Sunday 25 December 2011

Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and safe and happy holiday period!




Chantel x

Monday 12 December 2011

Christmas Tree of Memories

This last week, I have been in a real 'funk'. Not impressed with life at all, and I think at the heart of it, was my angst over not having our Christmas tree up yet (I know, first world problems!) We had chosen our tree last weekend, but as we didn't have a towbar, or access to a ute, we were unable to get the tree to our house - and I didn't really want to part with the $75 it would have cost to have it delivered (only $5 less than the tree........)


Thankfully, this was all rectified on Friday and our tree was delivered and positioned in its rightful place in our living room.


As I have mentioned many times, I am not an organised person. Nothing I do would be classed as 'put together'. I dream of having a house with decor that matches, but this is unlikely to happen. Our Christmas tree decorations reflect this. But when I was putting them up today and telling Master Z about what I was doing, I realised that they are a reflection of our lives so far.


Each of the decorations is embedded with a memory-


Our first trip to Prague:


Apologies for overuse of filters - could not get the light right on any of these photos

From my sister-in-law when we went to Edinburgh with her and my brother:


A present from Disneyland from a special friend:


My favourite Van Gogh painting:



From a cute little shop down a cobbled street in London:



From our Bratislava trip with 3 wonderful friends:


From Lhasa, in Tibet - our 3 week trek to Everest Base Camp, where TBone proposed:



To celebrate Master Z's first Christmas:



A representation of our little family from a dear friend:



The one time I asked TBone to choose something and this is what he came back with - it looks nicotine stained and pretty creepy - I try to put it at the back of the tree.....




And they all go together to form this higgledy, piggledy tree, that we love. They don't need to match, they don't need to follow a theme. They represent our life so far and tell a story of our journey to where we are now.



What does your tree look like? Do you go for a colour theme? 


Just found this to link up to - check out other trees.





Chantel x

Sunday 11 December 2011

Christmas Traditions

I love Christmas. We are not particularly religious, but Christmas has always been a time for family and friends. A time to all get together and eat so much food.

Now that Master Z is in our life, I want to make sure we keep our extended family at the heart of our Christmas celebrations, but I also want to start some new traditions for our little family of 3. Things that we can do together, to bond us and become part of our family story.

Living in England for seven years, we got used to our friends all having 'real' Christmas trees each year and that is something I wanted to keep up here. It is a bit of a different experience chopping down a tree in 40 degree heat, swatting millions of flies away, compared to trudging through snow in zero degrees to find that one tree. Regardless of the temperature, nothing beats that beautiful pine smell that seeps slowly through the house once the tree is up and for the past few years, that smell has meant 'Christmas' to me.

Last weekend, we took Master Z one of the Christmas tree farms that have popped up over the last few years in our Northern suburbs. 

Oh so cute in mini Blundstones!


They have such a great, customer friendly set up, where you are able to walk through the plantation looking for the 'one'. 


Unfortunately it wasn't marked by a light shining from the sky like the Griswold's tree was in 'Christmas Vacation', but we found one that suited our purposes. A nice, 7ft tree that was a great shape and had the right 'look'. You wouldn't believe how picky you get going along the rows - I mean really, surely they all look the same......


This year, I probably was a bit (OK, a lot) more excited than Master Z about the whole experience, but it is the beginning of what I hope will be one of the lasting traditions of our family.

What Christmas traditions do you have in your family?

Chantel x

Thursday 1 December 2011

Sick Days





I have been feeling rough since we got back from our week away. I must have caught Master Z's lurgie and have had an annoying tickling cough and no voice for the last 2 weeks. TBone and Master Z are thrilled that I haven't been able to nag or complain, I have not been impressed that I can't tell them all the really interesting things and words of wisdom I have to impart.


I have had to have time off work as well, which is not something I would normally do. I had last Thursday off, then went to work on Monday and went home after an hour. I then went to the Doctor on Tuesday, who diagnosed viral laryngitis and advised I just needed to stop talking! She may as well have told me to eat a bowl of coriander! I was not impressed. But, she did give me a certificate for Wednesday and Thursday so that I didn't keep going in to work and when coughing up my lungs spread it around our office and my mum has still had Master Z both days. This has meant I have been able to catch up on sleep, read, write, catch up on some more sleep - all without cleaning, cooking, uni deadlines or work to worry about. 


Despite feeling like death warmed up, it has been wonderful and has been a great re-charge. Particularly as this weekend is the start of December madness. Christmas tree chopping down and first work Christmas party on Saturday, with the Christmas pageant on Sunday!


I love December!


This week, I am thankful for sick days, and for knowing my sickness is very short term and self-limiting. I am also thankful for my mum being able to look after Master Z when I need, and for the month of December and all the fun and excitement that it brings.


Linking up with Kate today at Kate says stuff for Thankful Thursday





Chantel x