Santa's been & gone

It is for me isn't it?  Really it is promise me.  That's what she looks like hey!  So darn cute i can hardly breathe.  And Christmas is so about children.  Even at this tiny 4 month age, it is so wonderful having a child to share Christmas with again.  Our girls are grown and somehow the shine goes off Christmas when the kids aren't little any more.  I know the whole meaning of the day doesn't change, at any age, but the absolute excitement of the going to bed early, waking up early, tearing the paper from the present, the shiny eyes, big smiles, squeals of delight and the giggles and just the wonder of the whole day is different when the youngest kids are 21.  So this year I can see again the wonder and excitement coming again in the future.  Princess Elle was very excited she loves the twinkling lights on the Christmas tree the most and spends ages just staring at them.

Here she is with her mum roped in opening her present.  How sweet.

She has a magic little smile, that stops you in your tracks, what a little angel.

Ever the most popular girl in the room, once again the star of nearly every photo, what a life this little one has.

Christmas Eve started well with the girls having a quick cuddle with their dad.

Vegas drinking mugs in hand the day started well for Ashleigh and Danielle, but didn't end so well for Nelly ha ha age will teach her a thing or two I think.

The traditional family photo taken and I now have resolution lose weight woman what are you thinking!!!!!!!!

Gotta love Danielle's moustache though.

So once again the food is prepared, presented and eaten.  The plates cleaned off and put away, the presents wrapped and unwrapped, the tidying done and the left overs prepared.  The presents lovingly given and received and for me the best present of all, I have had everyone together again.  I love Christmas for that mostly.

I hope your day was wonderful, filled with love and friends and family.

Let's get ready for 2011.

Christmas done and dusted

Christmas morning began with a breakfast Bar-be-que.  All the usual goodies, bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes, chipolatas and eggs.  Yum and the weather was great.  It's has been raining for a few days now and it's been good rain and we so badly needed it, we are very greatful.  Alicia and Paul were with us for brekky and my mum and her husband Bruce came on Christmas Eve.  After the food, cam the pressies.

As is usual we all donned our Christmas hats, some have to be a little stylistic with theirs but we allow that, we after all are all about being individuals here.  Ha ha!!

And as the day wears on we tend to see some of us wearing lots of things, like Danielle with the addition of tinsel and the paper bon bon hat.  Hmm not so sure about this style but we let it ride.

Even Boston and Missy got in on the act, cute as.  Oh and Mum and Bruce, she'd kill me if she saw this photo, she's vain like me.

And of course eventually we did our family Christmas hat photo.  This year with bubbles, hey gotta mix it up a bit don't ya.

Getting ready setting the timer and of course blowing it, always happens to us, that's the best part.

Now we're cooking, happy faces and lots and lots of bubbles.

A girls photo I love these.

Then we had lunch, Paul and Alicia were with his parents this year so we were just 6 this year.

First chicken, prawn and mango salad and a caprese salad. home grown tomatoes and basil too. Also we had a hot potato, chorizo and olive salad yum yum.

And the Kahlua and Walnut (should be pecans but they were sold out) Baked Brie, this is fantastic and the sauce would be equally good on chicken or as a desert over ice cream, totally wicked.  This is so easy, just slice the top off the Brie cheese but leave it sitting on top and bake in the oven for 15 - 20 mins.  Mean while bring 1 cup Kahlua and 1 cup brown sugar to the boil in a saucepan.   Mix in about a half cup or so of nuts, pecans, or walnuts.  Take the cheese from the oven and place on serving dish, remove the lid and pour some of the sauce over the cheese and devour.

Ashleigh made some goats cheese and red onion tarts to go with our Mojito's how good does it get?!

At the end of the meal the table was a wreck, I love that about Christmas.

Presents, what did you get?  I was very pleased with my gifts.  This year for the first time we did the name out of a hat thing, so we only had to buy for one person, I prefer the other way, but this was easier and cheaper too.  I bought for Ashleigh and of course for Adrian and Mum and Bruce, so I didn't really get it any easier.  Adrian bought me a new tiny laptop.  So cute with a really pretty cover and wallpaper, it's an HP.

Danielle was buying for me and she bought me a Bamboo One for my photo editing, it's great and I can't wait to do  my Summer School in January and really get into it.

And Adrian also bought me the cutest orange Diana Ferrari suede shoes, gotta love them. 

 So Christmas is done and dusted all over bar the shouting and we are getting ready for next year, well not straight away.   So how was your day?

An Australian Christmas

I have found it very interesting this last week as I have dug around on the net for the customs, traditions, myths and legends of Christmas around the world.  It seems that the climate of the country involved has quite a lot to do with how the people celebrate on Christmas day.  Well particularly what they will be eating.  For instance in those countries where it is winter in December, they will be having the roasted Turkey, Chickens, Ham, with all those wonderful baked goodies, potatoes, pumpkins, chestnuts, hot toddies, egg nogs, brandy etc.  Here in Australia it is hot, I mean really hot.  At the moment the temperature in Toowoomba, Queensland is about 35 - 40deg Cel that's up round the 100deg F.  So no roaring fireplaces, framed with stockings, no making snow men, snowball fights and roasting chestnuts while sipping those eggy nog drinks.  We will be having prawns, big, juicy, fresh from the ocean prawns, drizzled with lemon juice and devoured in no time.  We'll have cold meats, chicken, ham, turkey, or maybe a bar-be-que.  Hmm what beats the smell of sausages cooking on the barby.  Oh I must say that our sausages aren't like the sausages in the states or the UK either.  Our sausages are either, beef, pork, or chicken meat spiced up with seasoning and sometimes herbs and piped into sausage skins.

Often the sausages are served on a roll, similar to a hot dog bun, but the taste is nothing like that.

Then we have salads, oh boy I think we must be the head of the salad countries, seriously we do salad like no others.  We have a multitude of lettuce varieties, we have dozens of tomatoe varieties.  Cucumbers, lebanese, non acid, continental, yellow, green and white, yep I think we have the market on cues too. Onions we have green, white, red, brown, salad, shallots you name it we've probably got it.  Where I live is just a few miles from what is known as the salad belt.  An area of farming land that produces vegetable for most of the state and is sent interstate also.  So we are spoilt for choice and for quality.  Australia is also very multicultural now and more and more you see families of different nationalties ,celebrating Christmas, perhaps not from a Christian perspective, but from the angle that Christmas is a time for coming together with family and friends and sharing a meal and gifts. As such the food is changing.  But the variety is wonderful too. 

That's fine with me I love the fact that I can go to town and eat, Indian curries, African casseroles and bread, Italian pastas and meats, Asian noodles, stir fries and rices, oh what a treat.  Oh and by th way the picture above is myself and Adrian, Paul and Alicia last year before Ade and I flew off to the UK to catch up with Ashleigh and Danielle.  Since the girls couldn't be in our Christmas hat photo we made use of my handmade dolls, I posted about them recently.  We put a hat on each doll and they stood in for Ashleigh and Nelly.

Even their best friend Amy and her friend Will got in on the act.  How cute see you start something and everyone wants to join in.  We thought it was hilarious the girls perched up on Wills knee.  

So back to an Aussie Christmas Day.  We usually start early, with coffee, tea, juice and some fresh fruit or muffins, pastries.  We all gather round the tree which is usually surrounded by gifts piled high.  We choose a gift giver and that person hands out a couple of gifts to one or two people and we wait while they open them and that way we all get to see what we each get and we know who it's from.  When the girls were little we used to go to Adrian's parents and it was a free for all.... the kids all getting their pressies at once and everyone else getting handed things one after the other.  I didn't like it much.  It was fun for the children I guess, but when we would go home and I would ask them who gave them what they had no clue.  So we refined it a little and it's nice to see what we are all getting and to see the reaction on each face when they get their gift.  Hopefully it's a big smile and a lot of excitement.  Sometimes because it takes a while to give everything out we have a little platter of cheese, nuts, crackers, just to keep us going.  Then when we are finished we check out the things we got, try on the clothing, put the batteries in the gadgets, try and work out how to use, set up, de code, recode etc etc all the bits and bobs, play the cd's videos, or games and by then it's usually pretty close to lunch.  We have had barbies over the years and we have had indoor meals more recently.  I'm not a real fan of meat cooked on flames outside with the flies, ants and insects.  Plus my house is airconditioned and until recently my hot flushes were enough heat for me, so indoors has been my preference.  I love to decorate the table, I couldn't find any pics of a nice table I've done so this year I will make sure to try and get some.  Then after dinner which includes bon bon cracking and eating those gold chocolate coins and popping the little plastic bottles filled with tiny streamers, we watch, play, do, sing a long to and just enjoy all the gifts we received.  Well that's the way we do it in my house.  Others go to the beach, play cricket, tennis, swim, Christmas in Australia is hot, sunny, beautiful and heaps and heaps of fun.  What do you do on Christmas Day?