Christmas Pickings

A change in our living circumstances this year has meant we don't have a garden, at least not much of one to speak of. We have land, a huge expanse of vacant lawn, but lack of inspiration and the short-term rental thing means we haven't done anything out there. But we live at the end of a little dirt lane, one that I meander down regularly. And a recent wander revealed a bounty of produce. So one evening last week, my babes and I went a-foraging to see what we could see.

When we returned, we had a big bucket of wild plums, a posy of pretty weeds, apple branches that we twisted together with some mysterious berried shrub to form our Christmas wreath (and the tiny apples looked quite festive, too, in a glass bowl) and a bunch of spiky holly. It brightened up our 'for now but not forever' home beautifully. All in all, a festive foraging success.

Oh, and Merry Christmas! I hope yesterday was fun and messy and noisy and a just little bit excessive - it certainly was for us.

{I'll be back in a couple of days to show you what we did with those wild plums}

Tree

I was digging around for my Christmas spirit. I knew I'd left it somewhere. After the year we've had, the loss, the massive change, I wasn't sure where it could be.

And then, in the space of 24 hours, we hit up a local carol evening, and sang and danced in the rain. We drove home via the crazy lit-up Griswold houses. We visited Santa for the obligatory half-thrilled, half-terrified photo. We travelled along beautiful country roads to pick out a tree and cut it down. And we chose a corner of our home in which to set it up and decorate it.

And suddenly, there it was. Suddenly I was making pompom garlands and homemade gifts for teachers, downloading Bing Crosby and ordering ham. Every evening we turn on the lights and do a stocktake of the pressies underneath the tree. 

No, you can't open them yet. Yes, you have to wait till Christmas morning. 

Only three more sleeps.

Handmade Christmas Giveaway

Head on over to Christina Lowry Designs - I'm featured today! And better still, you can win an incredible selection of handmade goodness for Christmas, including one of my hand-knit hats in the winner's choice of style and colour. Quick, it closes tomorrow!

Sunday Lovelies

A sample of the loveliest lovelies from the past week, and beyond - making up for the lack of a Christmas post this last year.

1) Cousins.

2) Before.

3) After.

4) Thanks for the purple bubbles, Santa. Not messy at all.

5) I'm sure there are similar photos of me, my siblings and cousins at this age.

6) Ladybird.

7) A woman's work is never done.

8) Fruit picking in our own backyard!

Wishing you all a lovely, lovely week.

Merry Christmas

I thought I'd take a quick moment away from the kitchen, and the making of the jellied ham terrine and frozen berry meringue parfait, to say me-e-e-e-erry Christmas! Thanks for your support, kind comments and good cheer this past year. 

I'm going to take a little break until the new year is upon us. Wishing you all a wonderful end to 2012, lots of relaxing time with family and friends, and some seriously good tucker on the buffet tomorrow.

Ho, ho, ho!

Subdued

When all about is red and green, silver and gold.

When everywhere is technicolour and bold-print and sparkle-glitter-sparkle.

When everything is jingle bells, ding-dong merrily, hark the herald angels sing.

When volume levels are increased to deafening, and visuals are just as loud...

How soothing to sink into these beautiful, undyed natural hues.

As soft on the eyes as in the hand.

Wending its way into tiny newborn hats for the shop.

Like knitting with bunnies and cotton wool and creamy hot chocolate.

And reading? Nothing. Completely nothing.

It doesn't feel right.

But I wanted to post in the last Yarn Along before Christmas anyway. 

Wishing all the lovely knitters out there a soft, gentle, natural, soothing festive season.

On the Last Day

We have been focusing so much of our energy on next year's momentous 'first' - big school - that I almost forgot the significance of today, her last day of preschool. She's been spending part of her week in some form of day care or preschool for three years, and today it is over, complete. She has been a little emotional. Make that a lot emotional. Wrapped up in all the end-of-year excitement, the Christmas tree cookies and cards from her little pals and presents for the teachers, has come the slow realisation, for her and for me, that time is a-rolling on and we are powerless to stop it. When she expressed her sadness today, I crossed my fingers behind my back and told her she could choose another year of preschool if she really wanted it. And she said no without hesitation. She's opting for the unknown, the adventure, the big wide world. Because without even realising it, she knows that's the right choice, and it's what she wants.

Homemade rhubarb chutney for the teachers suggests we are far more organised and crafty at this end of the year than we really are. It is chaos around here.

And I noticed that my last post was my 500th. That's quite significant. Milestones all round.

Ornamental

My Christmas ornament for the swap is complete, finished, done. I took Tania's wise words into my day yesterday as I embarked on my third attempt at getting this right. I'm far from a perfectionist, but I got the yips once it really dawned on me that it was going to hang in someone else's home, not just here at my place with all the mess and chaos. So instead of "aiming for a look of perfection", I've got wonky and funny, but loveable nonetheless. 

It should be said that I am neither an embroiderer nor a patchworker. But of course I thought I'd give both a bash. Tis the season for trying new crafts at the end of the year when you're really quite busy and really should have gone with something you know like knitting...tra-la-la-la-la...la-la-la-la.

One might fairly surmise I'm not much chop when it comes to drafting a five-pointed star either. Wonky? Uh-huh. 

But loveable.

My recipient claims to like Christmas, and Christmas to me means red and green. And although it mightn't be apparent, the patterns on the embroidered side were traced from some Christmassy cookie cutters. It doesn't get more yuletide than that.

I hope my far-away swap partner likes her funny little star. It shall be winging its way to her tomorrow. I hope it arrives in time.

Thanks again, Christina, for organising this fun, only slightly stressful, event!

(Amazing woman she is, she's now launching a fantastic 12 Days of Christmas Giveaways. Do go and check it out - a prize a day for 12 days!!! And I have some inside info that there will be some very, very nice stuff on offer.)

Oh, and because I know you'll ask, the beautiful button is part of the latest haul from my dealer, the Craft Queen herself.

Christmas in June

They came, we gathered, we cosied in front of the fire, we danced, we drank and we ate.

On the menu:

 - Overnight slow-roasted pork. It went into the oven at 2am and stayed there for 12 hours. Worth every minute.

 - Crispy roast potatoes and sweet potatoes

 - Olive oil bread with tomato and parmesan

 - Braised peas with spring onions and lettuce

 - Green beans tossed with garlic and local hazelnuts

 - Roasted beetroot and goats cheese salad

And much, much later...

 - Rhubarb and vanilla apple crumble with ice-cream.

Cheers from the family!

Here's what we ate the last time we gathered for Christmas lunch.

Preparations

You can sense the excitement in the air. They're coming from all directions, making their way steadily from Singapore, country NSW and Melbourne for that most festive of occasions, Christmas in...June. The menu is being planned, champagne being shipped in, impressively large joints ordered from the butcher and chair shortage issues discussed in earnest.

While we adults reunited for a very special wedding a few months ago, the offspring haven't been seen in the one room together since way back here in September. This Saturday we'll be seated around a (very long) table once more.

Jingle all the way!

Christmas Morning

A pictorial journey - because after four days of eating and drinking, that's about all I have the energy for.

Back tomorrow with something less...lazy.

Hope your Christmas was as lovely as ours.