Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

Tuesday, 6 January 2015

Christmas .... and beyond!

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! And all that jazz. (6 January, Epiphany, 12th day of Christmas so I am legitimately sneaking that 'Merry Christmas' in there).

I did mean to write over my Christmas leave. Clearly I did not. 

Instead I had managed to avoid the computer (well I used internet banking once, checked one urgent Guide email that I had received a text about, and used facebook on my phone), caught up with my family (especially my Northern Territory sister and nephews who were home for Christmas), and I slept. 

Oh, how I slept! I don't like hot weather. I especially do not like humidity. It makes me tired. I became nocturnal for the two weeks. I slept most of the day and did stuff in the evening and at night. We did something with people every couple of days, and spent the alternate days at home. I totally could get used to being a lady of leisure.  

The girls left this on my desk on the last day of work. 
Back to work, and diving straight back into the deep end (pool metaphor deliberate, my heart and mind are still on holidays). Ironically, my work computer didn't register my existence on the computer on my first day back. Apparently my ban wasn't self inflicted!

We went to church Christmas Eve. It is one of my favourite nights of the year. I love the Christmas Eve service. At our church it is traditionally carols and the children's nativity performance. Tink and the Pixie agreed to be in it again this year, even though they felt little old. Tink a lot more enthusiastically than the Pixie! 

Christmas we saw DB's parents and family (he was away), and then spent the afternoon/evening enjoying the chaos that always ensues when my family is all in one place at one time!

Nailed it! (not me!)

Boxing Day we hosted the NT contingent to a Boxing Day lunch, and Buglet outdid herself. Both with the food and with the table presentation. I am taking credit for the boxes though! Somehow I became the person responsible for organising my NT nephews' Christmas stockings (usually they come for lunch Christmas Day), but as they came to lunch on Boxing Day this year I mixed it up a bit. Yes, I am a little proud of my ingenuity! Can you see the boxes?

Everything was carefully coordinated.

I love having the boys home at Christmas! Auntie duty to squeeze a year's worth of kisses and cuddles into a few weeks! As an added bonus Master-almost-10 (who lives in WA) is much more agreeable to being kissed and cuddled when the littler ones are here too so that is an added bonus!

Our other tradition is that my girls go to my sister's New Year's Eve. If you are only available to babysit one night per year, she picks a good one! Lela and I went out NYE, We spent a very pleasant few days not doing a lot except chatting, watching movies, sewing (Lela) and sleeping (me), and making some travel plans!

The girls and I spent a night with Pie and OJ (and their parents). This is worth mentioning for two reasons. Firstly, I finally watched the first part of Lord of the Rings. As I am planning a NZ for January 2016 this seemed important. Secondly, I was reminded again how clingy my baby is. (Note to self: Referring to her as "the baby" probably doesn't help).

Pie was shouting out "Auntie Caff! Look!". I was super excited because he doesn't talk to me much (he is only 2.5), when the Pixie responds with "Look at me, Mama. You know, your child". I can assure you she was not being neglected in any way shape or form!

So in conclusion, the last few weeks have been blissfully "boring". Filled with friends and family and nothing dramatic to report. Perfect! I could not have asked for better holidays. Except for the bit where I still have glue on my eyelids from NYE. 

Monday, 22 December 2014

Advent adventures

We finally put our Christmas tree up last night.

Usually we put it up the first Sunday in Advent, but this year it just didn't happen.

That is not to say that we have not done something each Sunday in Advent. Admittedly the something hasn't been going to church which is what we also like to do, but sometimes things don't go according to plan.

On the first Sunday in Advent we ....

... helped our God-cousins put up their Christmas tree
My youngest God-son was super keen to put up his Christmas tree and wouldn't wait until we left. He is hoping to get a drum set and putting up the tree meant he was one step closer. This was one of my favourite parts of a weekend road trip adventure.

When we got home, we had end of year wind up for dance, and then rehearsals for the Girl Guide Christmas Choir. We basically ran out of time.


On the second Sunday in Advent ....

I went on a Santa pub crawl ....
... to recover from the Christmas pageant the night before and from looking after the Girl Guide Christmas Choir. Buglet and the Pixie slept at their Dad's that night, and Tink was in Singapore ... so no Christmas tree yet!


On the third Sunday in Advent ... we came home from another trip down south to have Christmas dinner with Apple.

Table centre was made at Guides. How cool does it look?
Apple's home made Apple Pie. 
Basically an exhausted Mummy, and Christmas dinner was made us super full (Buglet has told me to go get my iron checked though).

On the fourth Sunday of Advent .....

.... some old friends came out to play ...
... some came all the way from the North Pole for cuddles ...
... and the tree was finally up!
The girls have developed a system over the last few years. Tink sorts the branches, the Pixie fluffs them, and then Buglet puts the tree together. I take photos (and break up arguments mostly at the decorating stage where Buglet has very different (actually quite Tink like) ideas about how the tree should be decorated, and the other two disagree) and Flip-Flop gets in the way.

Someone-who-shall-remain-nameless (not me!) suggested that Flip-Flop should be put outside so she didn't get in the way. Pixie was most indignant and said person was firmly informed that Flip-Flop was part of the family and should not be left out. Someone-who-shall-remain-nameless (still not me!) suggested that Pixie hould be put outside so she didn't get in the way. Because I am a good parent, I told her not to be mean to her sister (and fortunately the Pixie was too busy crooning over the puppy to notice).

We celebrated the tree finally being up with toasted Christmas ham and cheese sandwiches, and chocolate for dinner, and by watching The Hunger Games (not very Christmasy but we are planning on going to see Mockingjay: Part 1 tomorrow night).

Three sleep to go peoples! How are your Christmas traditions going?