Rain

A day of rain on a holiday can be a lovely thing.

Especially if the ground is like stone, the trees and garden parched, and you have a BBQ planned.

Not much fun sitting on soaked outdoor chairs.

So we had the BBQ inside, and it was just as much fun. Cousins and aunties and uncles. My oldest son playing the piano while his younger brother and sister danced with the little second cousins, while the adults chatted and played on Christmas toys and some even went to sleep in the corner of the lounge. I liked that they did. It's only with family that you can do that and truly feel comfortable.

And it rained outside and quenced the thirsty ground.

The sun is out this morning and it promises to be a hot day, so I am planning a morning in the garden.

Did Your House Look Like This Too?

We've been in clean up mode the last two days. Company is coming for a BBQ tonight - so it was necessary.

I know that one day we won't have to spend two days cleaning up after Christmas, so I try to embrace it cheerfully. I was reminded of this so poignantly when I read this over at Clover Lane.

Christmas Food

Ahhh . . .  Boxing Day. It is one of my favourite days. A good day to do nothing.
Except one of us has to go and brave the shops because we forgot to get batteries for Teddy's remote control helicopter!

Before I get into pictures of the food, here is a picture of Alice with her baby. It was the perfect thing to get her this Christmas. This baby already has had a lot of love. Alot of sticky kisses, and tucking in and bottle feeding.

I do like to do a traditional Christmas dinner, though I gave up on flaming Christmas puddings many years ago - although once in a while I like to try it out. But we have mostly embraced the trend for summer food - using fresh berries and frozen variations of Christmas puddings. Although I think I'm going to give up on the turkey. It looks so good while cooking, but it was very chewy in spite of my basting, covering and water in the bottom of the pan. We buy organic turkeys that don't have much fat on them. Might try roast lamb next year.

With our turkey we had Parmesan Potato Gratin (or something like that) which was out of this world, homemade Cranberry Sauce, gravy, freshly shelled peas and carrots, and homemade Punch.

Every year it is tradition in my family to make an icecream Christmas pudding. My mum does it, my sister does it. I have been doing it since I was about 16 years old (before Jo Seagar made it popular), when my best friend came home from the USA with a recipe for 'cassata'. I made it then, and somehow it has evolved into a Christmas tradition. Vanilla icecream with chocolate, currants (soaked in Brandy), peel, apricots, raspberries, crushed candy canes, cherries, all mixed together into the icecream and frozen in a pudding basin. Yummy!

We made all these deserts the day before, which made Christmas Day lovely and relaxing.
This desert is from the Christmas NZ House and Garden magazine - a rolled pavlova with cream and raspberries in the center and frozen for 24 hours. It was delicious, as it doesn't really freeze properly, but has that lovely chilled, icy texture to it.

And then there was the vanilla pod cheesecake. Decliciousness!

Of course, by the time we got to dessert, we were already stuffed full, so we have heaps left over, but in a family of 4 hungry children, I don't imagine it will last very long.

I hope you all have had some lovely eating - I'd love to see what your food traditions are.

Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours!

Christmas Eve Pictures

Christmas Eve is just as magical as Christmas day. We have spent the entire day baking and sewing and getting ready for tomorrow, and hoping that the relentless nor'west wind will stop soon.

Late this afternoon we all went to the local Anglican church for a wonderful Christingle service - a special service for children. Amazingly it was packed - we managed to get the last pew - and there were more arriving after us.

Christingle is an ancient service used to celebrate Jesus coming to the world. The word Christingle means Christ-Light and is represented by an orange (for the world), a candle (for Jesus), fruit and sweets for the fruits of the earth  and the Holy Spirit, and the red ribbon for Jesus' blood.
All the children were given one of these at the end of the service.

The Anglican church we went to is a beautiful old building. There's something about those old places and their atmosphere. I had to sneak a few photos to show you.

Alice was soooo good all through the service.

We came home for our own little traditions . . .

. . . Drinking Christmas Wassail,
. . . Christmas carols around the piano

. . . Christmas Cake

. . . candles on the table

. . . hanging the stockings with care

. . . hanging the Christmas bunting,

. . .  putting milk and cookies out for Santa

. . . . last minute Christmas wrapping

. . . trying to get the children to go to sleep early!

Really Fun Cookies

I promised the children a day of Christmas cookie baking today. I did question that rash decision when the juice ended up all over the floor and a little boy cracked an egg over the drawers and floor and the shell went into the bowl. But the end result has been worth the effort.

I do suggest making the cookies yourself, and letting the kids decorate - they like that part the best anyway (as well as licking the bowl).

I got the recipe from dear ole Pioneer Woman.
But here are a few suggestions for us non-Americans.

* 2 sticks of butter = 226gms butter
* For the crushed peppermint candy I used one box of these - readily available at the grocery store or the Warehouse.

* And it really helps to have one of these to keep the chocolate warm while dipping.

* Also - a little side note: We are really, really  sick of the wind here in Canterbury.

Little Moments Monday

It has been a roasting hot day here today - my hair is doing things that it does in Auckland! Even my daughter said to me this morning, "Mum! You've got curls in your hair!" Poor child has only ever seen the manufactured straight locks.

Here are the events that have stood out to me today.

* If you go shopping at Christmas time, it's good to go at 9am - there are usually lots of parks.

* Tell your kids BEFORE you go into the grocery store that they won't get any treats if they ask for anything.

* If you have a two year old, do not put chocolate decorations on the Christmas presents under the tree.

* It really makes you feel good about your own chaos if you talk to a friend who is more stressed out about Christmas than you are.

* If you take an hour to make a gift for your son's friend's mother, it means you don't get the ironing done for the day.

* I am feeling anxious because the final of Survivor is not up on Youtube yet. And yes, it's an addiction.

* This summer I have a thing for geraniums. I like their bright, cheery faces, and they remind me of my grandma. And they are red.

* Our mailman is always a bit grumpy at this time of year. I don't know why. I couldn't think of anything nicer than delivering large parcels to people.

* 5 more sleeps until Christmas Day!

I Love the Song on this TV Ad

I love these ads for NZ Post. But most of all I love the song they play for it. If I hear it, it usually sticks in my mind for a few hours, and I find myself humming it as I go through the day.



And I love the internet, because it took me just a few minutes to find the band who wrote it, and 1 minute to buy it from itunes. It's One Day, by New Zealand band Op Shop.

Pink Perfection

I think a rose is probably one of the few things that gets as close to perfection that is possible in this world.
I picked these this afternoon for our niece who is coming to stay tonight. They look beautiful in a crystal vase on the dresser in our guest room.

This is the hybrid tea, Aotearoa New Zealand, and it's my favourite. It is blooming abundantly outside our family room window, and I just love it. I actually really love white roses - iceberg in particular - but I think this pink one almost steals its thunder, and I love its 'local' name.

MacGyver is Not Dead

I once gave up a hot date for MacGyver.

 It was a weekend night. I was 18 years old, and I was faithfully taping every MacGyver episode. Nothing could interrupt that. Nothing. Handsome, eligible young men who wanted to take me out on dates were nothing compared to MacGyver.
My handsome, eligible date phoned me up that afternoon and invited me out on some evening jaunt.
I said no. I must have come up with some excuse. Girls of 18 are usually quite good at that.
No mere man was going to come between me and MacGyver.

Later that evening I smugly put the tape in and pressed record and sat down to enjoy an hour of MacGyverisms.
That's when the handsome, eligible young man's car pulled into the driveway.

I rushed outside to shoo him away before he could see why I had turned him down.
He tried to persuade me to go with him, and in spite of the fact that he'd driven halfway across the city, I felt  no guilt as I stubbornly told him no, I wasn't going to go with him. And what's more, I resented the time in having to explain this while I missed my favourite programme.

I think the relationship fizzled out after that. But I didn't care. He was a non-starter, anyway.

 Now my children are in love with MacGyver. And the boys want pocket knives.

I hesitated a little at getting them these tiny pk's, but after all they just want to pull apart clocks and cupboards and trucks with them, and destroy the keyholes in my doors. And lately I've been amazed to discover that a very old-fashioned cliche still survives. The small boy's pocket. Full of string, candy, paper, pencil and a pocket knife. It is to my peril to not check the pockets before I throw their jeans in the wash.
We lost one of these precious items once, and tears followed, so now they are in a safe place and under parental control. I can just see them pulling them out to show their grandkids when the're 80 years old.

MacGyver
Every boy wants to be him. Every girl wants to marry him.

What To Do If You Eat The Advent Calendar Chocolate!

I want to get into a bathing suit this summer. So I am trying hard not to buy advent calendars for the children. They're just too much temptation!

So I made this little calendar for our house. It doesn't cost much - just a bit of ribbon, wooden pegs and pretty scrapbooking card and a sharpie (I love sharpies).

I love that red and white candy striped ribbon/twine now available at sewing shops. I use it for so much - it's great for wrapping around gifts too.

This advent calendar spells out "We wish you a Merry Christmas." That's 24 letters, in case you didn't notice. On one side write the letters, on the other the number. So each day we turn one card over and there's a new letter. Good spelling practice too, if you homeschool - except they guessed it on day 3. Oh well!

 

Day 13 people!

11 days to go!

!!!!!!!!!!!

How are your Christmas plans coming along?

Killer Shoes

I love these shoes. I bought them in a hurry last week because I needed them. I liked them. They'll look good with jeans and they're summery, practical, quick to put on and go with a lot. Not to mention that they add several inches to my height.

I wore them out last night with my jeans and a black tunic. We were going to the annual piano recital put on by our children's piano teacher.
I slipped them on. They looked great. They felt great.
For the first few minutes.
By the time we parked the car, my feet were already regretting the choice. Angry red lines were embedded into the top of my foot. I hobbled like an old woman from the car to the house, trying desperately not to look like an old woman. Do you know how uncomfortable that can be?
During the recital, I casually slipped them off, hoping that nobody would notice I was there in bare feet. When we left I cringed as I plunged my feet back into their instruments of torture, and hobbled back out to the car, where I threw them off.

It has been many years since I've had to wear shoes in. As I sit here at the table I have the shoes on my feet, hoping that they will stretch, stretch, stretch. I cook in them. I sew in them. I watch tv in them.
It looks like I'll have to be content with last summer's shoes for a little while longer.

Handmade Christmas Gifts

For the last few years I have felt inspired to make as many Christmas gifts as I can. It makes it busy at this time of the year, along with all the other end of year activities, but it's one of my most favourite things to do for Christmas.

So my sewing machine has been rather busy lately - in between dashing out for tennis games, art awards, piano recitals, Christmas baking, gifts for teachers and bathroom cleaning.

This year I decided to get Alice her first baby doll. Meredith was more into teddies than baby dolls as an infant, but Alice loves dolls. It's funny how at under 2 years old, that mothering instinct is very much present in her, although most of the dolls have ended up either sopping wet from being dunked in the bath, tattoos on their arms and faces from felt pens, or very untidy, matted hair, and food squished into their mouths.

I ordered this adorable pattern designed by one of my favourite designers, Rosalie Quinlan, and made this bassinette. I bought it from fionamarie here in New Zealand. It was so easy to sew together and lots of fun. I love picking out the fabric for these projects. That's the best part.

It just needs the mattress and quilt to complete it, which I haven't finished yet. I made a little cloth doll, but somehow it just didn't look babyish enough to match, and Meredith really, really wants it - so I've decided to give it to her in her stocking, and I started a hunt for a baby doll for Alice.

Do you know how hard it is to find a nice-looking baby dol!. They either have horrible un-babyish faces, or very robotic-sounding voices, or they are dolls that can't be bathed - which is essential in my house, as that seems to be the thing that my girls like to do the most to their dolls. Meredith once ruined a very expensive talking, crying, peeing doll by giving it a bath. It now makes the most unusual inhuman sounds, as a result.

Yesterday, while dashing in and out of Farmers, I stopped by the doll aisle and took a quick scan. I was going around poking their tummies or squeezing their arms to listen to the voices when a grandma stopped next to me and was looking too.

"Some of these dolls sound awful, don't they," she said
I agreed.
"Are you looking for a first baby doll?" she asked me.
I said yes, and that it was a harder job than it seemed.
She told me she was looking for a first baby doll for her granddaughter and could I recommend one?
I told her that the nicest baby dolls are the Baby Born dolls - they have no hair, soft, washable bodies and nice faces without the raucous recorded voices, but that they were very expensive. There were two of them way up on the top of the shelf. She wanted to have a look at it, so I called over one of the staff and they went and got a ladder to get it down. Even though I knew it would probably be out of my price range, I stopped long enough to have a look. And that was when the lady told me that they had a discount on the dolls that very day! So guess what?
I came home with our first Baby Born.
And here she is . . . what should we call her? I like Felicity or Kimberly or Betsy or Susan or Jemima (all the girls names that my husband didn't like when we had baby girls). I quite like Margaret too.

I've also been sewing up little Maisy dolls for little nieces and friends who want one. (The yellow fabric on two of the dolls is from Rosalie Quinlan's range - I love it)!

And finally, I have finished my felt order of five pillows. It was a big job, but fun to do and so very satisfying when completed. They'll be going out in the mail soon.

There have been one or two other things which I can't show you yet, because of the people who might see it on here and ruin the surprise. I have a few things left to go, and then I'll be all done - which is great, but kind of sad too - I have been enjoying all this creative work.

Auckland - here we come!

Dear beloved Auckland,

We were not anticipating another visit to you so soon. But $1000 for airfares and two weeks in Auckland is better economy than $1000 for one week in the Marlborough Sounds (though I will miss you, dear heart).

Dear, dear Auckland. I can't wait to feel that humid heat again even though it does unspeakable things to my hair. I am even looking forward to your unending display of motorway agapanthas. However, I am not yearning  to live in you again, Auckland; and I can't say I'm fond of the crazy crush at Botony Downs PacNSave, or the row upon row of brown, orange, black, or grey rooftops across the farmland of my old hometown in Howick, or the ghetto that my husband's old sleepy hometown of Papakura has become.

But I do love your beaches. I do love those Norfolk Pines,  and Dunkin' Donuts, and the main street of Howick, and Smith and Caughey and the Auckland Philharmonic and the dairy at Clevedon, and most of all I am looking forward to seeing the dear familiar faces of people I love who live in Auckland. New friends, old friends; family, sisters and brothers-in-laws, cousins, aunties, uncles, nieces and nephews, old family friends, old famliar places, lots of memories everywhere we go.

We are coming Auckland. Please turn on your best sunshine for us. And actually, it will just be really nice to have two weeks without worrying whether that distant rumble is an airplane or an earthquake.

Decorating for Christmas

The first weekend in December is when we put up our Christmas tree and decorations.

As I said to the kids yesterday when we had spent an hour untangling and putting the christmas lights on the tree - it's not a 5 minute job.

We love real Christmas trees (the traditional pine), but because so many of us in our family have airborne allergies, it's out of the question (as are lillies) unless we want to spend the whole month sneezing and rubbing itchy eyes. We bought a fake tree the first year we were married, and it's still going great and looking good too.

The children are really into Christmas this year. They spent the entire afternoon with me yesterday setting out the decorations. In past years they usually leave me to it after an hour.

I usually buy one good Christmas decoration each year. This year I bought a proper wreath for the front door. I saw a beautiful one made from red velvet roses at the store, but the price was $125!! I was tempted, but when I thought how the strong Canterbury winds would probably rip it to shreds, I passed it up and settled for a much simpler, (and cheaper) wreath which I'm so thrilled with. It reminds me a little of the wreath from the movie, Little Women.

We have decided on a red and white colour theme this year.
I also have a tradition that we started a couple of years ago where I get the children one really nice tree ornament every year. That will get added to a box belonging to them of all the ornaments I have bought them throughout their childhood, so that when they leave home, they already have a small collection of Christmas ornaments to take with them, that has lots of sentiment attached to them.

I love these old-fashioned glass ornaments - these ones are from nursery rhymes. For Hugh (my oldest son) I got the glass ball.

I love these little birds that clip onto the end of the tree branches (are they Cardinals)?

Hugh took this photo of our tree.

We hang our stockings above the fireplace.

Meredith likes to set out the nativity scene and the little Christmas village that we are collecting along the bottom of the fireplace. I'm not sure how we're going to keep Alice from breaking them, but I don't like to move Meredith's careful arrangements just yet.

Last night, after the sun had set and the children were in bed, I went outside and took a photo of the tree through the window. That's one of my most favourite things to do at this time of year when the Christmas tree is up. It's lovely to wander outside in the still summer night air and see the Christmas lights through your own windows.