All done

What a lovely few days we have had. Four separate Christmas get togethers in all.

Thoroughly exhausting, but delightful all the same.

Despite the mild weather over Christmas, the kids managed a couple of swims on Christmas and Boxing Day. Love the inflatable dolphin? Thank goodness for air compressors.

With forecasts predicting warmer weather midweek, more swims are planned for Wednesday, possibly Thursday too, before we officially start our family holiday on New Years day.

As we head off to the beach house, a bit of a blogging break is on the cards too.

I hope everyone has had a well deserved rest, and best wishes for 2010.

Stir Crazy

This is a whingy post, so please be advised that it probably is in your best interests to look away now.

Three days in and the kids are officially driving me batty. School is barely over for the year and they are both desperately bored. One of them is just downright obnoxious, and sadly the threat of "Santa won't come" is no longer effective.

Today has been particularly challenging. A 38C day means we are all cooped up indoors, blinds down, aircon on and going just ever so slightly mental. How many craft activities can I be expected to magic up? How many board games am I expected to play? Oh, and I won't even mention the constant bickering, competitive behaviour and nonstop talking.

Today was also the day I had to tackle the supermarket, then crank up the oven in an already hot house to make our Christmas Eve dessert of Buche de Noel, while fending off offers of help from my poor, bored kids.

I suspect tomorrow may be worse.

1973

Mum and me and her hair. Despite my trepidation, no child's Christmas is complete without the visit to Father Christmas. This was 1973, and I was two years old, soon to be three and to have my world turned upside down by the arrival of a brother.

This week saw us visiting the jolly red man again, with our not so little girl. Understandably the too cool for Santa boy declined a photo. I'm treasuring those true believer years we have left because I know that far too soon Poppy will outgrow not only Santa, but the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy (still awaiting the arrival of that one) and the fairies that live at the bottom of the garden.

For now, we are making the most of it and enjoying all those little handwritten notes and special treats that are sweetly littering the house at the moment.

Homemade Cards

Most of our cards were sent out last week, but we somehow managed to miss a few names.

A bit of Ed Emberley art is always popular here, so being the big kid that I am, I played around last night and made a few last minute cards.

So effective and so easy. Much nicer than trying to brave the shops again for more cards.

Presents are mostly wrapped, EXCEPT for Santa's. Why, oh why do these never get done until Christmas Eve? It seems to be a bad habit of ours to leave this delight until after our Christmas Eve guests leave in the wee hours.

Yes, we traditionally host a get together Christmas Eve. A boozy affair which we inevitably regret come 7am the next day, which is when all the neighbourhood kids seem to think is a great time to pop over and compare presents, while bouncing on our bed as they breeze through the house.

I love it really.

Neighbourhood Cheer

These are for our neighbours. Christmas Pudding Truffles. We exchange small gifts with nearby neighbours and it's always something to look forward to. On one side we have an older Italian lady who makes the most amazing traditional sweets for us at Christmas and Easter time. Beautiful wafers, crunchy biscotti and chewy hazelnut macaroons.

The first year I took over some baking caught Margherita by surprise. We had only been neighbours at this stage for about two months and knew very little about one another. After handing over my home baked Christmas Cake, she disappeared into her kitchen, returning with a supermarket brand fruit cake. In a green plastic bag. With a box of crackers.

The following day, I was called to our fence with the sing-song sound of Margherita yelling out: "Louisa....", a loud, but friendly summons to the fence I have since grown very fond of. She had been baking and had a platter of just cooked Crostoli for my family. Things were looking up. Truly delightful but perhaps not as memorable as the bag of pig's fat and trotters she tried to offer me recently....

On our other side is an rather sprightly Greek couple in their late sixties. Here we are treated to Kourambiedes (almond shortbread biscuits) and jars of home cured olives.

Most of our neighbours have lived in the street for many, many years, and although we are relative newcomers having only been here for five years now, there is a definite sense of community.

I'm dreaming...

Of a White Christmas.

And this is every bit as saccharin sweet as Bing's Song.

To accompany yesterday's Strawberry Jam, I have made White Christmas Bars.

My recipe is an adaptation of a magazine clipping, substituting dried cherries for the cranberries, and white chocolate chips for the dried pineapple.

Almond and Cherry White Christmas

1 cup sifted icing sugar

2 cups rice puffs

1 cup desiccated coconut

115g toasted, slivered almonds

2/3 cup sultanas

2/3 cup chopped dried cherries

2/3 cup white chocolate chips

250g Copha

Line the base and sides of a 18 x 28cm pan with baking paper.

Combine all of the dry ingredients, then melt copha (I melt mine in the microwave in 30 second bursts) and mix well. Pour into prepared pan and press until even.

Chill until firm then slice.

The above recipe made me about eight bars, but of course these could have easily been cut into smaller, mouthsize squares.

Jam and Cake

Remember those luscious looking strawberries from last week?

I managed to squeeze in a bit of time this morning to make a few pots of jam, and gosh the house smelt delicious!

These strawberries were from Bacchus Marsh, about 45 minutes out of the city. Super fresh, they needed to be dealt with immediately, as unlike those rock hard supermarket berries, these are perfectly ripe and very perishable.

My 2kg purchase made roughly 10 jars, of which I am gifting six to friends and family for Christmas.

No fancy recipe, just equal sugar to fruit and the juice of two lemons.

Christmas Cakes have been made too, not so sure about this recipe, as they did come out of the oven rather pale but we shall have an official taste test tonight. They are very, very moist.

For now though, I am content with jam and cream. Yum.

Daylesford Shopping

Isn't this just the sweetest little shop?

Lark in Daylesford was our destination today for a spot of Christmas shopping. Admittedly not our only destination, as we had Christmas hams to buy from Istra, a boutique smallgoods producer from the nearby town of Musk.

The shop interior is every bit as nice. I would just love shadow boxes like those.

Knitted goodies (oh, if only I could knit....)

and irresistible brooches for little girls (yes, of course I bought one)

This adorable Shapemaker was the reason for the visit. For my two little nephews.

Other treats were to be found though. Daylesford is a bit of a retail treasure trove. I was very restrained however, and for the most part contented myself with just looking.

Martha Love

I love Martha. A seemingly endless supply of inspirational projects. This little one was great. Crystal snowflakes made with Borax. I had this one filed away in my "Christmas Crafts" folder on the computer last year, and rediscovered it recently. Easy Peasy and very effective.

Three little snowflakes for one of our mantles, in just the sweetest shade of blue. Icicle blue really.

Our other mantle is also Christmassy. A musical carousel, and another Martha project, pine cone elves.

Later in the week we might give these a go. Super cute....and edible.

First Harvest

What a lovely surprise greeted me this afternoon when I headed out to the garden for a quick water of the pots.

Suddenly summer has arrived...in the rather delightful guise of tomatoes. Three different varieties are fruiting already and I am eagerly awaiting the other, later varieties to begin. Earlier on in the year I had grand plans for many plants, but our trip to Cambodia kind of interrupted those plans, and my strong little seedlings sadly withered and died while I was away. The empty pots tormented me for weeks, and then I started noticing tomato plants popping up everywhere in the garden. without any effort, we have managed to grow five healthy plants, and new babies are still breaking through. Good rainfalls have the garden growing rampantly, with very little effort.

Today was market day. Summer is a great time for fruit here in Australia. Mangoes, cherries, raspberries and blackberries all looked fantastic today. Strawberries are ridiculously cheap, so the after school treat today was chocolate dipped. Early next week I plan on making a few pots of jam, and in the new year, will make raspberry and blackberry. The wild blackberries will be ready about February, and I hope to pick several kilos this year, some for jam, some for freezing, and a lot for eating as is. Come winter, those treasures from the freezer are so welcome, as I start to think of warming tarts, pies and crumbles.

Chocolate and strawberries are just a match made in heaven. Especially the delicious dark Callebaut buttons that I can't help but eat one after another. My favourite market stall.

New Best Ornament Ever

So do I. Lets hope Santa reads this....

Meanwhile, wrapping is underway. Go get some of this while it lasts. A downloadable PDF. What could be easier?

With a little practice, you too can be cool.

Oh, if only I had these moves.

More Doilie love

You can kind of see the doilies here, they look very pretty at night, with a bit of light streaming through.

Like the carousel? Christmas decorations are already on sale, and I snapped this little treasure up for next to nothing. Gracing our mantle very nicely.

Note to self: must stop buying Christmas decorations.

Doilie Snowflakes

How could you not love that packaging?

To simulate a Winter Wonderland here in the Southern Hemisphere, I have super starched a collection of white doilies and decorated our windows.

I hadn't used this starch for many years, in fact, not since I trained as a nurse long, long ago. Back in the days of starched caps and nurses capes. Stylish look don't you think?

Anyway, it didn't take me long to realise that nursing was not my thing (too much blood etc etc and all that starching).

The snowflakes turned out well, but try as I might I couldn't get a decent photo. So here's a nice photo in their place. It flowers once a year for a day. This year we were lucky enough to be treated to three flowers, all on the same day. Fleeting beauty, then back to prickles!

Tree Trimming

Earlier this week our tree went up, but due to time constraints, we didn't finish our actual decorating until today.

It's a family affair, nothing really matches, but every decoration is special. Each year we go out and choose one new decoration each. No rules, no theme, just pick the one you like best.

Sometimes it's expensive (I have splurged on the odd one or two pricier ones), but sometimes it's really cheap. One year we all bought handblown glass ornaments, another year we found gorgeous treasures at the local $2 shop.

Along the way we have had a few breakages, caused by swishy dog tails, playful kittens and curious toddlers, but on the whole, we have been lucky.

This is one of my all time favourites. From a tiny shop in the city that usually sells Russian Matryoshka dolls, but imports handblown glassware at Christmas time.

Whimsical (Flying elephants in Christmas attire? Why not?) ones.

and those just adorable because they are drenched in glitter ones.

Meanwhile I have been busy baking again, and the house smells heavenly. A heady mix of spices and toasted nuts, and the pervasive scents of the Christmas Pomanders I made earlier in the

week.

Three kids of mince tarts. And do you know, I can't choose which is best.

Christmas baking

Today was my first day of Christmas baking. I love all the festive food that surrounds the season, the spices, the smells and yes, the sugar.

Cinnamon candy canes

and gingerbread buttons, made especially for tonight.

Christmas card writing.

I took advantage of Snapfish's 50 free photo print offer and ran off a few copies that I will use for my cards. Perhaps not hot pink though....

Mini Chef

What are good pocket money jobs for an eleven year old? We have a few of the

old faithfuls, you know the ones.....bed making, drying dishes, feeding the dog etc etc. But to try and foster a bit of independence, we also have others, like washing a tubload of laundry once a fortnight and cooking a meal.

Tonight's was a great success. Last year Oscar was given Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food cookbook. A really inspiring read for young cooks.

Our dinner was "a cracking burger". Great stuff, and healthy to boot. Easy to follow directions, with lots of pictures.

Looks tasty doesn't it?

To inspire the really mini chef, I ordered some of these fabtastic utensils today. Santa will be popular this year!

Aren't they fun?

Kinderkitchen. Available here.

Christmas Pomander

Today's Christmas craft was something I haven't made for at least thirty years.

Orange Pomanders. Using a simple little technique I wish I had known about when I last did them. By inserting a toothpick in the orange before putting in the clove, a lot of the ouch factor is alleviated.

Feeling slightly under the weather for the last few days, this was the ideal crafting, one that made me sit quietly for an hour or so, and the house now smells so delicious. It used two small bags of whole cloves (about 30g in total), and about 50cm of ribbon.

I put the ribbon in position first, marked out the quarters with a pen, before removing the ribbon and starting to stud the cloves.

I have another three to complete, and am hoping that my little helpers will want to join in tonight.