The christmas eve family ninner worked a treat despite being so late. I suck at timings but at least there were a lot of yummy nibbly things to tide people over.
Seeing the other sis and bro-in-law and the kiddlings was simply delightful after such a long absence. Who lets kids grow-up like that?? Irresponsible I say.

Everyone came back for brekkie and present frenzy which was also deeelightful. The kilo of smoked salmon we'd bought was demolished which made me happy.
Lovely presents were given and received, the kids only got a smidge too many pressies and then a smidge curious if there were even more.

Brunch at Mim & Richard's was delicious and very very pleasant. I mostly restrained myself and thus avoided the normal sugar coma I struggle through in the afternoon. More lovely presents for all.

We had about two seconds at home in the afternoon (long enough to repack the car and let Torby have a little bit of quiet time before heading over to S&G's to help set-up for ninner.
Sooo much really really yummy food, so much lovely company and we managed to stay awake until at least 10pm.

Hopefully hunnyyydddd will forgive me for eating and running today at lunch (more delicious delicious food) but packing and car swapping and quiet time has been accomplished.
Nw has made a tasty tasty omellette for ninner, I've nibbled on some rocky road ala megzz and now amd so very ready for bed.

It's been a big couple of days.
I've had an absolute hoot (It probably won't surprise any of you, but I really really really love christmas..it's all about family and friends and food and presents and sparkliness - what's not to love?) but I'm glad it's a 365days until we get to do it all again.

So I hope that you all had a day as lovely as mine.
I hope that you felt special and loved and that you had time and opportunity to revel in good company.

brave torbyboy is brave

So last night was immunisation day for Torby.
We'd prepped him that he was going to get 2 or 3 injections and that they may hurt a leetle bit but he had to keep really really still and if he was very good and brave and stayed still until they were done, he'd get a treat (a lollipop was the treat of choice)

Well, he astounded us all by not even whimpering!

Stayed absolutely still and was okay about getting the second one and everything.
Much was made of his bravery and his two (two!) bandaids and the lollipop was devoured in seconds.

I swear he was better at getting the injections than I was about my blood test earlier in the day.

Sometimes he really does amaze us.

m-m-m-m-madness

4 sleeps to go!
4 sleeps to go!

4 sleeps until christmas madness

well, for me it's really 3 sleeps to go.

For us the madness will begin on xmas eve ( DrQ noted that people incorrectly use Xmas as a less religious alternative to Christmas - I use it becaue I am lazy) with family ninner (oh please let the forecasted rain not happen until after bedtime, please, please, pretty please) and sleepovers and the present frenzy with the childrens and then brunch and then ninner and then boxing day bbq x 2 and then in a car for forever and then family campling for a week.

Madness I say! The best kind of madness really.

But first we have to get through Torby's immunisation (tonight), the final pressie shopping, and a lot of grocery shopping.

Bring it!

1!
1 clean, vacuumed bit of floor space in our bedroom.
Bwahahahah!

Now to juts pretend the rest of the room doesn't exist.
Luckily Nw decided to have a nap on the bed thus saving me from being able to do anymore.
Now I get to cook a dish for tonight's festivities and potter about some more.

Then I get my reward of chums and wine and food and surly santa and all sorts of good stuff
Hooray for Chrissie Pissie!
Hooray!

One of my favouritest christmas carols is 'Carol of the Bells' (the other one is Little Drummer Boy)



or a more normal version ...

my baby at his 2nd birthday party

oliver posing, originally uploaded by house of charlet.

awww

he's certainly changed a bit in two years

Chicken Sammiches of Deliciousness

From the Donna Hay wedding magazine

500g chicken breast fillets
1cup whole egg mayonnaise
2tbl salted capers, rinsed & drained
3/4cup finely shredded basil leaves
1tbl finely chopped red onion
1tbl finely grated lemon rind
sea salt and cracked black pepper
125g baby rocket
24slices white bread, crusts removed (I actually assemble the sandwiches and then cut the crusts off. It's easier and you get to nibble on gooey crusts)

Bring a frying pan of water to the boil, reduce heat, add the chicken breasts & poach for 4minutes each side or until cooked (Lies! waaaay longer than 8minutesis needed and that's even after I slice the breasts in half to make them smaller)
Remove chicken, allow to cool and chop finely.
Combine everything except the rocket (and the bread, obviously) and smear on half the bread, pop the rocket on top, the the other half of the bread, slice off the crusts, cut into thirds, use leftover crusts to scrape the bowl clean, make vaguely obscene moans about how good these are and then dash off to the party.

(I may have started writing my instructions rather than hers somewhere along the way..oops)

images

They both made me smile

book book book burk!

This site, booko, is teh awesome.
Type in what book you're after and it does magical things and gives you a list of how much it costs from various places in AUD.

I loves it I do.

It may, or may not have been used to get a Nw christmas present.

Shhh

strangely appropriate

the quote of the day
"Traditions are group efforts to keep the unexpected from happening."
- Barbara Tober

give me lists, lots of lists and the starry sky above...

A comment from Spyd has prompted me to organise myself for upcoming christmas food extravaganza.

Is it wrong to find lists oh so very comforting?

XMAS EVE NINNER

Crab and corn cakes
Beetroot dip
Eggplant dip
cheese/crackers/etc

Butterflied Lamb on BBQ
Cous Cousy vegetabley stuff
Asparagus w/ pancetta
Moroccan style carrot salad.

Raspberry Moscato Jelly w/ spiced cr?me fraiche
Apple Tisane jelly

fish fingers and frozen peas and normal jelly for the kids


BREAKFAST

Bagles with smoked salmon and cream cheese

BRUNCH (M&R)

Egg Florentine bake (PW)

DINNER (S&G?S)

Pork Belly from chinese bbq place (Buy on way to/from brunch)
Turkey from R&J (deliver beforehand)

BOXING DAY (MEL AND STREET PARTY)

Sausages, lots of sausages (buy soon and whack in freezer)

CAMPING

Oh dear god, I have no idea and my brain is now meltiiiiiiiing

Now to figure out the shopping lists and the timings. Oh and the camping food.

To my son on the occasion of his 4th birthday

Happy Birthday Torbyboy,

4years ago today you were born and oh how you changed our lives.

The smile on your face this morning when I wished you a happy birthday a beautiful thing.

The glee with which you opened your presents was deelightful and the hugs and kisses we got afterwards made my day.

I am so proud of everything you've learnt, the compassion you show, the strength and intelligence you possess.

I still marvel that despite our faults, you seem to be growing up okay.

I love you and thank you for making my world a better place.

ZoZo and J "help" make the house more christmassy

ZoZo and J "help" make the house more christmassy, originally uploaded by Miss DV.

the cute, it burnt

all frocked up

Last night was Rowany Yule Feast.

My observations from the evening are as follows;

• All SCA events should be in air-conditioned halls.

• Wearing a big frock is nice despite the many layers and the being squished.

• Food should come out earlier rather than later.

• Yummy food is yummy even if it is several hours late.

• My friends make me laugh. Often at inappropriate times.

• Seeing old friends is quite lovely especially if you don't get to see them often enough.

• My friends scrub up pretty darn good.

• There should be more babies for me to hold. Babies with flailing limbs and thigh rolls. Babies with dimples. Babies who are teensy. Babies who grab my fingers and try to see how tasty they are. Babies who wail and scream about the indignities of life and stop for a few seconds when you start singing to them.

• The post-wearing-fake-hair-and-lots-of-it-headache is always dull.

• it would be desirable to have a child who understood that mummy got home late and is a bit sore and sleepy and no she really doesn't want to come play a game with them, she wants to lie in bed for a few more hours. If anyone has a child resembling this, please contact me ASAP for a swap.
  

I scurried off to my work christmas party yesterday afternoon.
Had a lot more fun than I was expecting.
We did some bowling at a place in Darling Harbour and then onto the pub.
I really only meant tot stay for one drink but all of a sudden it was 7pm and trains had to be gotten.
I blame the niceness of sitting outside near the water on an absolutely glorious summer day. The sky was so so blue, the water so so sparkly. It created it's own vortex I tells ya.

Now to go pull the house and garage apart to find various items to wear to Yule Feast tonight. Wish me luck, this could be painful.

My Saturday by MissDv

There's the riddle/problem solving thing about the fox, the chicken, the bag of grain and getting them all across the river.

Saturday was a case of 4 parents, 4 kids, 2 usable houses, ballet lessons, at least 2 parents needing to prep for the party and I'm sure there was a goat there somewhere.

It was all sorted in the end and due to us ending up with ZoZo for her naptime while Jamie had the other 3 meant that not only did we get a lot of prep done in a short period of time, but also the christmas tree decorated, lunch eaten and I even got to lie down for 30minutes.
Althought the combo of Torby and theNoodle in the morning worked well because they kept each other entertained by making me a garden (dirt in pots with bits of grass sticking out), playing with Bionicles and watching dvd's. Not the same dvd's mind you, but dvd's nonetheless.

Oh and we had our lovely carpenter chum in to do a few final things to the living room windows.

Really, chaos doesn't even begin to describe it all.

Torby and Zozo's party was a hoot. So many children running around the park like mad things. The kids got delightful presents which were unwrapped in a frenzy. There was nummy cakes ala Meg and a fabulous pinata she'd found. Instead of whacking it with sticks, there were dangly strings that you pulled on instead and one of them would open it up. Kinda awesome.

I loved that Torby was so very good at saying Thank You and giving hugs. He did make me giggle by demanding to know if various presents were for him or ZoZo.

MissFliss has some lovely photos on her flickr account. She'll need to have you as a contact though if you want to see them. I took a few and will put them up when I'm home tonight.

After the park, a few people came back to our house for pizza and beverages and more running around for the children. Finally convinced Torby and the nieces to go to sleep at about 8:30/9 o'clock. You'd think that after a such a big day, they would all have a sleep-in? Oh no - the birthday kids were up at 6am and I think bellabel held out until at least 7. Sigh

It really was a lovely if hectic and exhaustifying day. Glad it only happens once a year and maybe the next one will involve less chaos.

It's an important skill

Things To Do

Dot point day

• My dad was in unexpectedly town on Tuesday night (communication is for other people) so we all trotted out to ninner. The highlight of the evening was being given the crystal dresser set that belonged to mum.

• I have just cleaned off the bbq. It was disgusting *shudder*

• It's Torby and ZoZo's birthday party tomorrow. the morning shall be spent making chicken sammiches of delicious doom. Nummy nummy sammiches.

• I never suspected that having a backyard that has a big pile of dirt in it instead of grass would be so very handy. Torby and the other kids (when they come 'round) love playing in it and making mud pies. Oh the joys of getting so very dirty!

• It was the Petersham Bowling Club's Christmas Party last Sunday. The kiddlings had a hoot on the jumping castle and meeting santyclaus (who arrived in a fire engine of course) and running around like headless chooks. Us adults had fun watching them and sitting in the shade and sipping beverages. It was pointed out that we fit oh so neatly within the InnerWest demographic it was scary.
  

• There was a meat tray raffle - I won it. Victory Lamb tastes oh so delicious :)

• Tomorrow will also be christmas tree day! Hooray! We will probably end up buying one from the local fruit & veg store rather than going to the farm and chopping one down oursleves. We appear to have run out of spare time to do the latter in.

• Our living room window have been removed, fixed, painted and put back in all shiny and working again. This brings me great joy.

• I've almost finished the christmas shopping. The last remaining presents just require me to go to MonkeyPuzzle.
  

• I must away and continue trying to get my hands back to the way they were - not smelling like detergent and bbq grease.