Perspective

No, I haven't dropped off the face of the planet (again)! But Christmas and New Year have been rather crazy, not least because Brad took these 2 weeks off, so we have had lots of family time and activities.

And I have been waiting for time to add perspective to a few things for me... I have found that most things seem a bit better, with time and perspective. We had a lovely Christmas morning, with 5 kids (Naomi and 4 of her cousins), dancing around the Christmas tree desperately waiting for their parents to have their tea and toast in hand, before gifts were distributed. I must congratulate them all on their restraint!

Naomi got into it all, helping Daddy to distribute the presents, and with regular cries of "Another one!" when she didn't have one to rip open herself at any particular time! She has loved the little kitchen set that Santa brought her - it has been great entertainment for her, and we have been offered "Dinner ready - bacon, sausages, egg" at all times of the day. My budding little chef!

Now that I am on a break from the Family Day Care I hope to have more time for blogging and crafting... particularly as darling Brad got me a brand new Janome sewing machine for Christmas!!! It is even quiet enough that I can sew while Naomi is asleep in the next room (the old Bernina that I had was such a clanker that it would often wake her up if I tried to sew during nap times).

I have been reading along my friends' blogs, and glad that you all had a great Christmas / New Year season. My New Year's resolution has to do with some personal peace and quiet, and having 30 minutes to myself occasionally. We shall see how I go with that!

Company Girl Coffee

I have a confession to make. I have been lurking on Rachel Anne's blog, Home Sanctuary, for several months now. I don't always do the Small Things challenges, but I do THINK about doing them (ha ha ha - how bad is that!), after I finish working with the Family Day Care children, at the end of next week.

So anyway, I have decided to come out of the closet, have emailed Rachel Anne and asked her if I may please become a Company Girl too. Please please please please, pretty please!

Perhaps for my first Company Girl Coffee session, I will tell you about our own special part of Paradise. I am a wife to Brad, and mum to Miss Naomi (nearly 2). I am also pregnant with our second baby, due in March. And I am hot... darn hot. You see, we live in tropical North Queensland, Australia. Where it is currently summer, and monsoon season as well - so hot, humid and driving me crazy!

But I do love Christmas, and am looking forward to having my sister and her family of 4 kids stay with us for the next week. Am hoping to get the rum balls and Christmas cake made today, so that is one less thing to do before Christmas. I do looooove rum balls!

Handmade decorations

If you read along on Kara's blog over at Eskimo Kisses & Air Hugs you will no doubt have been enjoying her great series of posts about their Pioneer Christmas, with lots of ideas for homemade decorations.

When my very crafty friend Barbara at Warm Woollen Mittens posted a link to a great Christmas craft, it got me up and in the festive spirit. The link is here if you are interested. They are very easy paper rosettes, with the addition of glitter and buttons for a bit of glam.... Here are the ones that Naomi and I have made in the last few days. Thanks for the link, Barbara! I am hoping they will look nice hung up in my kitchen window. And it was a great excuse to buy some really pretty scrapbooking papers from my local crazy bargain shop!

Feeling Festive

Yes, it's official - I am now feeling Festive. We put up our decorations on the weekend. It was such a lovely feeling for Naomi to be able to participate in a meaningful way - even perching on Brad's shoulders to put the star on the top of the tree.

Naomi is enjoying her Advent Calendar - which I didn't post a photo of last time, so here it is....

I also got inspired by the Christmas episode of Better Homes & Gardens and made Naomi her own Christmas stocking on the weekend. I am quietly pleased with the result, and even had a jingly bell to sew on the toe, as they suggested! The funny line of the side of the stocking in this photo is just a fold of the fabric - it is actually the right shape in real life!

Are you in the spirit yet?

My friend Kara at Eskimo Kisses and Air Hugs recently asked whether we all had our 'Jingle' on yet. Thanks, Kara! You have given me the perfect excuse to 'get Festive'! I adore Christmas ... but don't like when the shops start playing the carols in October. When we were kids, my family always had a rule that Christmas decorations and preparations started after the last person finished school for the year (in Australia we have our major 6 week school holiday break over December / January). This person was always my Dad - being a primary school principal, he worked until the last day of school, and didn't get out early for good behaviour!

So it feels a bit wrong to be doing decorating etc before early December. However, I have started trying to get things together so I am not totally "snowed under" (ha ha ha - the temperature here is scorching and humid every day!) for the Christmas rush.

I have been meaning to make a patchwork Advent calendar for the past couple of years - but it just isn't happening. So when I spotted one on a beautiful craft stall, at some local markets, I snapped it up. It has numbered pockets for each day and I love the idea of putting little trinkets and treats in each pocket, for Naomi to open. Far more personal -- and healthy -- than the commercialised chocolate-loaded 'Christmas Count Down' calendars that are in all the supermarkets.

I went to the crazy outlet shop and bought some little sheets of stickers, pretty jingle bells, and nice wooden ornaments for her to hang on the tree. Other things (like a book that was on special and a little plush toy), can be hung off the appropriate pocket the night before.

What have you done to start Christmas preparations? What is your favourite family tradition?

Happy New Year!

2008 is going to be a WONDERFUL new year. Other bloggy friends are saying they can feel it in their bones -- either our tropical weather is going to turn snowy in the next day, or I am feeling it in my bones too!

For a start, my early Christmas present arrived ... Broadband connection!! Yes, I am now in the world of DSL, and loving it... so this post is decadently littered with photos, which I have always longed to do, but never had the patience for.

Our trip to the Big Smoke for Christmas, to see Brad's parents, started out... eventfully, to say the least. 4am wake up calls are not my finest hour.... But we made it to the airport, only to find our direct flight had been cancelled. After spending an hour in the queue, we were given 30 seconds to decide whether we wanted to wait until 4pm to fly direct, or go via Ayers Rock straight away. Yep - a trip down the East Coast, via the center of this huge continent. So we took it.

It all worked out quite well, actually - change to a full-service airline, spare seats for Naomi to play in, an hour at a fascinating tourist destination that we may otherwise not have seen, nappy change facility in the Business Class toilet (took full use of that opportunity to use the nice soap and free moisturiser!), then a lovely hostess who gave us a free glass of wine, after hearing of our diverted trip!

So here is a photo of my 2 favourite travel companions, with Uluru (Ayers Rock) in the background.

Here is one of Naomi, more interested in her new skill of climbing the stairs at Grandma & Pa's house, than in her stocking full of goodies.... Oh my goodness... I just spotted the used nappy in the front of this photo! So THAT was what she was after!!

And playing with the walker / ride-on car that was her big present from us.

2008 is also the year that I start working from home, doing Family Day Care. Hopefully I will be all set up, with the paperwork finalised in the next week or so. I am looking forward to doing something that the world views as 'useful' again, and the money coming in will be very handy too.

So to all my friends, thanks for making my first year of blogging enjoyable, and I hope we keep catching up just as much in the next year!

Is it really Christmas??

I love Christmas - it is my favourite time of year. But up here in the tropics, there are no frosty mornings, no hot chocolate by the fire, no prospects of a White Christmas.... so it can be a little hard to get into the Festive spirit. Not the Festive spirits --- it is easy to get into them, they are kept on the top shelf of the pantry....

I usually bake. Rum balls, Christmas cake, I have even tried my hand at fruit mince pies. Is there anything more Christmassy than the smells of cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg permeating your house, as you stir along to your favourite carol selection?

But this year, we are going to the Big Smoke, for Christmas with Brad's family ("the outlaws"). So I haven't been baking up a frenzy, because we won't be here.... also, with a diabetic husband, it means I have to eat all the goodies myself. Not good for the New Year's resolution situation!!

I have shopped, and wrapped, and posted parcels of gifts to family and friends, I have put up our Christmas tree, I even have a cd of carols that I play.... but for some reason, without the turkey to order, and the special seasonal goodies to make, it just doesn't quite seem like Christmas. Oh, and it doesn't help that Naomi screamed the shopping centre down when we tried for a Santa photo..... Jolly men in red suits with large beards just aren't her cup of tea.

Is anyone else feeling this way??

My Letter to Santa...

I was sent this in an email -- it is too good not to share!!

Dear Santa,

I've been a good mum all year. I've fed, cleaned and cuddled my children on demand, visited the doctor's office more than my doctor, sold sixty-two cases of choc.bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground.

I was hoping you could spread my list out over several Christmases, since I had to write this letter with my son's red crayon, on the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles, and who knows when I'll find anymore free time in the next 18 years. Here are my Christmas wishes:

I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache (in any colour, except purple, which I already have) and arms that don't hurt or flap in the breeze; but are strong enough to pull my screaming child out of the lolly aisle in the grocery store.

I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of my last pregnancy.

If you're hauling big ticket items this year I'd like fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music; a television that doesn't broadcast any programs containing talking animals; and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone.

On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says, "Yes, Mummy" to boost my parental confidence, along with two kids who don't fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the use of power tools.

I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting "Don't eat in the living room" and "Take your hands off your brother," because my voice seems to be just out of my children's hearing range and can only be heard by the dog.

If it's too late to find any of these products, I'd settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without it being served in a Styrofoam container.

If you don't mind, I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare tomato sauce a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely.

It would be helpful if you could coerce my children to help around the house without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family.

Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is ringing and my son saw my feet under the laundry room door. I think he wants his crayon back.

Have a safe trip and remember to leave your wet boots by the door and come in and dry off so you don't catch cold. Help yourself to cookies on the table but don't eat too many or leave crumbs on the carpet.

Yours Always,
A MUM!

P.S. One more thing...you can cancel all my requests if you can keep my children happy, healthy and always believing.

*Santa has asked that this gets passed on to all the mummies you know*