Ghosts of Christmas past

Today is Christmas Eve.

It's almost Christmas and that has me thinking about Christmases I have had before.

I remember that at one point as a child I had a big plastic sack which Santa put presents in. One year, when we still in Sydney so I was between 5 and 7 years old, I awoke to to see some of Santa's beard stuck between the door and door frame of our flat. I guess that explained how Santa made it it a first floor unit with others above it. I was thrilled. Suddenly there was a tangible thing that told me Santa was real.

We had moved from that flat before I turned eight but I also remember lying in my bed on Christmas Eve and seeing a red light which I was convinced that Rudolph was guiding Santa to my place. These are my two next memories of Christmas. When Christmas was still magical. That's the feeling I hope my children have when they are adults.

As I got older Christmas lost it's shine and the magic faded. Then one year I meet Mr E. My parents would always invite people who had no where else to go (his family lives interstate) over for Christmas lunch. And so he came and had Christmas lunch with us. I guess from there the rest is history.

If we ignore last year (when we had to leave him home because he was unwell and close to going to hospital while we went to Sydney for about 30 hours so we weren't actually together on Christmas day) then this is our 19th Christmas together. Once we had children then Christmas regained a little of the magic it had in the past. In fact I don't remember us having a tree before Boy Child was born but despite that the mainstays of the Christmas pasts for me - watching the Carols by Candlelight, having hot Christmas lunch continued.

We did Santa photos with Boy Child but Girl Child hated Santa so much that we have maybe 3 Santa photos wit her and one of her and Boy Child sitting on Santa's chair without him In the picture. So I don't have a set of Santa photos of my children that I had wanted but that's okay.

This year is my 12th Christmas with out my Dad and my 4th without my mother. Yesterday I received a Christmas card from my mother's cousin and it made me feel odd. I'm one the adult getting cards from the rest of the family. In one way I'm proud it finally be considered an adult and on th other hand I'm sad that my parents both died quite early. My children have no memories of their Poppy and Girl child has very few of their Gran. That makes me sad.

Anyway, tonight I will be sitting down and watching the Carols with my family and tomorrow Mr E. will be cooking a hot dinner on our new Barbecue and rotisserie. While we don't have a trifle or Christmas cake or some of the things I remember from my childhood, it will still be good. I'll have the lunch I enjoy and my beautiful family around me. Plus we aren't going anywhere so we can spend the day in our PJs if we want to.

I hope whether you celebrate Christmas or not, whether you have family to celebrate or not that tomorrow you have a lovely, happy day.

An Early Christmas

On Saturday morning we got up early to leave home about 7 am to attend an early with my extended family. It's lovely that they include us as we have no family here. My kids get to exchange presents with my cousins children and hang out with them all day. It's nice as we don't really spend much time with family.

Boy Child is the oldest of them all but two of my cousins cousins (does that make sense?) also have 13 year old boys so Boy Child wasn't actually the oldest there. Girl Child slots in as one of the older children and she enjoys playing with the younger children, so they both had people to talk and play with. Plus they got Christmas presents so they had things to do or play with as well.

They were both lucky enough to be given some cool and much wanted things. Girl Child has now got a 'Boy Barbie' aka Prince Nicholas from Barbie's Princess Charm School and two real ZhuZhu pets. Boy Child got iTunes and movie gift cards and will be going to his first ever concert in January. They are very happy and the presents we gave seemed to go down well, too. Lunch was great and relaxed. All we had had to bring were drinks and some nibbles which was very good because we almost didn't make it. With only 10 minutes to our destination, our car died at a set of traffic lights. Not a great thing to have happen anywhere but especially not at a busy Sydney intersection.

Mr E. and Boy Child had to push it through the intersection onto a slightly quieter road where we parked it. I called and got a family member to pick us up but poor Mr E. got stuck waiting for around two hours.  Firstly for the roadside assistance and then the tow truck. Thankfully, I had gotten the premium roadside assistance which meant that we were covered for a hire car to get home and they would bring the car the three or so hours drive back here to the car dealer.

So we are home and the car is getting fixed this week. Who knew a new clutch and flywheel would cost over $3,000? It's not a great thing to happen the week before Christmas but at least this year Mr E. managed to make it interstate. Last year we left him home as he was really sick and was close to being admitted to hospital. This year he managed to get sick (again!) but antibiotics have helped him enough that he had been able to work half days and come interstate with us. For that I am very grateful.

Now we just have to get Christmas food for us and we are ready for it. Oh, maybe I should actaully make and send some Christmas cards - if I can find enough motivation. Plus some toys and treats for the animals at the RSPCA.  I'm looking forward to our nice quiet Christmas at home. I'm actually feeling the Christmas spirit.

Which parts of the Silly Season are you looking forward to the most? Are you feeling the Christmas spirit or are you feeling Bah Humbug about it?

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

While Girl Child and i were yesterday at home with her tummy bug, we decided to do Christmas things. We made some shortbread stars and snowmen.  This year we made some chocolate as well as the normal ones. The ones on the left aren't burnt, they are just chocolate!

I also cheated a bit and added some water instead of the entire amount of butter so they are less short than normal but still very yummy.

Once they were made, Girl Child set about decorating our tree whilst listening to Wiggles and Hi-5 Christmas CDs.  I’m thinking we should get a new tree as we had this one for Boy Child’s first Christmas and it’s just a bit over a meter tall from the floor to the top of the star.  I’m also thinking we should get new Christmas music as the CD’s have the original Hi-5 crew and Greg as the Yellow Wiggle. Lots of nostalgia for me, there.

 

Yes, the star is crooked!

I have also put up the garbage bag wreath we attempted from Kate Says Stuff – Easy Pease Rubbish Bag Wreaths. Ours doesn't look terrific but the thought was there.  Of course Boy Child says it can’t be a Christmas wreath because it’s the wrong colours.  We only had Yellow and Purple bags so that’s what we did.  And yesterday we found the little cross stitch that my grandmother had given me  quite a few years ago so that is the Christmassy enough for me.

Now with those things all the in the house plus the two and half hours shopping I did today it’s really beginning to feel like Christmas for me.

What things make it seem Christmassy to you?

December: the busy month

It seems that everyone I know is busy at this time of year. I am trying to organise a dinner for some Mum’s at school who I used to catch up with for coffee regularly. They are too busy for coffee and all have different commitments on different days so I’m not sure dinner will be possible.  I have found an evening where only one person can’t make it but I probably shouldn't go either because Mr E. is supposed to be at something and his was booked first.  Of course when I asked him he had forgotten about it and said he would be home. Now we have realised that we may be double booked he has been very gracious and said that I can go to my thing, if only everyone else would actually commit!

I feel that I’m not really busy as I have been to one end of year function.  I was invited to a school P&C one which I turned down as I felt that I hadn’t really done enough this year to deserve that invitation. We also have Girl Child’s end of year school concert, an award presentation for Boy Child and an early Christmas with the extended family.  When I write it down like that it does seem like a few things.  Perhaps I’m mistaken in my belief that I don’t have much on.  Maybe not.  I guess I compare it to people who have 2 or 3 different work functions plus the social side of their lives as well.  This is when working at home makes me feel isolated.

Then there is Christmas shopping.  Mr E. and Boy Child are both sorted with their family presents.  In fact, they have both them for a while.  Girl Child is getting a number of small things from us – books, a doll etc.  I’m probably going to wait until after the early family Christmas to see what else I can get her. She also wants to tell Santa what she would like this year. At our place Santa only gives little things because he knows how many other people will buy them gifts.

I need to get both children gifts from my sister and my grandmother as well as gifts for my cousins’ 3 children – I’ve done the other 3 already.  I was planning on doing that today between Reading at school, Girl Child’s award in assembly taking Boy child to an appointment and then catching up with a friend (we have been trying to do this for maybe 5 weeks!) but Girl Child is home apparently sick with a tummy bug so my plans are in disarray.  No reading, no assembly, no shopping and probably no catching up either! I don't want to spread the bug around. 

Well… I’m off to make shortbread so that we can put the Christmas tree up.  That’s the tradition I started –  eating shortbread and / mince pies while decorating the tree.

Image from Taste.com.au

If I make these fruit mince filled Shortbread Stars I’ll have all my bases covered.

What are you up to?  Have you got things organised?  Are you busy being social this time of year?

Post Christmas Wrap up

Hey peeps! How are you all?  Did you miss me? Well, I have missing visiting you all now have 168 posts to read. Prolific bunch aren’t you?

I hope those of you who celebrated Christmas had a nice time and enjoyed time with your friends and family.  I hope those of you who lost loved ones during the year managed to have great memories of those you lost and that your loss didn't; overshadow the enjoyment of the day.  The first year is the hardest and the sadness does lessen over time.  But I know that it’s very tough. So hugs to those of you, struggling with your grief.

So what have we been doing in my blogging absence? Well, the kids and I went to Sydney to have Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my extended family.  It’s the fourth year in a row for us there.  The first was the one just before my mother died and that seems to have started a tradition.  Now my traditions are things like eating shortbread while putting up the Christmas tree and watching both lots of televised Carols (the Domain in Sydney ones and the Vision Australia ones from Melbourne). It seems the extended family Christmas is now one as well.  Mr E. didn’t come with us this year as he is unwell and it was touch and go whether he ended up in hospital on IV antibiotics.  Basically he decided that he’d prefer to be at home alone rather than end up in hospital in Sydney. So for the first time in 17 years Mr E and I were not together for most (if not all of Christmas Day). I’m still feeling a little unsettled about that but Mr E. is slowly getting better and will probably avoid a trip to hospital which is what we really want.

The kids and I went to the beach on Christmas morning, then to a morning tea, present opening and lunch with my family.  We had a lovely day.  The food was great and Boy Child ate PORK and HAM! Apparently ham tastes like cabanossi (huh?).  He even ate steak in public when we took out my Grandmother out on Christmas Eve.  How proud are we?  Very! He was also extremely helpful at the Christmas Lunch with carrying things, playing with the little kids and impressed many people by trying new foods.  Lots of people commented on how mature he is and how helpful.  We are so extraordinarily proud of him.

Girl child had fun playing with the cousins particularly the two littlest. She shared beautifully and was lovely.  She is very nurturing. We are very proud of her too.  Except maybe of the 5.45am wake up we had.  Not a great start when you have a full on day and a 3.5 hour drive in the evening.  But she was happy to find her stocking had a present in it. 

We made it home safely. Tired but happy that Mr E. was doing well and grateful that we had family to spend the day with.  I hope you all enjoyed your celebration, not matter what or where they were.

It’s been a Momentous week!

This week has been a very busy but exciting week.  As you know, Girl Child finally got over the chicken pox and managed to return to school for the last 3 days of Year 1. She was so excited to go back to school she was completely ready to leave at 6.30 am on Wednesday.  She got to hand out Christmas cards and say goodbye to her friends and her teachers. I had 3 days of freedom and even managed to do most of the Christmas shopping. Plus I got a haircut and even had some foils put in.

Boy Child finished Year 6.  It’s the end of his Primary School Life, next year he starts High School. He is growing up so fast! The graduation was on Thursday morning and Boy Child received an Academic Excellence Award.  We are very proud.

Thursday evening there was and Year 6 graduation Dinner and Disco.   Boy Child went.  He had fun with his friends, danced and ate roast beef!  Yes that’s right the boy, who has basically subsisted on nutella sandwiches and chicken nuggets and chips since he was 3, ate roast beef.  Scary, huh?

Even better than that it was the third day in a row that he had eaten foods out of his comfort zone.  Now he tried sausages back in October at a Birthday party (so he wouldn't upset the hosts by not eating) and he ate hot dogs at home here. This week he ate two sausages for dinner on Tuesday, tried steak on Wednesday, apparently ate 3 sausages at a school sausage sizzle on Thursday and then ate roast beef at his graduation dinner.  OMG!!!  I am so very proud of him.  This year he has tried a huge (for him) number of new foods – pizza, carrots, blueberries, watermelon, strawberries,  sausages, frankfurts and steak. Now some of those he doesn't like but the majority he has actually liked the taste of and is willing to try or again and for some even eat on a regular basis. Go Boy Child!  We love you very much and are so impressed that you have tried new things.  Oh yes,  and for finishing Primary school and getting an Academic Excellence Achievement Award.

Today I went over to the dark side…

No, I haven’t converted over to Dark Chocolate.

I went to the Target Toy Sale.

ON THE FIRST DAY!  How scary is that?

I actually wasn't there to go to the Target Toy Sale.  I was there to pay for my Car Registration, and to do some other stuff.  But for some strange reason I choose to go today and it was the day the Target Sale started. I have heard Horror stories about these Mid Year Toy Sales.  Stories of frantic people taking things out of other peoples trolleys, lay-by queues wrapping around the entire store and shoppers ramming each other to get to the last item on the shelf first.  I have even heard of people (crazy, perhaps) going at 12.01 am when the sale starts just to get a particular item.

So I was at the shops and it suddenly hit me. The Toy Sale started today!  Despite giving Girl Child and Boy Child the brochures to look at and in Girl’s case to circle her dream items, I never really thought I would go in the first week that the Sale was on.  But as I was there this morning I went in.  And it was calm.  I don't know maybe I was there at the eye of the storm but there were no ramming shopping trolleys, people were polite and there was space to wander around.  Which is what I did for 90 minutes.

I picked up things, and carried them around for a while before finding a pull along basket.  Then I picked up some more things, added them to the basket and wandered around towing the red basket behind me.  Eventually I put some things back and bought some books and craft type items to be put away -  probably for Christmas.  I did not buy computer or console games as I figure by the time Christmas comes they will be cheaper and the kids may not even like them anymore.  I didn't not buy Littlest Pet Shop or My Little Pony things despite knowing how much Girl loves them and says “I need them, Mum.”

It was not quite the adventure I expected.  I actually didn't mind wandering around for the time I did.  I saw, I shopped and I conquered.  I didn't bring home a trolley full of stuff and I don’t have buyers remorse. Go Me!

To everyone else in Australia who went today or plans to go: Good Luck and I hope it is / was as calm for you as it was for me.

Yesterday was a blah day

I left the house only to go the clothesline and the mail box.  And i didn't get out of my pyjamas at all!  Just couldn't be bothered.  Not sure what it was really.  A combination of things, i guess.

Firstly everyone (huge generalisation I know) seems to be on a fitness kick.  I read post about people losing weight, getting fitter and healthier and I feel bad and go and eat biscuits.  No motivation to get healthier here this week.

Guilt. You see it’s school holidays. School goes back in 2 weeks. We have done nothing of not.  Okay, we did go to Sydney for an early Christmas, have seen a movie and Girl Child had swimming lessons for two weeks.  But nothing of note: no going to the coast, no visiting relatives interstate (apart from the day and a half for the early Christmas), just some play dates at the pool after lessons and shopping. 

I’m sure there are others but they are the two main ones.

So today I got dressed, and even left the house for bread and milk which turned into having coffee and chocolate and getting stuff to make tacos for dinner.

So dinner was made and I decided to give the kids and I a different night and so we are camping in our yard tonight.  Will be interesting as Girl Child can’t sleep without the light on and we have only ever been camping once before almost 5 years ago. If we manage to make tonight perhaps we can camp out tomorrow too and that will count as one of my 101 in 1001.

Wish me luck!

Favourite Photo of the Year

The lovely Clarissa tagged me a few days ago to show my favourite photo of the year. It fits the Best theme for the January 2010 NaBloPoMo so that's good. I’m killing two birds with one stone so to speak.  It was a tough choice but today I think this is my favourite photo of 2009.

 

It’s of Girl Child and Boy child and was taken at our early Family Christmas.

I’m going to tag:

Emily (who takes gorgeous photos) check them out here.

Anella, who is also gifted in the photography stakes,

Stacey,

Tabitha and

Lastly (but certainly not leastly) Tasia D.

Best Trip - Day 2 NoBloPoMo Jan 2010

Well it’s Day 2 and I’m blogging and it is only afternoon.  Must mean I”m off to good start.

As I’ve stolen / borrowed / been inspired by the Gwen Bell list of things I wasn't sure if I should blog on the best Trip of 2009 or ever. So I had thought I would write about both but as I’m not sure what is the best trip ever I thought I would start with the best trip of 2009 and see if or when I run out of steam / time / words.

Best Trip of 2009.

Easy to choose this one.  It was our early Christmas with my extended family on 19 Dec 09. I have already blogged about it here.

So why do I consider it to be the best trip of 2009?

Well first off we (as a family) don’t actually do many trips and this one was nice.  The kids and I do go away more than we go as a family mostly because there are school holidays that need to be survived filled with activities, Mr E. doesn’t like leaving his broadband is busy and we have pets which will need to be kennelled and looked after.

Plus it feels as though I am now relating to my family on an adult level, which is great. And I am getting so much better at the whole hug thing.  Very much needed as I have spent most of my life hating to be touched. Of course - Mr E., Boy Child and Girl Child were the exception to that.

The children all play nicely together.

And my extended family has not yet fed me something with Gluten in it.  As a Coeliac of 14.5 years that is very impressive given how often my parents managed to poison me with gluten. 

So that is why it was the best trip… oh and maybe because Mr E. needed to get back home for work so we actually only stayed away for 1 night and Boy Child can cope with that amount of time at my grandmothers.  And this meant there were no meltdowns!

Early Christmas Wrap-up

We went away on the weekend to have early Christmas with the extended family.  Okay, my extended family.  My Grandmother, aunt, uncle, cousins, spouses, their cousins, their children etc.  All up 32 people! It sounds daunting but it was lovely.  Relaxing.

There was lots of food.  Good company.  No opening expensive bottles of wine as happened last year but it was nice.  The children all played together and there were no major issues. 

Well there was me raving about Oprah.  Yes I was raving about the  Jenny McCarthy Mother Warrior thing and then the O Magazine publishing an article which is less than supportive of Jenny McCarthy which I kind of find hypocritical.  Anyway I did rave at my cousin in law about this which was kind of funny in hindsight because he didn't know who Jenny McCarthy was or that Boy child had an ASD.  It was at that point he decided he needed to play table tennis.  Probably mostly to escape me! Poor B.

Anyway, the early Christmas was good catching up with relatives, watching children open presents and play together and just being. 

Then we went to stay at my Grandmothers over night.  Normally I’d watch the Carols but as we were guests I wasn't sure we were going to be able to.  Grandmother was happy to watch them with us so we all sat down to watch but Mr E. went to bed about 30 minutes in and Girl child  went to bed as soon as the children’s part was over.  I followed not long after that. We drove home again the next morning as Mr. E has lots of work on.   In fact he worked about 12 hours on Friday but still had time to pick up the DVD I wanted.  He didn’t want me to blog about what a bad husband he was he told me. The power of the blog!

So we came home.  Having seen a photo of myself with my grandmother I decided I was in dire need of a haircut.  I had also just been given Boy Child’s Christmas Wish list I figured it was my last chance of child free shop and I ran away to the shops.

One haircut (I no longer feel as though I am going to have a mullet – thank goodness) and some shopping later I was home.  Poor Boy child’s list was mostly unfulfilled but he has some more stuff now than I had for him.

Not long now and soon it will be 2010.  Time flies when you are having fun.

I have Christmas Spirit!

I was over reading Quixotic’s Blog a few days ago… more specifically I was reading her post about Gingerbread when I decided I really truly needed mince pies and shortbread. these are the two things that I really like for Christmas and the Gluten Free versions available in the shops are fairly expensive so i have taken to making them myself.

So what better to do on a Saturday afternoon but bake.  So  I started to make mince pies and Girl Child joined in.  Eventually we had 11 mince pies and 3 trays of shortbread.  We have shortbread angels, Santa’s, stars and snowmen.  Yes I let Girl child choose what shapes we had. Some of the angels have unfortunate accidents and no longer have hands, and some there may be a snowman what a leg but things mostly turned out well.

The mince pies on the other hand should look like this:

Or this:

the ones we made today have pastry that is a little dry and quite crumbly. Thankfully they actually taste okay just look way less than ideal.  I think mine look a little like they have been run over in the driveway.

Of course no one will be eating them except me so it’s all good. 

Let’s hope someone in the house has some restraint and there will be some left for the Carols we watch on TV.  Unfortunately we will be interstate staying with a relative next Saturday so we may miss watching the Carols in the Domain but here will still be the Carols by Candlelight on Christmas Eve. 

I love watching the Carols.  I’ll sit and watch them even if everyone else is doing something else, just me and my candle and my shortbread and mince pies.

Now I have some Christmas Spirit.  Not sure how long it will last for but it’s here for now.

Loss, grief and general pissedoffedness (yes I know it’s not a real word)

Okay, I’m having a weird day.  I have felt as though my brain has been in neutral most of the day.  And then I read some stuff and had this urge to cry.

Maybe its the obscene amount of junk I have eaten lately or maybe it’s the whole dealing with the extended family thing which almost always does my head in.  Or maybe it’s just the end of the year and I’m tired and grumpy and just generally blergh.

The whole grief and loss thing started when I was reading Stacey’s blog with the whole 5000 questions thing. 

121. Have you ever lost someone without having the chance to say goodbye?

132. Were you ever with someone while they died?

Oh yeah… Most days I could answer those questions easily but I have been feeling edgy.  I have been told that what I describe as Edgy is actually anxiety but I prefer my version.  Of course now I have Bruce Springsteen lyrics running through my head….

Right back on track or as on track as I am going to get tonight and No I have not been drinking alcohol!

So those start the whole grief/loss train heading away from the station and then while surfing the net I find this article An Inconvenient Youth: Raising Children with Autism.  And that just rips me up inside. 

Maybe it’s because in 8 days it will be 5 years since Boy Child’s Aspergers Diagnosis (he was in his first year of full time school just as Girl Child is) or the fact that those parents have people to talk to about their children, or maybe because my Grandmother kept referring to Boy Child as Those People on the weekend. “Does Boy Child have any friends? So and So has said Those People have trouble with that.” “So and So said that Those People have issues with having their hair cut.”

Really Grandmother?  I didn't know that. I’m sure that having lived with an ASD child for over 11 years I must have missed that one.  Dripping sarcasm here.  I think I have just jumped from the whole whiny loss / grief thing into the pissed off part of my blog. I just find it amusing that information that I have given her isn’t true until it is said by someone else.  Of course they have worked in the area so they obviously know so much more than I do (probably very true as I really only know my boy) but I think I may know more about what effects Boy child more than someone else.  But then I am only a mother!

Way definitely over the sad part of this blog now.  So here are just a few of the things that I am feeling pissed off about today in no particular order:

• The TV being on in our house. It seems like it is on all the time. Yes it keeps life calm here but it still bugs me.
• Having cleaned the house and Girl Child has trashed it again.  Seriously I think I should just throw the things she leaves around in the bin!
• The amount of junk food we, as a family, eat.
• Smiley Dog needs an expensive operation to make him feel better.
• The fact that I’m tired and grumpy and should be in bed asleep but am blogging instead.  Yes I do need to get my priorities straightened out.
• I comfort eat when I am stressed, sad or angry.
• If I want a Christmas present I will probably have to buy it myself and Mr E. is just to busy at work to have the time.  And he probably hasn't thought about it anyway.

Right. I really need to go to bed or I will be even grumpier tomorrow.

My Christmas Spirit has gone AWOL

It’s sad really.  Only 18 days until Christmas and I have no motivation in the whole event at all.  I have presents to buy, mince pies to make and kilos to lose but no motivation to do any of it!

I need to buy gifts for:

Boy child,

Girl child,

Mr E.,

Probably my grandmother,

Probably my aunt and uncle,

Two nieces, and

My various cousins children – 4 girls. Thankfully I have something for the youngest.

So at least 6 presents need to be bought by 18 December.  And If I am getting the adults presents as well that’s another 3 by the same date.  And I have no idea what to get anyone.

Mince pies – I have the pastry mix and even have the fruit mince but couldn't be bothered making them for when we put up the Christmas tree.  Luckily I found GF shortbread at the supermarket.  So I ate that while we put up the tree yesterday.

Tree decorating did not go smoothly.  Boy child and girl child have different decorating ideas and co-operation is not part of that.  Boy child even suggested that he decorated the tree and then Girl Child could decorate after him.  This did not go down well.  However, the tree is decorated and no blood was shed.

This is NOT our tree. I wish it was. In fact ours is much smaller and looks more along the lines of this:

 

Only slightly taller and overloaded with decorations.

Mr E. has wandered past and suggested we drink lots of Strongbow (Cider) in order to have this tree next year.

I can see blood being shed if either Girl Child or Boy Child got near this tree. At this point taking up drinking to get enough bottles seems like a good idea.

But that would also ruin the whole kilos to lose plan unless I gave up eating and just took up drinking alcohol.  Perhaps that would work. No, maybe not.  Anyway I had had a grand plan of being fitter next time I saw my extended family but it has not happened.  Which is sad and makes me feel quite self conscious. But there is no healthy way of getting a lot healthier and fitter in 12 days so I think I should just give that up as a lost cause.

So everyone whether you do Christmas or not, please send me some motivation or my family will be very disappointed!

Thank you.

Blog This Challenge 24 - The Real meaning of Christmas

What does Xmas mean to you and your family?
Have you got some traditions?? 
What will you cook?! 
Who will you spend it with? 
Got a favourite Christmas memory? 
How are you decorating??

Christmas…..to me Christmas means family.  To Boy Child and Girl Child it seems to be about presents.  Particularly Girl Child.  You see at some point I had the brilliant idea of asking the children to show me in the brochures what they would be interested in for their birthdays or Christmas.  Since then girl child has taken to the whole marking things in brochures like a duck to water!

A lot of brochures arrived recently, which Girl Child has attacked with a blue pen.  This afternoon she brought me a particular brochure and said “Mum you have to look at this one.  The sale finishes tomorrow.” I think perhaps my little consumer has worked out I generally only buy stuff on sale.

Back on track to me Christmas means family.  Now family could be our little nuclear family just the four of us.  Or it could be like last year with the extended family - 26 people.   Either way, I prefer it when Christmas is relaxed. 

Food wise

When it’s just the 4 of us we do the whole hot baked meat and vegetables thing.  Mr E. is so much better at roasts then I am so in the fast he has often cooked the meat of Christmas eve and the vegetables on Christmas Day. 

We have baked ham, roast pork and baked turkey breast roll.  We also have normal ham. Dessert is Christmas cake or Christmas Pudding or fruit mince pies with custard. Sometimes we have had the Ice Cream Christmas cake instead of pudding / cake and custard.

Traditions

For us Christmas food really starts with me making Gluten free shortbread and fruit mince pies. Usually the shortbread is in Christmas shapes.  I really like the stars the best and I wish mine turned out as uniformly as these ones.

I decided when Boy Child was born that we should have our own Christmas traditions.  So one of those is that we (okay mostly just me) eat shortbread and mince pies while putting up and decorating the tree and later in December watching the 2 televised Carols by Candlelight.  Mr E. loves chocolate coated almonds so we always have those in the house as well for Christmas.

When I was growing up, Mum would not let anyone touch the Christmas ham until Christmas morning when it could be cut and you ate ham on toast for breakfast.  We have sort of continued that and generally have ham on toast or ham and eggs for breakfast.   But regardless of what Mr E. thinks I’m not precious about whether it gets cut early!

Santa comes to Boy Child and Girl Child.  They leave him some shortbread and mince pie and some milk.  The reindeers get a carrot or an apple.  Santa leaves a small gift for the children because he knows that they have family who will give them things.  The gift from Santa is put in a stocking or if it doesn't fit, Christmas tree decorations show the way from the stocking to the gift which is not far away.

The children have their own tradition of having chocolate advent calendar every year.  I think my mum started it a few years before she died and so now we continue it for them.

In the lead up to Christmas we often buy a gift or gift card for someone from the Giving Trees at the big stores.  We also (or sometimes instead) buy food and toys to give to the animals at the RSPCA shelter.  I hope that doing these things makes our children understand more about the joy of giving and of helping others.

Decorations

We have no specific decorating scheme.  It’s usually just “Okay kids you want to decorate here is the stuff.   Go for it!”  We have an artificial tree that is about 110cm tall with fibre optics so it has lights.  We have strings of beads in red and silver, we have little bells in various colours and other baubles.   We currently have a star for the top of the tree.  Of course I can’t forget to mention the the hand made decorations that have come home from day care and school.

Our tree often ends up overly decorated on one side but is beautiful because the children (well mostly Girl Child) put lot of effort into in the decorations.  I am hoping we can get away with not listening to Christmas Carols in the car until about February.  In my experience is only so much Hi 5 Santa Clause is coming, Santa Claus is coming you can take!

Favourite Memory

This isn't really my favourite memory but it does explain why the presents don’t go out under the tree too far before Christmas.  One year I have no idea why but I seemed to be spending a lot of time at home alone.  So I managed to open up my Christmas Present from my family interstate and discovered I was getting a Donkey Kong game.  If you are old enough you might remember them - here’s a picture from Wikipedia:

Anyway I opened the present and got the game out and played it most days for probably the two weeks before Christmas. On Christmas morning I had to pretend to be surprised at my gift when I opened the present. I still have it by the way.

At this point I don't know whether we are staying home from Christmas or going to see family interstate.  As long as we are together, safe and healthy it’s really all that matters.

Thanks for reading my first Blog This challenge.  I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did reminiscing!