This year's advent

Each year I like to do my own special advent celebration that doesn't involve chocolate and lollies.  Usually I'll burn an advent candle but I've found that I get side tracked and it often burns down two or three days at one time.

Last year I found an advent calendar at Kmart that had a different scented tea light candle in it for each day.  That ended up being the perfect calendar for me and this year I wanted to do the same kind of thing.

I didn't find one already made up, but then I didn't really look either.  I just decided that I would burn one special tea light candle each day for my own little celebration.  I ended up buying a pack of berry scented candles at Ikea which fit the bill perfectly and fill my house with a really subtle berry smell.

I also ended up buying a larger berry scented candle and a vanilla one for if I decide to burn one for awhile at night after the 'kitchen's closed'.

I only ever burn candles on my kitchen hotplate as our whole house is wood and I hate the thought of candles burning in bedrooms or even our lounge room.  The kitchen's the hub of our house so one candle burning there is quite comforting.

It's also a practical bonus for our summer when the power often goes out, especially if there's a storm.  Then it's usually Uno or a board game by candlelight until either the power comes back on or it's time for bed.

The kids have had a felt advent calendar for about the past 10 years too.  There's a little felted present attached which gets moved to the next pocket each day and they love this little one.  They also love their chocolate (Master M) and candy (Miss R) calendar that they get each year too.  I think there would be a mutiny if they didn't have one of those!

There have also been some yummy treats made at school.  Master M made a gingerbread house although there's no gingerbread in sight.  It was made out of different kinds of biscuits and lollies and plastered together with icing.

Miss R made a pretty scrumptious caramel and custard tart at school too.  I was good and only indulged in half of one as they both brought these treats home on the same day and I was being forced to sample both of them!

I hope the weeks are being good to you and that you're coping with this endless horrible heat if you're in my part of the world.  I can't believe it's going to be 40 degrees celsius for the next couple of days and that we've hardly had a day under 30 celsius in the last month.  That's a Queensland summer for you though I suppose.

For my northern hemisphere readers where it is cold, misty, snowy or raining, please prepare a spare bed as I may end up moving in soon! :) 

xx Susan