Our tree went up a little early this year as 1 December fell mid-week. As always we put up the tree with Christmas carols playing, namely Michael Bublé, Mariah Carey and Bing Crosby.
Master P put up the lights, while Miss P and myself assembled the tree and dressed it with baubles. Mr P made himself invisible whilst all of this was going on lol.
The highlight this year was to put on the new baubles purchased in Canada and in the US.
When finally complete with all the presents wrapped, the tree was a thing of beauty.
Christmas shopping
Miss P and I knocked off the Christmas shopping early this year thanks to a Myer shopping night in early November. Yeeha!!!
Christmas Newsletter
We have been sending out a Christmas newsletter for 14 years. The idea was planted out of frustration of writing numerous Christmas cards by hand. Yuk! Now we compile all the events and include a smattering of photos from the past year. This year was especially easy with our US and Canadian trip to write about and the fabulous photos that were taken.
Christmas Eve
The night before Christmas is customarily about wrapping presents and watching the Christmas Carols on TV. Sometimes we are still making brownies or rolling rum balls but either way it's a night that we all, as a family, enjoy being together and looking forward to the day ahead. Sacrilege to some but we open our presents on Christmas Eve to avoid the mad rush on Christmas morning.
Christmas Day
I found this gorgeous dress from Forever New especially for Christmas Day. I love it!
We spent Christmas Day with my niece, nephew and their beautiful family. They have a 2 and a half year old boy which made Christmas so joyous and special. I prepared a baked ham (to our family recipe) and a large potato bake along with lots of baked goodies.
As you can see below the food was out of this world. Turducken salad, filo rolls, baked lamb and vegetables, caesar salad, pumpkin salad, fried rice.
And then came dessert, my favourite! Mini pavlovas, plum pudding, fruit, trifle, pumpkin pie, Greek sweets, brownies, rum balls, cookies, shortbread.
Christmas in Brisbane
King George Square was decorated with a large Christmas tree and City Hall was lit in red and green.
The Queen Street Mall was decked out in decorations and Myer Queen Street had Christmas-themed windows.
It’s customary for hot, increasingly humid weather and plenty of thunderstorms to roll through during the months of October, November and December. A few weeks ago this beauty came through.
The traffic lightens as children go on holidays and schools close down for two months over the Christmas holidays. Shopping Centres and their car parks get crazy busy and people get especially frazzled as Christmas approaches (another reason why I like to get my shopping over with as quickly as possible).
A small break
I’m taking some time off work over the Christmas period – two weeks and two days to be precise. I’m looking forward to spending more time with my family, catching up with my parents and brother's family and getting some extra sleep. I will also try and schedule some tidying up/decluttering so I feel as though I’ve made the most of the time off.
New Year’s resolutions
I’m not one for making bold resolutions and trying to change the world but I do like to look back at the year past and see what improvements I can make or what changes might make the following year more meaningful and positive. Once again I will no doubt stay focussed on us remaining healthy, active and eating well. We may need to get a bit more active to work off our Christmas indulgences.
Best wishes to you all for a blessed 2016.
xx
No comments:
Post a Comment