And it's all over barr the cleaning up!

Like any major celebration, the preparations and planning for Christmas day seem to go on for weeks and then the actual day arrives and departs in what seems like the blink of an eye. I was doing my last minute fruit and vegie shopping on Christmas Eve and I always like to spy on what other shoppers are buying and what behaviours they are exhibiting on the day before Chrissy. It never ceases to amaze me that despite the fact that the shops are shut for only one day, people seem to be overcome with some sort of panic that they may run out of something and will simply not survive without it. I mean afterall, who cannot go a day without pickled herring, or vine leaves soaked in vinegar, or pigs feet in aspic? Never mind that most people would never buy these things as a rule, but come Christmas Eve, it's like they think "well, the shops will be closed tomorrow and I may just need that stuffed sheep intestine in brine to get me through".

As for me, the most exotic thing I attempted to purchase was capers in rock salt, but our local supermarket did not stock these, so I had to settle for capers in vinegar instead. It was for a crust that I made to go on top of some salmon, and I must say, that it was damn delicious.

Christmas day dawned beautifully at our house and because we had some family staying elsewhere, I had to ensure that Tom did not go anywhere near the lounge room, which was by that stage chockers full of presents. We eventually let him loose on the Santa sack, which he thought was just terrific. Biddy also had a decent time of it, pulling things out of her sack, abley helped by daddy.

After the sacks where emptied, we decided that before we opened the rest of the presents, we would let the kids see what was waiting for them outside........

This is Tom's initial reaction............

.............because this is what he saw...................

A swing set and sandpit!!!

Bridie's main present was a little trike that converts from a push stroller to a trike as she grows.

Tom's main present was a big dinosaur that moves and roars (pic to come)

Of course, the day for us is no longer about just Christmas. It is also Bridie's birthday. Mark, Tom and I gave her 2 of those little crystal figurines; a baby's dummy and a small teddy bear. We've decided that each year, we will buy her one to mark her birthday, and it is also something that she can build up a collection of. In amongst all the food that appears at this time of year, I also managed to make a birthday cake and later in the evening when all the extended family was around, we sang 'Happy Birthday'.

As I have said to a number of friends, I simply cannot believe that a year has passed. It seems to have just gone by in the blink of an eye.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIDGET GRACE!

A change is as good as a holiday...they say!

Just for the Christmas period, I've changed the background of the blog. And don't it look festive??!!

I have been a bit creative today and for the first time in.....I can't think how long.....I managed to do a bit of scrapping. Came together quite quickly, which is good, because I don't have a hellova lot of time at the moment!



The Carols by Candlelight and Santa's workshop that I have been heavily involved in organising, occured on Friday afternoon and evening, and I am pleased to say that with the exception of loosing power at about 3pm (prior to the start, but getting it fixed before everything kicked off), that pretty much things ran smoothly. We were even packed up and home by 11.30pm. After some forecasts of some dodgy weather, we actually ended up with a glorous afternoon which encouraged many families to stick around after seeing Santa, watch the other entertainers we had arranged to perform and also stay for the carols. Because there wasn't much of a break between anything, there wasn't really a chance for people to get bored and leave. My estimate would be that we had inexcess of 2,000 people there - maybe more. There certainly would have been around 1,500 that attended the carols.

On the home front, Bridie cut her 4th tooth the other day and yesterday started crawling properly. Not a lot, but some fairdinkum crawls up on all fours! Just in time for her 1st birthday. Mark and I took both the kids to Geelong for their Santa photos the other day. I thought that Tom was really going to beat his fear of Santa, as he stood patiently in line and watched all the other kids. He even rehearsed to us what he was going to ask Santa for ("a big snapping dinosaur and a doll for Bridgy"), but when it came our turn, he freaked. Again. And so did the little girl.

The photos therefore had to have both Mark and I in them again (I think I now have more photos with Santa as an adult than I ever did as a kid myself!!) and we had to have a number of goes to get at least one where we were all looking at the camera, no kids crying and looking half decent. It wasn't easy! Santa was a real trouper and perhaps due to the fact that we were early and he hadn't been worn out for the day, he was the best Santa I have come across. Seemed to really enjoy meeting the kids and had lots of time for them.

Christmas preparations are about to go into overdrive for me. I have been so focussed on the carols and Santa's workshop, that I haven't really paid too much attention to preparations for the upcoming day. I have been reasonably organised with buying gifts, but I do have some last minute ones to get and I have to 'run the supermarket gauntlet' tomorrow for the grocery items.

Christmas cheer

Ho Ho, Bloody Ho

Found this little number while trying to work out how to change my av on another site. Still haven't worked it out, but think that little Chrissy pics like this are just what I need to get into the festive spirit.

Or what about this one? Fairly apt for this blog I would say!

Getting ready for Christmas

I started taking some Christmas photos yesterday and today. The family ones were taken because we needed something to adorn the front of our family Christmas card. The others were taken just because!

What is it about December?

December is a crazy month for us. Notwithstanding that there is a frenzied approach to the whole festive season and the fact that I become overwhelmed with insane purchasing habits (something that NEVER happens at any other time of the year), it really is a busy month in general.

It starts with the obligatory family Christmas BBQ and just continues on. A quick snapshot of my month looks like this:
1st - daycare, meeting with local paper & start lighting town square with Xmas lights
2nd - continue with Xmas lights & Tom's swimming class
3rd - mum's group meet up, committee meeting in evening
4th - daycare and CFA pre season meeting
5th - travel to Melbourne for obligatory family Xmas BBQ. Stay overnight
6th - family BBQ
7th - travel home. Mum's birthday. Make her dinner
8th - daycare
9th - swimming class. Had a appointment with eye dr which was cancelled
10th - drs appintment for Tom's recurring ear infection
11th - daycare and dentist appointment for me (2 fillings)
12th - Craiglands staff Xmas dinner
13th - family member's 5th birthday party
14th - local CFA brigade's Xmas BBQ
15th - WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!. Also Tom's daycare Xmas concert. Off to Melb for a night with hubby ;)
16th - Travel home and do Xmas shopping on way
17th - a rest day!!!!!
18th - Cockies picnic
19th - Santa's workshop and Carols by Candlelight
20th - clean up house
21st - clean up garden
22nd - food shopping
23rd - nothing scheduled, but you can bet anything, it will not stay free!
24th - more food shopping and reading at Xmas mass. Family coming for Xmas/NYE
25th - Bridie's birthday and Christmas day.

I know that there is more to Dece than just 25 days, but to be honest, by the time we reach the 25th, I really couldn't care less.

As we have family coming for Christmas, I am using them as an excuse to try and get our house into some semblence of order. I seriously doubt that it is going to come off. I secretly would like to think that I could live in one of those houses that you see profiled in Women's Weekly or Vogue. You know the ones, never a thing out of place, no magazines littering the table, no pens cascading out of the too small canister you have them stored in, no drips of butter and jam on the bench from breakfast, no bills, accounts and other mail scattered on the kitchen table, not a speck of dust to be seen, no toys strewn over ever spare inch of floor despite the fact that the person being interviewed has 4 kids. My house will never look like that. EVER. Granted, my house could do with a damn good tidy up and a strict review of the things that are kept, but I am never going to live in the perfect house. And if I were realistic about it, I probably would really want to.

After all, we can never find things after we have a major tidy up!!