The Days of Christmas

Agapanthus just bursting into bud in my back garden

How have you been enjoying your 12 days of Christmas?

We have enjoyed:

~ Preparing and tossing out reindeer food for them to forage while we slept.

~ Setting out crocs with carrots also for the reindeer.

It was lovely to watch Ess count the appropriate number of carrots in each pair of shoes

- sorted according to age.

Four in each for my big Ess, two in each for my middle Eee,

and one and a little bit for my baby Jae.

~ Eating delicious meals

~ Watching (and waiting for) glorious sunsets

~ Lazing a little in the garden

Most of our time has been spent at home, together as a family, 

enjoying our visitor (my Dad) and

working on our new house some more.

We have spent much time in the garden

lopping, pruning, removing weed trees (privet and cotoneaster), 

improving soil with gypsum and cow manure,

mulching and planning planting to come very soon.

The most exciting part!

We've also been enjoying rediscovering hidden plants such as this hydrangea which was hidden behind the barbeque, growing towards our neighbour.

The agapanthus are just about to come into bloom to welcome in the new year.

While they are certainly not my favourite bloom and I probably wouldn't have planted them myself, 

I will definitely enjoy the beauty they bestow.

I am baffled to hear about many who have already taken down their Christmas trees.

Certainly Christmas is a time for us to relax a little, be less organised after the rush of preparation, 

to enjoy all there is to enjoy in the wonder and magic of the festive season.

All our Christmas decorations are still adorning our family home, 

we are still enjoying reading Christmas stories occasionally, 

hearing and singing some Christmas music,

and relaxing with family.

A Saltdough Christmas

Isn't it wonderful how some flour, salt and water...

combined with a little lemon juice and oil... (recipe here)

can create such education, entertainment, smiles and memories...

the fun and excitement of mixing colours and seeing the combinations and changes.

We were even able to watch light reflect from the silver stars Ess used on her decorations when we placed these in the kitchen under the rangehood light. I just love this photo (above) with the stars reflected onto the cupboard.

Then of course there is rolling, moulding, cutting and shaping the dough...

as well as decorating...
then painting it. (Particularly after Mum left them for too long in a too hot oven and they became quite crispy with little colour left...noone seemed to mind.)

Hoping you are enjoying a fun holiday time.

Choc Bikky Christmas Tree

We had lots of fun baking, decorating and sharing our chocolate biscuit stars. Don't you love the way they form this tree when elegantly stacked by six year old hands guiding her toddler girlfriends and followers. We were due to meet friends in the park so took along the previously decorated biscuits in order to make a Christmas Tree we could share with everyone for morning tea. 'Twas our little gift to bid farewell to a group of little friends as we move from this city next month.

It was so very beautiful to watch my big, almost 7 year old, Ess caring for the little 2 year old girls she has come to know as part of our Kindermusik group we attend for little Eee. She loves them all and will sadly miss them as I know they'll miss her. She watches them, follows them, ensures they are doing well as they climb, play, explore and discover new places without their Mummies yet alongside their bigger girl friend. She certainly has the heart of a mother-carer, my girl. It will be interesting to watch her inclinations as she grows.

Cherry Time

What a delightful day we had picking our own cherries in an orchard in the Adelaide Hills. It was just delightful to see the millions and millions of cherries weighing down the many branches in the orchard. It's only taken us six years to discover that we can actually pick our own. We generally do take drives through the hills and buy from shed door sales, however when I discovered there was actually the option to pick our own, of course that is the way we went. Last weekend it was Forest Range Cherries at Lenswood, this weekend we might even head out again to Stella Creek Orchard as their Summit variety might be ready to pick. Big, heart-shaped delicious cherries and only $10/kg they tell us. Last week we paid $6/kg - very competitive pricing. The markets sell them for around $30/kg.

We found some more produce in the Hills we brought home to consume including fresh snow peas and numerous strawberries. We spent the afternoon enjoying food in Hahndorf before heading back to Lobethal to join in the Lights of Lobethal Festival on opening night. It was fabulous with the Living Nativity being a definite hit - be sure you don't miss this if you live anywhere near local.

An Advent with Lego

For quite a few years now my Generous Gentleman has wanted to find an Advent Calendar by Lego which was not ridiculously expensive.

This appears to be the year for us as we now have two Lego Advent Calendars which both my big girls are enjoying each morning during December as Christmas approaches.

I'm not a fan of Advent Calenders which bestow little gifts on little people each time they open a door as I think it creates unrealistic expectations and is simply unnecessary. However Lego always seems to create the exception for me. Each day the girls find a little packet behind a door with bits and pieces to create something new. After Christmas we'll package them all up again to start the surprises again next year.

And there are some very cute little figures and objects.

One is a Lego Kingdoms calendar with scenes and caricatures of a Medieval Castle.

The other is Lego City, quite self-explanatory.

This character is most certainly my favourite.

A less-than-friendly looking snowman.

We still open a door every day on our Nativity Advent Calendar which shares with us the true story of Christmas. We have been enjoying seeing the angels visit and hearing their messages, today's being:

'For she will bring forth a son.'

Letters to Santa

We posted our letters to Santa today. Santa, North Pole, 9999. We hope he gets them. Australia Post guarantees he'll be happy to hear from us.

The idea of writing to this dear old soul was very motivational, as far as writing is concerned. I am discovering that writing is just something which Ess does not enjoy. She is my avid reader, not so keen on writing to express herself.

You know, I was delighted that both of the girls struggled to think of anything at all to ask Santa for. The language Ess used was most polite as well. No "I want's" or "Give me's", but a very pleasant "For Christmas I would like...". Oh yes I was so very delighted to see their chosen language for this very esteemed letter.

And so I transcribed for my little Eee while she drew a beautiful rainbow, not for Santa I am told, but rather for Daddy. It's beautiful, I'm sure you'll agree.

So have you seen Santa yet? Have you written to him?

We actually saw him today as well. A couple of brightly dressed little Elves found us in a long, hot queue and invited us into an air conditioned, bubbly room where Santa just happened to be sitting waiting to invite us up onto his knee to chat with him, be with him, have Daddy take our photo and just to enjoy the experience.

Christmas with children is just such a special experience.