be eaten if we had any room after our huge Christmas lunch. These days, it seems that summer fruits are around for a lot longer, and we can start enjoying them earlier. Today the boys tucked into a big, juicy mango – made a BIG mess and had very sticky fingers, but LOVED it!
This year is take two of my December Daily album. Which is nice in one way, as I have an album all ready to go from last year. Just have to change the ‘2008′ to ‘2009′! I’ll try to blog my pictures and journalling semi-regularly to use as prompts for my album as I won’t be working on it daily (I don’t print pics at home so it makes it a bit tricky!)
I usually put my Christmas tree up on December 1, but this year I’ve decided our fake tree is a bit too big for our house (poor judgement when we bought it!) so I am going to head out on the weekend and buy our first real tree, I think…
So, in lieu of putting the tree up today, we headed out and bought some new decorations for the lounge room. The boys are SO into all the decorations at the shops this year so I thought they might like some more pretty things at home. I bought a few metres of satin and hung it off our rafters with big baubles hanging off it. I think I’ll add some more bits to the middles when I dig the rest of our decorations out of the shed.
And it’s been a while since I’ve posted something scrappy, so here’s a layout I did at my last crop with my girls. The pics are of my two boys rolling around naked on our bed after a bath. It’s such a fun time – they love to play with Daddy after dinner as they usually haven’t seen him all day. And they get to play rough and tumble with him!
We went to a local shopping centre today and the boys had their first glimpse of Santa for the year (yep, it’s still November – what’s with Santa hanging out in NOVEMBER?!) They are in love with Christmas trees, and Diesel is all Santa-obsessed (he knows which side his bread is buttered on!) so I thought they might like to go and have a chat with the big guy.
Nope. No way. Not on your life.
Get me away from that big, scary guy with the bell. Oh, but make sure you grab that present he has for me. I’m not missing out on that…
Looks like no Santa photos again this year.
Just back from seeing New Moon and completely won over to Team Jacob. I think you can see why.
Yep, so I’m a sucker for classes and I also signed up for Jessica Sprague’s ‘Holidays in Hand’ class. I have taken a couple of free classes from her before and they are so comprehensive and FUN that I couldn’t resist this one. I’m hoping it will work alongside my December daily album (which I am determined to complete this year!)
Today’s task is to think about our values for the season and to turn them into goals. With two little boys who are becoming more and more aware of what and why we do things, this is something that I feel I need to do.
As Christians, Christmas takes on a special significance for us – it’s a celebration of the birth of Jesus and of all the things that His life brought us. I want my boys to grow up knowing Christmas as a time of thankfulness and appreciation, not just of Santa, presents and food (although those things are also lots of fun!) I want it to be a time where we treasure our friends and family and spend quality time together.
That said, some of my goals for this silly season are:
- To purposely organise at least two or three Christmas activities to do as a family (e.g. go and see the lights, Christmas Eve service).
- To involve the kids in the GIVING side of Christmas by letting them help wrap presents, and letting them choose a present to go under the giving tree at Church.
- Buy a book about the Christmas story for the boys and read it regularly in the days leading up to Christmas.
- Make time for friends in the midst of the busy-ness and have plenty of relaxing time with the people we love.
What needs to be your focus as Christmas approaches? Or are you just completely over it?! After Christmas every year, I wish we could just pick up and disappear the next year and avoid all the crowds and the stress and the family politics! Here’s hoping this year turns out ok!
Late last week I was unexpectedly invited to the live filming of Rove this past Sunday (Rove is a late night variety show, for any overseas readers…) I had particularly wanted to go because Powderfinger was playing there, and I am a bit of a fan.
We started lining up at 6.30pm for the 9.30pm show. Security is TIGHT going into the studio! Bag search and metal detectors and large Maori men. We sat around in the waiting room for an hour or so, drinking complimentary Red Bulls, before being led outside to the amazing outdoor set. It was the final show for the year, and it was set up beautifully with fairy lights, the usual stage lighting, and bbqs cooking snags!
We were in the standing audience and didn’t have a great view of the show, but could see everything on the screen. The night turned rather special, though, when the show started, and Rove very unexpectedly announced that it was the last Rove ever. It felt great to be at the ultimate show of what has undoubtedly been an institution of my adult life.
The show itself was great – lots of laughs. And finally, at the end of the show, Powderfinger played their newest single, and we managed to get rather close to the front. They are a brilliant live band, and it was a seriously great performance. The show finished with lots of thankyous to cast and crew, and after the cameras stopped, Powderfinger launched into another song, and the Rove crew joined them on stage – Rove played tambourine, Hamish and Andy grabbed some drumsticks, and Peter Hellier daggy danced. It was quite a special night, and although I’m not the hugest Rove fan ever, I’m very glad we were there.
We weren’t allowed to take any photos during the show, but I managed to grab this dodgy iPhone shot of me in front of the set on our way out 
)
If you have been reading my blog for a little time, you would have gathered that we are currently renovating our house. We bought it because it is rock solid, and has a great view of the valley from a large verandah, but everything else needs A LOT of work. Lucky for me, I married a builder…
So far, we have built a large pergola, swapped a window and sliding door in the lounge room and completely gutted and renovated the bathroom. Oh, and let’s not forget the enormous shed in the backyard.
Our current project is the laundry. It didn’t have much in it when we moved in – just a completely impractical cupboard for the vacuum cleaner, which is now gone (the cupboard, not the vacuum). We have gotten to the start-from-scratch point now.
The plan is to build floor to ceiling cupboards along the left hand wall (yay for storage space!), replace the trough, retile the wall and floor, and get a bench installed along the right next to the washer. The fridge and freezer will go under the bench, and we’ll get a nice big overhead cupboard above it. We need to replace the door with one with a window, as we have blocked up the existing window for more cupboard space.
I really want to start a mini-album to document this whole process. I’m sure we’ll look back on all this with fondness one day. But let’s just say there’s not a lot of fondness in my heart for renovating at the moment.
Yeah, I know, it’s Spring. But today it has so far gotten to 35C (95F) and it is forecast to stay this warm for the next week. That is not particularly qualifying as Spring in my books. So, here are some of my summer faves – the things that come out as soon as the warm weather hits:
1. My black Havaianas. They match everything. Truly they do.
2. Banana and strawberry smoothie, made with icecream. Too yummy to be healthy.
3. Afternoons sitting on the deck (I’m blogging from right about there now).
4. BBQs for dinner. Less cleaning, no slaving over a hot stove, and a good excuse for a beer. Salmon steaks tonight.
5. Eating icecream from a cone. Or at least watching my cute boys do it.
