Christmas Day

Merry Christmas to one and all

May you have a joyous family day

May you have a day to remember

May your family and friends be as close as you want them

Christmas Eve Tradition

I managed to find several Christmas Books over the years and have started a lovely tradition in our family of reading them on this lovely night.

I have the usual great one....
"Twas the night before Christmas...."

Which we all know so well with the stockings hung by the firplace and visions of sugar plums dancing in our heads.

And then I also have the New Zealand flavoured one....
"A Kiwi Night Before Christmas"

Twas the night before Christmas, and all round the bach
Not a possum was stirring; not one could we catch
We’d left on the table a meat pie and beer,
In hopes that Santa Claus soon would be here

We children were snuggled up in our bunk beds,
While dreams of pavlova danced in our head;
And Mum in her nightie, and Dad in his shorts,
Had just settled down to watch TV sports,

When outside the bach such a hoo-ha arose,
I woke up at once from my wonderful doze.
I ran straight to the sliding door, looking about,
Jumped out on the deck, and let out a shout!

The fairy lights Dad had strung up round the door
Let me see everything, down to the shore.
And what did I see, when I took a peep?
But a miniature tractor and eight tiny sheep,

It has a true New Zealand flavour to it and compliments the traditional one so nicely.
By the way, a bach = a holiday house by the beach

So that is how we end Christmas Eve as we try to settle the boys down to sleep on a sunny light evening with the temperature still warm and the humidity still high!
Do you have a tradition that you love to follow on this day?

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!

Shh It's Christmas

Yes Christmas is coming, well for those that have maybe been asleep for the last month and had forgotten!
We are so close yet I am missing a few things and have found 1 thing.......

Missing

I have the Christmas spirit which is great, just a shame that "The Book Depository" did not quite have the same spirit that I had! They managed to screw up thousands of orders coming down under to New Zealand. Consequently the wonderful new addition to our family, that little mischievious "Elf on The Shelf" didn't arrive until 2 days ago.

Therefore he has sadly had to go into hiding until next year. Never fear, I have welcomed him into the family and shown him round the house, feed and watered him for his long sleep ahead and explained the situation to him. He is perfectly happy to finally be in a new home and not stuck in a shipping container at the immigration warehouse, so is happy to not meet the children until next November/December and has now gone away. He will be back though.

Missing

One thing I like about Christmas is the music. I love Christmas carols and I doubly like singing along to them. However this year I think someone is trying to tell me something......as yesterday I sadly got struck down with Viral Laryngitis! In plain simple terms.....I have lost my voice!

The boys think this is funny and my husband cheered! I hit him.
The boys have been unwell with viral infections since Dec 1 and I knew it was only a matter of time before I gained something. I just wish it had been their cough and cold instead.
Ok I feel really quite well, apart from a little tired and no voice, but that is not helping us get everything completed in time for the up coming holiday.
I was sick last Christmas from Christmas Eve through till just before New Year, so I can't believe I am so close again. Hopefully the cough and cold will never come near me and the voice will have returned before Tuesday!

Found

With everything that is missing at present it is lovely to find something that has been missing.

I have found a job

I have secured a position at the hospital 3 days a week.
It has only taken me 6 months! However when they tell you that they had over 70 applicants, shortlisted to 4 and you get the position then you start to  realise just how hard the job situation is at the present moment.
We have never had a situation like this in nursing for as long as I have been a nurse!
There has never been an abundance of nurses there has always been a shortage of nurses!
The jobs have just been few and far between and when you do find something worth applying for so does 50 other people. I have been shortlisted several times for interviews but sadly there has always been someone just slightly better qualified than myself but this time it was my turn, yea for me.

So on that happy joyful note I will wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful joyous New Year.

Friend Making Monday - Christmas

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here at: All The Weigh so we can all see your FMM questions and answers.

Please invite your blog readers to add their links so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

Christmas Questions

1. How will you celebrate the holidays this year? As normal we will be relaxing at the caravan at the beach. Although we are spending Christmas Day at my mum's house in Rotorua.

2. What’s the weather currently like where you live? We are heading straight into summer, so it is getting warmer. Shorts and T-shirts have suddenly appeared from everyone's wardrobes!

3. Do you decorate your home for the holidays? If so, share a picture please! I love decorating for Christmas but I have to be in the mood.

My mum brought the boys one each of these advent draws when she lived in Spain, however the draws are very small so nothing every gets put in them it just sits and decorates instead.

This was brought to signify a very special year in our family

In 2001 Steve and I went to London for a holiday, we treated ourselves to this snowman and reindeer as a reminder

I collect snowmen, so this is my new decoration for this year

Alex wanted the Santa to keep the snowman company!

4. What is your favorite Christmas movie? As it is heading into summer here then I notice that they don't seem to play many Christmas movies, however, I love them. I use to love Miracle on 34th Street, but I will happily watch Christmas movies, so any really.

5. What is your favorite Christmas songs? I so love Christmas songs. 'Oh Holy Night' is a favorite but I will happily put on a Christmas CD and sing a long all day. I have discovered a new album this year ........ a Christmas one by Lady Antebellum (Who I love listening to so much) it is called "On This Winter's Night" it is a beautiful album and the songs are gorgeous. Some traditional some new.

6. Do you have an advent calendar? Yes, I have a tree that I purchased from Avon many years ago. It has drawers underneath that are numbered. So you decorate the tree one day at a time. I love it. I got it in England many years before I moved to New Zealand. So it is very special to me. It has a wind up key on it and playes "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" as the tree spins round.

7. Do you prefer color lights or white lights? Coloured lights definitely

8. What is your favorite food to eat over the holidays? When I lived in England then Christmas meant mandarins and Quality Street Chocolates, warm food and lots of it.
Over here in New Zealand, with it being summer then it has moved on to Strawberries and lots of fresh summery food.

9. Do you display a live tree, or do you prefer fake trees? I like a fake tree, sorry. Although I have had a real tree one year when we stayed home for the holiday period. Seeing as we always go away at Christmas and someone else lives in our house at that time then I have fake as it is unfair to ask them to care for a real one!

10. What would you need to make your holiday perfect this year? No rain! Last year we all got flooded at the campsite. It made for a fun holiday watching all the campers in tents packing up in 20cm of water! But otherwise just happy healthy family to have fun and laughs with.

Christmas Spirit

I am not sure whether unemployment is doing it or if things have changed but suddenly this year I seem to have found the Christmas spirit.
My husband has known for years, well at least since I was pregnant with our youngest, that as much as I love Christmas it just seems to take me a long while to get into it and then suddenly it is Christmas Eve and we just go with it!

When I was pregnant with Alex in 2004/5 I lost the Christmas spirit, big time.
How I got through Christmas I am not sure, how we even had presents for family members or food on the table at my Sister-in-Laws I am even less sure of, simply put....it is a good thing we went away that year to someone else's house as otherwise Steve would have been at home with a 1yr old and a pregnant wife who couldn't have cared less!

This year I seem to have got it together, ok the Christmas cards are not written and posted nor is the Christmas Letter with all our news from the year, but other things are coming together.

Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas

This year I am taking part in Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas. And so far I am loving it. Ok I haven't written anything or taken any pictures but the thoughts that are running through my head means that very soon there will be a sudden influx of words and pictures and I am hoping I can keep up!
I am loving receiving a new prompt each day and this is making me think about Christmas. The memories are flowing and suddenly I am enjoying every day of December.
More on this to come in another post soon.

12 Days of Christmas

I will post about this seperately but I found an awesome gift for the boys Teachers on Pinterest which occurs over 12 days.

In basic terms they receive a small gift everyday for the last 12 days of the school term.

Today is Day 1 and the gift was well received by both teachers, Ben's teacher was so happy and smiling, there were hugs all round and she was so enthusiastic for tomorrow.

I will share the link and details soon, just have some pictures to take for it.

The Diary

In normal this time of year fashion, the diary in the kitchen is full. In fact if someone offered me a job now I would ask them to let me start in January as I surely couldn't fit in any work in the next few weeks!
But everything is flowing and fitting together nicely. We haven't had any double ups this year, nothing that is happening all on the same day, everything has found its day and fits in nicely with other things we have planned. It means we don't have a spare day between now and Christmas Day but it is going to flow smoothly till then.

Now if I could just get rid of the pain in my wrist (tendonitis/tendinopathy) we would be firing on all cylinders!

Coming Soon....!

Here is proof alone that someone is arriving sometime soon.......

This little man pointed it all out to me!
Even that they had reindeer waiting and that one of them was Rudolph!

Proof Rudolph does exist!

The local shopping mall all ready to go for the imminent arrival of all the helpers leading up to Christmas

Countdown

Did you know that there is only 82 days until Christmas??
I can not believe that so many people are reminding us about it.
On Facebook and Blogger there seem to be reminders all over the place.

I guess it is now time to have a quick sit down with a cup of whatever you drink and see if there is anything you need or want to achieve/finish before those 82 days disappear?

Do you have some home made presents on the go that need completing?
Have you something to send overseas that needs organising to be able to get the early cheaper post?
Do you have a goal you are hoping to achieve?

For me.....I want to lose 3 more kilos, that is 1 per month.
That is what I have been achieving since February and that is my goal for the year.
Oh and also to finish my degree but seeing as that will be complete in 3 weeks time then I am not worried about that for now as I know it will be achieved.

So what are you aiming for...?

Merry Christmas

All the very best to you and your family on this Christmas Day.
May you have food, fun and laughter to see you through the holiday.

Merry Christmas to all

Quick Christmas Treat

At this time of year there are numerous morning teas, lunches and afternoon teas to attend.
And of course you are always asked to bring a small plate of some description or other!

Now I mentioned about some cool little recipes I discovered on Paisley Jade the other day.
This time I have discovered one of my own and will happily share it with you.

You require:

1 pkt Mallow Puffs

100g white choc buttons or melts

enough red or green smarties, M&M's, pebbles, Jaffas etc for 1 per mallow puff

Method:

Place the Mallow Puffs on a tray.

Melt the white choc buttons

Swirl white choc on top of Mallow Puff and add a coloured M&M.

Place on plate and continue with next one.

There you have it, simple little Chocolate Christmas Puddings.

What I Miss at Christmas

I have been here in New Zealand for the past 13 odd years, would I ever leave, depends where we are going, but would I move back to England...never!!

Even if it has taken me all this time to get use to having Christmas in the sun, I still miss loads to do with Christmas.
As much as we celebrate everything here, it definitely has a different feel to it.
I love the warmth of the sun but miss the warm snuggled houses with the fires roaring and everyone wearing their latest christmas inspire sweater!
I love the fact that people do decorate their houses with lights etc but hate that you have to go out at 10pm to be able to view them in their full shinnest gleam.
I miss the lights glowing in all the shop windows as you race round town late one evening for the last few gifts you desperately need or desire.
I miss the whole atmosphere that takes over in the whole month of December as you count down to Christmas with the lights, the music, the cold nights and the food. Here December wanders in and suddenly you are more concerned with the fact that the school year is closing, what are you doing with the kids over the summer break, are we going to have sunshine whilst we camp at Christmas and has summer actually started or not!
There never seems to be any real lead up to Christmas, just suddenly one day you remember and then think Holy s%#t, we only have xyz weeks to go and I have got nothing done!

I also, ultimately, miss Christmas carols.
Yes I can play a CD at home but it just does not have the same effect as standing in the cold listening to a beautiful choir fill the air with the round crisp tones of a full choir.
I miss hearing a soloist sing "Once in Royal David's City" and then the effect when the full choir comes in with verse 2.
I miss going to a carol concert leading up to Christmas, where everyone is in a jolly mood, happy to see everyone, enjoying the atmosphere and the music and munching on their christmas faire of cake and mince pies (although I will never miss either of those as I can't stand dried fruit, although never fear, we may be in full sun shine on Christmas Day but people do still insist on Christmas pudding, brandy cream / custard, Christmas cake and mince pies)

I also miss snowmen, seems a silly thing to miss but I have found that all decorations here have Santa on them, nothing seems to be snowmen orientated.
Mainly I think because we don't have snow!
So nowadays if I see something with snowmen on it and it is cute, then I snap it up really quick.

Overal, I do love Christmas here, it is very different to a winter Christmas but definitely something I would recommend everyone tries.

Merry Chrsitmas

Interesting Figures About Christmas

The following survey was display in the newspaper.
Makes for some interesting reading.

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Christmas is as much a time for checking work emails as it is for going to church, a survey has revealed.


23% of 1060 people who completed a Colmar Brunton online survey said they would check their work emails on Christmas Day.
That is nearly as much as the 25% who will go to a church service on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

Spokeswoman for the Auckland Catholic Diocese, Lyndsay Freer, said she thought people would "need to be a bit compulsive" to check work emails on Christmas Day.
But she said the statistics were a reflection of the fact a large number of people were not Christian, and of the increasing popularity of computers and smartphones.

Tradition also takes a battering when it comes to the Christmas tree, with 71% of those putting up a tree shunning the smell of pine in favour of a fake tree.

Santa Claus will go hungry during his dash around the country, with only 29% of households planning to leave out food or a present for him.

The survey also showed the average age people stopped believing in Santa Claus was 8 years old. (This I can believe as I am sure this year Ben is already wondering secretly in his head, by next year he is going to be questioning this in more detail, although I know he would never let on because of his little brother!)

But there is some comfort for those fearing the disintegration of society, with 84% of people saying for them Christmas meant getting together with family and friends.

34% of people said it was most about the birth of Christ, and 5% of people said the day only meant time off work.
Christmas will be spent with relatives for 53% of Kiwis this year.

And despite the tensions that can come with family reunions, 61% of those surveyed said they would be spending Christmas Day where they wanted to be.

Just 11% admitted they would rather be somewhere else!

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So where do you fall in these numbers?
Will you be checking work emails on Christmas day?

Christmas Yummies

At this time of year we are always having morning teas and shared lunches.
Doesn't matter how many recipe books you have, when it comes time to make something your mind can often go blank and you race around the kitchen muttering to yourself "what can I make? what is simple and easy? what will keep overnight?"

Why not pop over here to Paisley Jade's place and see all the yummy simple recipes she has just posted about.
I have had a quick drool through them all and already worked out exactly what I am making tomorrow for the shared lunch I have to attend on Thursday at work.

I do love coming across a blog that saves the day.

Santa Time

This was my first Christmas at this place of work so was interesting to see some of the things that took place. One of the usual things was a Secret Santa amongst the staff that wished to take part.

As usual our name was duely placed in a hat and you got to draw a name out.
A $10 limit was placed on the present and away you all went, having 2 weeks to come up with something good, but fun.

Now I am not sure what got into my head, maybe I was having end of year itus, maybe my brain had decided to finally turn to mush or maybe I just got enthralled by all the wonderful things I saw on all the blogs I follow, but this is what I gave as my gift

I got inspired by Heidi over here, so I do have someone to blame.
I saw what she had made and decided that I could adapt it in true Kathryn fashion to something.
The receiver thought it was lovely, so that was good. Me I was just amazed that I remembered what to do seeing as it has been ages, and I mean ages, since I last did any craft work.

Santa was also very lucky this year at our house. Whilst out Christmas shopping one evening I came across this lovely plate set for him.
So the boys had great fun filling it up for him to snack on whilst visiting us.

Think it is actually meant to be used as general stuff but it will make a nice tradition in our house to put Santa's plate out each year.

The cat also got in the Christmas spirit this year.

Not sure if she was hoping that if she stayed there someone would leave her a present or if she was hoping Santa would take her with him when he had visited?

Bikes

We planned many months ago what we wanted to get the boys for Christmas. A swing set for the garden.
We even went so far as to purchase it on lay-by and start paying it off week by week.

However Alex decided that he would manage to ride his bike with just 2 wheels back in October / November and it quickly became apparent that they would need new bikes as well.

You guessed it, this was not on our planned Christmas List but knew how much kids love riding bikes and how good it is for them then we relented.
I got them on lay-by as well, so we had secured them and they got to stay in the shop until we collected them on paying off the last payment. Makes storage so much easier.

We had discussed many times about how we were going to give the boys the bikes, seeing as they had a large present on its way already we really didn't want to over spoil them with giving them bikes for Christmas as well. Way too much in my eyes.

We even discussed getting them to the caravan, where we were going on Boxing Day, so they were there when we got there and that took the whole receiving huge amounts of gifts on Christmas Day pressure off.

However, the plan got made simpler at the beginning of December when Grandad came home for a visit from China for my cousins wedding.
He annouced that he wanted to give the boys some money as he didn't know what to get them for Christmas. I mentioned the bikes and said he was happy to contribute to them if so desired. he thought this was an excellent thing, as then the boys were not getting more toys that were not going to get played with and take up lots of unwanted space.
This then lead to my next thought, that we could actually collect the bikes immediately and that way Grandad would get to see the boys enjoy the bikes whilst he was with us. In fact this very thing had happened 3 years earlier when Grandma was visiting for Dubai and they brought the bikes the boys were currently riding.

A quick check from daddy and Gradad

Another quick check from daddy

So the boys gained brand new bikes for Christmas this year but they didn't get overloaded with presents on Christmas Day because they had an early Christmas at the beginning of December and that took the whole load off of Christmas Day.
In fact on Christmas Day they had even forgotten that they had received bikes for Christmas until they mentioned the bikes and we reminded them that they had received them for Christmas.