An Aussie Beach Christmas

Despite cloudy weather, yesterday we shared a most delightful Aussie beach Christmas. In attendance were my mother, my brothers and their partners, and seven children ranging in age from 4 to 15.

The day was relaxing and low-key.

We opened presents then dined on king prawns, cold turkey, ham and salads. An hour at the beach was followed by dessert; a delicious hot chocolate and orange Christmas pudding doused with custard.

Later we played a male versus female game of Trivial Pursuit. Despite a valiant effort by the women and girls, the men won.

(By the way, someone should tell the creators of the latest version of Australian Trivial Pursuit that the Blue Mountains are west of Sydney, not east.)

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too, wherever in the world you are.

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Footware Flair

We were sitting at the hairdresser's waiting for the eldest two boys to have their hair cut when a lady said how much she liked my daughter's vivid pink shoes. (Aussie readers: they were two for $25 at Cotton On and she has a silver pair as well.)

I smiled with pride until I noticed what my youngest son was wearing on his feet.

I truly must be distracted not to have noticed before we walked out of the house.

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Seventeen Days

I feel like whooping with joy.

After a busy and stressful month (year! - it's been an oh-so-steep learning curve) at work, I am now on holidays. For the next seventeen days. Hurray!

These seventeen days will be days when I can sleep in, hang out with my kids, cook, do a little crafting and read, read, read. Hopefully I will also have more time for blogging, which I sorely miss doing regularly.

Even more exciting, on Saturday we are flying to Sydney for Christmas. We will be staying at beautiful Avoca Beach which is about an hour north of Sydney. Our families will congregate there for the week. We haven't had a holiday for two years so we have really been looking forward to this.

Avoca was my favourite place to holiday when I was a child but I haven't been there for about 18 years.

So not only am I free from work commitments for seventeen days, but I am about to spend a week at one of my favourite places in the world with some of my favourite people. And it's Christmas.

Life doesn't get much better than this!

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Our Street Koala

I received a very excited phone call the other day.

"Mum, you'll never believe it. Guess what was walking down the middle of the road when we got home from school. Can you guess?"

It was a koala.

We don't know how a koala came to be ambling down our street less than five kilometres from the centre of Adelaide, a city of over a million people.

Where did he come from? There is not much bushland nearby.

Anyhow, a dog began to bark and Mr Koala skedaddled up a tree. Unfortunately it was a lillipilli and not a eucalypt, so Mr Koala had nothing to eat.

He was still there an hour later when I got home from work, although I understand one of the neighbours had called a vet to find out what to do with him.

He was a big, fat grey fellow.

The next morning we went to see if he was still there but he had gone, under cover of darkness. I hope he (or she) is safe and well somewhere, eating gum leaves and telling all the other koalas about his adventures in suburbia.

image is borrowed from www.allposters.com

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Rosy Little Christmas Balls

Like many Aussies, I know that Christmas and summer are finally here when local cherries are on the greengrocer's shelves.

These glowing, glistening, rosy fruits truly are Christmas balls.

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Bah Humbug!

This year I have felt no Christmas spirit whatsoever.

Being busy at work and managing a very active household has made Christmas something to dread rather than enjoy. The thought of how much I have to achieve at work and at home in the two meagre weeks until we go to Sydney for Christmas left me feeling stressed and anxious. Added to this I had a nasty tummy bug last week that has left me feeling depleted and in no mood to celebrate.

Friday (my day off work) was spent Christmas shopping and cleaning the house in anticipation of our real estate agent's inspection. Saturday brought a list of tasks an arm long which left me with no time to sit down except when I was driving from one commitment to another.

Then last night we had our Christmas tree raising ceremony.

I saw the delight in my six year old son's face as he helped his older siblings decorate the tree. As we read about Jesus birth in Luke, I was reminded of deeper truths and mysteries that indeed bring joy and peace.

I am reminded that Christmas is about giving and sharing, and thanks to God's grace we have an abundance to share.

Today my daughter and I, with the help of Master Six, wrapped the presents for our extended family and put them under the newly-decorated tree.

Now it's Sunday afternoon and I feel truly Christmassy.

I know I still have much to do before Christmas but I no longer feel quite so overwhelmed.

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Luke 2:14 (KJV)

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Christmas Boxes

On the first Saturday in December each year we hold our Christmas tree decorating ceremony.

We begin by reading from Luke in the Bible about Jesus' birth, then I give each of my children a new ornament for their Christmas boxes.

The idea is that these ornaments will decorate our tree for now, but when the children leave home they will each have a box of decorations, one from each year, with which to decorate their own Christmas trees. This is the eighth year we have had Christmas boxes.

Some years I have made decorations but mostly I buy them. This year, with the pressures of work and too many other commitments, buying the decorations was really my only choice.

I try to pick different kinds of decorations each year; sometimes papier mache balls, other times glass or metal decorations. Some I have embroidered on felt, others have been cross-stitched.

Each decoration holds memories for my children of Christmases past.

I love developing new traditions for my family.

What Christmas traditions do you have at your house?

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