My beautiful Christmas present!

How lucky am I?!  My man surprised me with a beautiful ring.  Perfect fit too.  Feel very lucky.  Wonderful surprise.  I love the ring!

Christmas at Mum's House 2011

Mum has created such a wonderful Christmas experience for the kids.  They love going to Nanna's house and every year they count the days till the tree goes up and the decorations come out.  The house is filled with so many decorations that its hard not to get in the festive mood.  There is always a new Santa novelty decoration.  One year it was climbing Santa, another was 'sensor' Santa that danced when you walked past.  The kids have so much fun.  This year was toilet Santa.

Below is Nanna's Christmas tree with stockings on the mantle piece. 

The kids love the surprise treats in their stockings.

Mum and I normally just add chocolate to each other's stockings, and

add another 5 kilos to our hips!

Santa is on the way

I feel a tremendous amount of satisfaction at my accomplishments today;  the presents are all wrapped, we got a few extra gifts today without any drama, we enjoyed a nice lunch, the food is read for tomorrow and the house is clean.

The only thing left to do is to write on the Christmas cards.   For me it can take a while to find the right words without getting too melancholy.

Litte T our Cat

Taking a nap from his hard day of chasing bugs and watching the birds!

He has made Master G in to a big softy.  Its so nice to watch.  Little T has been so

wonderful for this family, there is so much love, affection and playfulness that has

come out in all of us.  Little T has also brought more laughter than I thought

possible.  And I thought our family was funny and crazy enough!!

Love our home

I really do love where we live

Feeding the birds by hand

Painting and hangout,

Little T the cat always by our side (as he creeps past in this photo)

Finding jelly fish, star fish and shells at the beach

(Master G makes me very clucky when he plays with the kids.

He is so good with them.)

Only for the Brave!

It has to be done.  There is no option but to face the crowds, the parking mayhem and hordes of determined and tired mum and dads amongst the teenagers that hover in the walking paths of shopping centres.  Yes, today I faced the shops to complete the Christmas shopping.

Thankfully my work car spot is close to all the shops so without much hassle I parked and strolled in while chatting to mum about her Christmas preparations.  I was in such luck when I went looking for Master G's present, the shop assistant was helpful, shepointed me in the direction of my next gift which was the only one left.... I got served at the registers right away.  Slowly, the crowds of shoppers weren't so bad, the Christmas music playing got me in the spirit and I smiled to myself as I looked for gifts for the kids.  I did do some miles walking from when end of the huge shoping centre to the other and then back again as I tried to work out if I had everything I needed.  Next year I must do a list!

As my feet began to ache I finally sat for lunch at 3pm!  Sushi Train beckoned me and a cup of green tea.  ooooh, nice, this was good.  Shopping complete, no stress or drama.

On my way home I talked to Master G, he was loading up the kids new iPod Touches, which was proving more challenging than he thought.  Glad we're getting it done today!

I sat in the kids room, listening to some easy music and wrapping presents.  It was a good feeling.  In the background were some frustrated grunts from Master G as the iPod registrations weren't so smooth.  All in all, great day!

 

Yearning for a holiday

2011 has been a big year. I'm exhausted. Emotionally it's been a roller coaster too but I'm wiser and stronger for it. Was the Universe testing me on my decisions, perhaps. But I'd really like for the Universe to help with a holiday. Just small little breaks would b fine.