Christmas 2019

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

We had a lovely Christmas Day just the 5 of us for the first time ever. With family spread out, bush fires, work commitments and a busy year,  Christmas Day this year was a much quieter day than previous years. As we usually host Christmas, it was definitely a different vibe!

Noah began our day nice and early at 5.30am due to excitement and the need to check if Santa had been! There is nothing better than a child's happiness on Christmas morning. Bliss!

We pottered around in the morning speaking to family and wishing them a Merry Christmas, preparing lunch and the boys playing with their new gifts.

I set the table using my beautiful hydrangeas as the centrepiece. Everything else was kept pretty simple to complement them. I used my yellow gingham napkins as they hadn't been used in a while, gold chargers + cutlery and metallic crackers were the finishing touches. A shiny, festive feel.

Even though it was just the 5 of us for lunch we had all the trimmings. Turkey, pork, roast veggies and stuffing balls and of course 3 different desserts. It's not Christmas without enough food for leftovers! Mum popped over after work for a late lunch so there was plenty to go around ;)

So Christmas is done and dusted for another year. I have pulled all the decorations down already and packed them away due to our renovations, so the house is back to normal.  Although I always feel that the house looks a little bare once the Christmas decorations are down. 

It takes a couple of days to settle back into normality.

How was your day? 

Lately - the pre Christmas edition!

The boys have been on holidays for a few weeks now and we are getting into a slower holiday rhythm. As the countdown to Christmas is on the boys are getting VERY excited for the big day!

I thought I'd do a quick round up of a few things we've been up to lately.....

Our elves have been busy each night and give us a giggle each morning when we find them in their different activities.

I love the other Christmas touches around the house, like the cushions in the boy's bedrooms....

The circus is in town and we had a great night watching all of the circus acts,  listening to the Christmas songs and riding the dodgems, slides and having a go on the clowns.

We visited Santa while we were at the shops, the boys discussed their Christmas wish lists.

I wanted a photo with all 3 boys with Santa but everyone's schedule didn't match up.

So I improvised!

We did a little bit of baking and made some chocolate Christmas trees and fun little Christmas chocolates.

We went out one night to look at all of the Christmas lights, it's always a great way to get into the festive spirit.

Hydrangeas always say Christmas to me so I got a bunch for Christmas Day.

And on unrelated Christmas news the building work on our apartment above our garage has begun. The slab has been laid and the other work will begin in January. 

We've also been keeping up with all the bush fire news and praying for rain soon to help put out all of the fires. So thankful and appreciative for all of the hard work the fire fighters have been doing.

How have you been lately? x

Christmas Day 2017

Merry Christmas! How was your Christmas Day? 

It was a lovely relaxed Christmas at home. It was a smaller group this year as we have family overseas and out of state.

Here's a snippet of our day .......

The boys laid out their Santa sacks and left some treats out for Santa and his reindeers. I love that there is still belief in the Christmas magic in the house.

One of my favourite parts of Christmas is setting the table for Christmas lunch. 

Hydrangeas always say Summer and Christmas to me so I kept things simple with several bunches of them in the middle of the table, a faux garland weaved around them and a few gold baubles.

Once the family started arriving we had a few nibbles and a drink and exchanged gifts.

Our Christmas cocktail this year was a combination of gin, elderflower cordial, lemon juice and soda water. I had a few requests for the recipe and the quantities we used for our mason jars. 

So here it is....

Mason jar - 3 litre capacity

400ml Gin

300ml Elderflower Cordial

2 litres Soda Water

Juice from 2 large lemons 

(or 3 smaller lemons)

Garnish with lemon wedges and ice.

All the trimmings for lunch. Pork, crackling, turkey, roast veggies, corn, potato gratin, stuffing balls and fresh bread rolls. Gravy, apple sauce + cranberry sauce on the side.

Noah especially loved the Christmas crackers this year and was very keen to hear all of the jokes inside! The jokes were as still as corny as ever! 

Dessert was Simon's pavlova and my Malteaser/Raspberry Ice cream cake. 

Also a small plum pudding and custard for the traditionalists ;)

The boys finished off the day with a swim and it was Christmas over for another year.

How was your Christmas Day? Did you host at your place?

Christmas themed treats

At this time of year the amount of parties and social occasions kick up a notch and it's fun to take along a little christmas themed treat to share and celebrate the festive season.

I made the reindeer christmas bark and then the next week the reindeer cake. 

I wanted to use up all the eyes, red mini m+m's and pretzels ;)
I found the eyes in the cake aisle at Woolies.

Here are a few other ideas I came across on Pinterest that you may want to try - 

Christmas tree brownies

Reindeer on a stick

Malteser cake - I've also seen this done with ice-cream

Kiwi fruit Christmas tree

This melted Snow man bark is cute!

Christmas light cupcakes

Santa pancakes

Vegetable Christmas tree

Have you given these a try before? Tempted to give something a go, let me know!

Our Christmas 2015

We've had a really lovely Christmas this year. It has been a more relaxed pace than previous years and I have to say I like it!

The boys were excited on Christmas Eve to put out their Santa sacks and leave a snack out for Santa and his reindeers. I love the magic and wonder of Santa and that whole Christmas vibe, especially while the boys are young (well 2 of them) I am soaking it up while I can. 

Christmas morning started at the respectable time of 7am. Santa sacks were rummaged through and we all oohed and ahhed over the gifts that Santa had left.

We only had a small group of us for Christmas lunch this year as most of the family had travelled to QLD and some had to stay in Sydney due to work commitments. Even with a smaller number of people there was still an abundance of food! It wouldn't feel like Christmas otherwise! ;)

We started off with a platter of nibbles and then had the usual turkey, roast pork and crackling, veggies, stuffing balls and Babymac's risoni salad.

Dessert was a pavlova made by Simon, plum pudding and custard, fruit and Jasper's favourite chocolate cake Christmas tree. Although he told me later that he now prefers vanilla cake, so this might be its last appearance! 

 I enjoyed dressing the table up for Christmas. It's one of my favourite things to do.

I went for a natural feel this year with a hessian runner made with some fabric from Spotlight, hydrangeas and some warmth added with gold candle sticks and copper mugs. Place cards were mini chalk boards and I made the wreaths from long sprigs of rosemary. Foil balloon letters stuck to the mirror added to the festive feel.  I decided on Christmas eve that I needed shibori/tie dyed napkins in blue so I made them myself. Too easy!

To make them I folded some of the napkins and popped a few rubber bands around them and the others I grabbed bunches of the napkin and put an elastic band around. 

I soaked them in the indigo dye for about 40 mins and they were done.

All in all it was a wonderful day, full of fun, food and spent with loved ones.

We even managed to get a family photo!

Today has been a quiet one at home, pottering around finding homes for all of the gifts. The boys have been playing happily with their new toys and leftovers have been eaten for lunch.

I've began pulling the Christmas tree and decorations down and restoring the house to it's usual state.

I like to have everything back to normal before New Years Eve, ready for a fresh start.

How was your Christmas? I hope you had an amazing day!