Wishing you joy

So that was Christmas...

 

It passed in not quite a flurry this year.

 

The days leading up to it were quite full.  There was lots of baking and cooking the roast etc and basically stocking up on some of those excessive treats we seem to have at this time of the year.

 

There was a night when we drove around town to see the Christmas lights which kept the kidlettes happy.

 

 

 

We don't decorate the front of our house and yard as I would seriously have a meltdown going up and down ladders putting the lights up.  I think I would end up a bit cranky actually and then the thought of having to take it all down again in the New Year.....

 

No thanks.  Not for me, but I do appreciate the effort and joy others seem to take in making their homes festive for the rest of us to enjoy.

 

Christmas Eve was quite lovely.  A few years ago I made a tradition in our house of having just nibblies for dinner as I've usually been working in the kitchen for days getting things ready for Christmas.

 

By the time the evening comes I have no wish to cook dinner for the rest of the family, especially when the 3 of them had been on their devices all day while I slaved away.  Perhaps they should cook dinner for me (ha ha)... now there's a thought.

 

 

This year we had cheese and crackers, dip, chips, teriyaki chicken pieces, kabana, pretzels and prawns.  Can't forget the prawns at Christmas in Australia.

 

This was all accompanied by the thwacking sound of the fly swat as they swarmed once the food came out.

 

Afterwards I enjoyed a little quiet time, just me and my chardonnay out the back with the fire roaring in our rusted out fire pit.

 

 

Christmas morning arrived in a flurry of excitement as Santa had been so the presents were ripped open and warm cinnamon buns were consumed for breakfast.

 

The family turned up for lunch and thank goodness there was a slight breeze out the back as it was HOT!  We had a lovely Queensland Christmas with temperatures in the mid 30's (celcius) and sticky humidity. 

 

The air conditioning had been put on early to keep the house cool but we can't fit everyone in our little place which is why we had lunch out the back in the shade.  The kidlettes made use of the cool lounge room after lunch to watch some movies they had been gifted.

 

It was lovely to catch up with family all in the one place and graze our way through the afternoon.

 

At least we had a late night storm to cool things down a bit.

 

I hope you are all enjoying your festive season and keeping cool (or warm) wherever in the world you live.

 

xx Susan

 

 



December...... so far

Somehow December seems to be sneaking past quite quickly. 

 

It started in a flurry of activity as the final days of the school year came and went.

 

Then we had lovely hubby's birthday which he was actually home to celebrate this year.  (Bought cakes though as I had been in a frenzy cooking a million mini Christmas cupcakes for class parties at school.  I just didn't have the time or energy to make a birthday cake as well.  Bad me...I know :) )

 

 

 

 

We have had a graduation.

 

Little Miss R has now finished primary school and is off to high school next year.

 

How on earth did that happen so fast!

 

 

I even got the chance to get a rare photo of my family.

 

 

 

The school holidays have been very homey so far as we haven't really had any outings. 

 

There have been sleepovers though with Cousin R coming to stay for a couple of nights. 

 

THAT has made it an extremely noisy house as three children chatting and getting excited constantly can make you want to walk around with ear plugs in most of the time.

 

I love the movie time snap of them all bundled up together and focused on the goings on in movie land.  So sweet.

 

 

 

There has been Christmas tree decorating. 

 

It all starts off with them carefully placing decorations and then when they start getting bored (which happens quite quickly), everything gets thrown on.  As a result it looks a bit like some creature has barfed up tinsel onto the tree!

 

We love it though and it's making the house nice and festive.

 

 

 

We've also put up the battery operated lights again which I bought last year. 

 

I really love this garland across the top of the tv cabinet.  There's something so magical about fairy lights and I find it quite extraordinary that a few little lights can bring so much happiness and content.

 

 

 

They also have a great practical side as we had a pretty huge storm whip through here on Saturday.  There was A LOT of damage not far from our home with a whole strip of trees uprooted, roads blocked, property damaged and power lines down over the roads and along the train lines. 

 

It was a mess and the clean up has been huge but we dodged the worst of it which was good.

 

We lost power for nearly 12 hours (others around town lost it for 24 or more hours) and luckily we had just finished dinner when it went out.  That's when the fairy lights came in handy as the kidlettes and I sat in the lounge room listening to the window rattling thunder and the bright flashes of lightning. 

 

There was also a game of Harry Potter trivial pursuit in which I got my butt whipped by Little Miss R.  I have come to realise that even though I've read the books years ago, I don't know a lot about the movies.

 

 

Another birthday has been celebrated.  This time it was my Mum's birthday and we all went out for lunch.  (no photos of this though).

 

Patch has been a bit sad lately too.

 

We don't seem to walk as often during the school holidays.  I know I should take the kidlettes with me, and I do sometimes when I think they need to get out more, but the walks are usually for me.  They're often my de-stress time and sometimes the only chance for quiet time I get.

 

Hubby's been home the last couple of days so we've had a happy Mum and a very happy dog.  I swear that he's had a smile on his face the whole time he's running and sniffing and piddling.  That dog squirts on everything.

 

 

We're nearly halfway through December and hubby goes back to work today.  He won't be back until just before Christmas so I'm going to have to work out what I need to do before Christmas and try and get organised and get things done soon.  That way I won't be in a panic and do things at the last minute when hubby gets home.

 

I may have to call on family to help out with the kidlettes and make a mad dash up the coast or somewhere.  We'll see.

 

I hope your December is going well and isn't too stressful.

 

xx Susan