And so this is Christmas

I thought this was a fitting title given that another year is over and a new one has just begun and I am only just getting this Christmas post finished. My excuse? It's a good one - lots of white paint. Yep, the long painting hiatus is over and there are some rooms getting finished over here, but that is a whole other post.

This Christmas was kind of compressed into a whirlwind few days as we arrived back from Wooli the night before the night before Christmas and needed to fit a lot in. We squeezed the suburban lights in on Christmas eve. This house  had an alternating light show every 15 minutes with a matching musical soundtrack.

We went to the winning street for our side of town which was good but just quietly we think probably not as good as last years winner. There were still some amazing displays and the kids loved the fake snow bubble machines mounted on the roof that would  start intermittently and cover their heads.

Inspired by the map pavlova in the Aldi Christmas catalogue I decided to make my own version. I took progress shots as I suspected the chance of actually pulling this one off without a collapse were slim.

We dug out the Christmas books including this vintage masterpiece I found at the oppie last year but packed away until this year.

Even big kids love pop up books, I just love the vintage colours and pictures.

Liongirl set herself up a cosy chair to peruse the whole pile but this was her telling me she is a big girl now and can read chapter books. She looks convincing for someone faking it until she makes it.

Incredible that after making annual pavlovas for about a decade, this is the first one that did not collapse on removal from the oven. Unsure if that is due to finally having a decent oven or the structural integrity of our glorious continent. There was a dash of continental drift as Tasmania merged back with the mainland but that was easily fixed.

 Despite being up past nine the night before, the kids were up at five, beyond excited to unwrap their presents. It seems that sending Santa a letter requesting not just lego, but the specific numeric lego code for the galaxy squad set that you want, does pay off.

Liongirl was just beside herself with the arrival of that light up pillow pet and the Sylvanian families caravan. We virtually didn't see her for the rest of the day.

Of course given that it was Christmas day and we had both a roast pork and a pavlova in the oven it was the hottest day we have had since we moved home. It's never a proper Christmas until the togs and water pistols come out.

Meanwhile I got to play with my presents,

which were highly coveted by others I might add,

and set the table.

 The new paints were put to good use to create  a painting for Grammy who has her birthday on Christmas day.

Christmas baking was light on this year but we pulled out a last minute effort.

 And finally, we sat down and gobbled that pavlova. I might just have to pop out another one for Australia day I think.

 And that is how you compress a month long ritual into just two days. Happy New Year!

Two weeks of sunshine and colour

As the Christmas break beckons, the end of kindy is finally wrapped up and all I can see is so much seasonal colour all around. The summer sun beats down and all the world is more vibrant. My fox pillow, finished just in time for Liongirl's birthday.

Colourful gifts lovingly unpacked from  the kindy bag.

Oh how I love kindy art work, although that black background did throw me as the only other black thing in this house is the TV.

Shafts of rainbow light striking perfectly placed milk glass.

Rainbow bunting glowing in the morning sun and when the poincianas are in flower, Christmas is just around the corner.

Striking pink peonies thankfully still in season in December, weeks after the wedding anniversary we both forgot.

All that remains of the poor ravaged piñata.

The treasure we will be mowing up for months or even years.

Stumbling across happy play scenes in Liongirl's room.

 Gorgeous bowls for the kindy teachers, to be filled with chocolates and wrapped in cellophane.

One of them could possibly turn up in my Santa sack, no guessing which colour.

More kindy Christmas craft, even more spectacular than the first.

I think this self portrait needs a frame, it certainly won't be used for drying the dishes.

And lastly it appear that the mermaid grotto has a squatter. This cheeky possum had sauntered in one evening through the open deck doors and had no doubt been sniffing around for treats.

Now we can bring on Christmas, I'm almost ready.

Mothers Day Magic

My mothers day was pretty magical this year. My kids have reached what appears to be the best ages for producing copious amounts of home made cards and goodies. They started with these flowers from our local flower market, never before have I seen these two-tone gerberas that Roboboy chose for me.

They followed up with a positive bounty of home made goodness. There were cards,

(it seems I have been upgraded from "best little mama in the world")

breakfast in bed ( the handmade variety), followed up by a real buttery croissant and cup of tea,

artwork from school,

and even some time playing with watercolours together on the day.

My mum and I even popped out to a gorgeous art exhibition at the Botanical gardens, this is the card mum bought me from the artist Nadine Sawyer,

and a lovely much wanted gift from Legoman and the kids, handmade by  Betty Jo at Lino Forest.  I couldn't choose between the sewing machine and the budgie brooch, how lucky that she was having a 2 for 1 Mothers Day sale. She makes these intricate brooches from salvaged linoleum.

All in all, probably the most colourful, love filled Mother's Day I have ever had. (This would be Liongirl's painting from kindy of our new house and Roboboy and I worked on that gerbera painting together).

Lucky

I would never have thought I was a lucky sort of person. I think back when I was fourteen I did win a plant in a raffle. And maybe $50 once on a scratchy. With hindsight, I have now revised my thoughts on being "lucky". What if lucky is not actually winning things or exceptional good fortune, but the absence of significant or catastrophic adversity. Having spent thirty plus years of my life without catastrophic adversity, I never appreciated at the time exactly how lucky I was.

Now that I have been on the receiving end of a high tide swell of adversity that was so bleak and so persistent that I felt close to drowning, I have a whole new perspective on luck. When the tide finally went out, boy did I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. And now every day without significant adversity is a lucky, lucky day.

And do you know by some freakish coincidence that supreme luck and catastrophic adversity sometimes go hand in hand? I know this because I have personally met not one, not two, but three people who have won Lotto. (I have a job where people confess all kinds of secrets) And one of those families, won Lotto in the same year that the husband/father of young children underwent a bone marrow transplant for leukaemia. I would guess that the odds of these two events occurring in one family would be around one in ten million, I wonder how they felt about "lucky".

So, now that I spend every day feeling lucky, how do I explain these prizes that keep arriving in my letter box? Lovely  Ellen Giggenbach had a giveaway of a choice of any print in her collection a while back and this is the one I chose. She makes all her  prints by hand from cut paper art  and the colours and patterns are retro-licious.

I am hoping to order this one for Miss Liongirl when Ellen re opens her shop.

With this flurry of new year sorting and organising I finally grabbed a handful of nails and threw up all my favourite prints and thrifted paintings and embroideries. This wall is going to be demolished in a short while so I did not even need to be precious about all those holes.

And there is nothing better than winning the prize of a book you really,really want to read. Elaina from A Little Bit Country NZ picked my name out of a hat for her prize of A Home Companion by Wendyl Nissen. I am about half way through but can say I feel very positively towards any author who advocates that all mothers need to escape for a few days in their own vintage caravan several times a year and if this is not possible, to at least harness a "caravan attitude" and carve some space for just themselves.

Thanks so much Elaina, this is a most wonderful and timely gift. The other books, well they were my heavily hinted for Christmas presents, this is a time of year for reading and new inspiration. The little book bottom left is indeed by the lovely Ellen who sent me the bird print, David Jones also stock some of her notecards and journals and I was lucky enough to stumble across one.

At the very start of the year I was lucky enough to win a beautiful calendar from Jodi at Che and Fidel.
Pop over to Ella Leach Designs if you need a family style calendar for this year, I thoroughly made use of mine in 2012 and they are beautiful.

And even the boys were not neglected in the giveaways this year. We were the lucky winners of a Lego City Alarm game from Em at The Beetleshack and every time Roboboy gets me on his own, we have been playing it.

Now all I have to do is find four things to send to the op shop so Betsy and I can remain in a neutral stuff balance for the year.