My Christmas

How much have I LOVED hearing about your Christmas - what you did and who you celebrated with!  Thanks for telling me - I read each of your responses with a huge smile on my face! I wasn't collecting the information for any purpose in particular, other than I love you lovely guys who read my blog, and I'm interested in what you did to celebrate Christmas.

(Nosy, in other words.)

My Christmas?  Due to the deliberate down-sizing of celebrations on both sides of the family and also the weather (my goodness I've never seen this amount of ongoing rain!) my Christmas was quiet and low-key.  That was nice.  I guess I'd better answer my own questions.

1.  Where did you spend Christmas 2010?
(a) At my place
(b) At a relative's place close by
(c) At a relative's place a long long long way away
(d) At a friend's place.
We started and ended our days at our own place - wonderful instead of sleeping on various people's floors like we used to do!  Christmas Lunch was at Crazy Sister's house 20 mins away and we had a quick morning tea at Mr de Elba's parents' house 20 minutes in the other direction.

2.  How many people did you spend Christmas with?
(a) just me - and I loved it!
(b) just me - and I was lonely
(c) a handful of people - and that's the way I like it
(d) a handful of people - and that was too few/too many
(e) a cast of thousands - and that's how I like my Christmas
(f) a cast of thousands - and could you please pass me a mild sedative and a drink?
Both days were spent with a handful of people - and that's the way we like it!

3. Overall, how would you describe your Christmas?
(a) relaxing and peaceful
(b) hectic and stressful
(c) dysfunctional
(d) celebratory
(e) spiky
(f) Other: __________
Mostly, it was relaxing and peaceful, but there were moments of dysfunction.  As Tracy P says, aren't we all a little dysfunctional anyway?  What would Christmas be without the odd opportunity to forgive?

4. What was your policy for gift-giving this Christmas?  You can choose more than one.
(a) I gave to lots of people
(b) I gave to a select few
(c) I spent more than I did last year
(d) I spent less than I did last year
(e) Y'know what?  I didn't give gifts.
Both sides of the family made a decision that parents would only give to their own children and didn't have to give to nieces and nephews and their own siblings and in-laws.  In previous years, I would have been a little sad about this.  But this year, I and my purse are secretly thankful.  Thankyou, family.  It worked well for me!

5. Did you receive gifts?
(a) Yes, and they were good
(b) Yes, and the money could have been saved, seriously.
(c) Yes, and by happy co-incidence, the giver was ME!
(d) No, and that's exactly what I wanted
(e) No, and I might go off and have a little cry right now.
Yes - I loved my gifts!  Some of them were given by me (speech therapy resource) others were given by Mr de Elba (bathroom scales because I asked for them, assuring him that although it seemed like it, it wouldn't be an un-PC gift if I asked for them!) and many from Buzz (mostly A4 pieces of paper with drawings, wrapped in other A4 pieces pf paper, and comprehensively sticky-taped up, but also some of Buzz's school work prepared by his school teacher which I will treasure for ever!) and some very useful and thoughtful things from my parents and Mr de Elba's parents.

6. For anyone celebrating Christmas in "bad" weather: please detail gifts that were given or received that cannot be used until the weather gets better.
Well dear little Buzz got a remote-controlled car that he has been asking for.  Inside driving was okay, but he yearned to give it a spin outside!

7.  Please also detail any physical injuries or property damage incurred during the Inside Use of what were rightfully Outside Toys.
Toes were rolled over and legs were bumped into, but the tears were all crocodile tears.

8.  Did you get a Christmas Day sleep?
(a) Yes, I did thankyou very much, and it was wonderful
(b) No, and your tone makes me want to poke you in the eye with a table fork.
Yes, I did sleep but instead of setting my alarm for 20 minutes, I slept for 3 hours.  I woke up feeling like the walking dead.  I chose to be thankful for the sleep though.

9.  Christmas Day 2011:
(a) Bring it on, I am looking forward to it already!
(b) It can wait a full 12 months thankyou.
(c) Run Away!

Well, I do love Christmas, and am tempted to say, 'Bring it on!"  But there's something about the intervening 12 months that makes it more special when it does come.  I am happy to wait, but I may just choose to play a lot of Christmas music between now and next Christmas.

Thanks  for your responses!  I loved reading what you wrote!

And this might also clear up the mystery of the "Curfew Panda."

Buzz: Hey Dad, you know, Ethan had a fight with a Ninja Cat!
Mr de E: A what?  A Ninja Cat?  In real life or in his imagination?
Buzz: In real life!  It's true!  He said he got into a fight with a Ninja Cat!
Mr de E: I'm not sure they exist.
Buzz: They do!  It's true!  Ethan told me!  He really got into a fight with a Ninja Cat!

(pause)

Buzz: Um, actually ... I think it was a ginger cat.  Yeah.

A Christmas Poll

Tell me about your Christmas 2010!  I am interested to know!

1.  Where did you spend Christmas 2010?
(a) At my place
(b) At a relative's place close by
(c) At a relative's place a long long long way away
(d) At a friend's place.

2.  How many people did you spend Christmas with?
(a) just me - and I loved it!
(b) just me - and I was lonely
(c) a handful of people - and that's the way I like it
(d) a handful of people - and that was too few/too many
(e) a cast of thousands - and that's how I like my Christmas
(f) a cast of thousands - and could you please pass me a mild sedative and a drink?

3. Overall, how would you describe your Christmas?
(a) relaxing and peaceful
(b) hectic and stressful
(c) dysfunctional
(d) celebratory
(e) spiky
(f) Other: __________

4. What was your policy for gift-giving this Christmas?  You can choose more than one.
(a) I gave to lots of people
(b) I gave to a select few
(c) I spent more than I did last year
(d) I spent less than I did last year
(e) Y'know what?  I didn't give gifts.

5. Did you receive gifts?
(a) Yes, and they were good
(b) Yes, and the money could have been saved, seriously.
(c) Yes, and by happy co-incidence, the giver was ME!
(d) No, and that's exactly what I wanted
(e) No, and I might go off and have a little cry right now.

6. For anyone celebrating Christmas in "bad" weather: please detail gifts that were given or received that cannot be used until the weather gets better.
___________________________________
___________________________________

7.  Please also detail any physical injuries or property damage incurred during the Inside Use of what were rightfully Outside Toys.
___________________________________
___________________________________

8.  Did you get a Christmas Day sleep?
(a) Yes, I did thankyou very much, and it was wonderful
(b) No, and your tone makes me want to poke you in the eye with a table fork.

9.  Christmas Day 2011:
(a) Bring it on, I am looking forward to it already!
(b) It can wait a full 12 months thankyou.
(c) Run Away!


___________________________________
Feel free, dear readers, to answer in the comments section!

White Christmas

Many of you in the middle of snowdrifts in northern USA are perhaps assuming that here in Australia, we are enjoying our usual Christmas weather:

In fact, thanks to a fickle senorita they name La Nina, it's been like this:

For about a MONTH!  I have endured fortnights of this sort of weather before, but never MONTHS!  And I say "months" in the plural, because look at the long-range weather forecast for the next month:

There is a less than 25% chance that over 50% of us will see more than 60% blue sky in the next month, and only a 12% chance that 75% of us will avoid going 98% completely potty by Autumn.

On a positive note, I see that I can pencil in a Washing Day for 17 January.  Until then, Jessie will have to get her act together during her afternoon sleeps, because it's not that easy to wash and dry bedding in this weather.

Usually, we dream of a White Christmas.  This year, we got it.

Merry Christmas!

Gone

Last year I bought these cute little Christmas stockings, and, too cheap to buy pre-cut felt letters, I painstakingly cut these letters out and stuck them on and don't they just look so perfect?

I was delighted with how they turned out (I even left one blank one for me and Mr de Elba to share!  Having a Christmas stocking will keep us young, I reasoned.)   I was so excited to start another Christmas tradition, and pictured us using these darling little stockings for years to come.

One year to come, it seems.

For this year, they are lost.  Totally lost.  I have searched high and low for them for weeks.  The last time I saw them was a few months ago when I cleared out the linen cupboard, found them, and thought, "I'd better put these with the Christmas stuff."  Surely, you'd think, they would have been in the Christmas stuff when we went to put up the tree this year?  Nope.

Back in the linen cupboard?  Nope.

In some handy storage place somewhere else in the house?  Nope.

My cupboards?  Buzz's?  Jessie's?  Woody's?  Mr de Elba's?  Nope.

Any sensible place in the house?  Nope.

Any unsensible place in the house?  Nope.

For ease, I will now list for you where I have not yet checked:

• the filing cabinet
• the radiator of the car
• the shed
• inside an old CRT TV

That's all.  I've looked everywhere else, I promise.  It seems that they have made their way into some cardboard box of junk and gone to the dump.

There's no other explanation.

Ducks by Lomax

I always enjoy a dub by voice artist Stephen Lomax.
Although he's an Australian, I don't often hear him doing an Aussie accent.
I thought this was great!

Sorry - I should have said, "Poor ducks!" They look like they're okay.

After-Dinner Conversation

Buzz: ...and Mum, you get these two things here and they turn into guns ...

Me: Mm, wow.  (Bending down to closely inspect Buzz's face,) Umm - why don't you go and check your face in the bathroom mirror, and then -er- fix it.

Buzz: Why?

Me:  Well, I wouldn't like to spoil the -um- surprise, but I think that if you were a Batman villian, you'd be called "Pesto Face."

Buzz: Oh.  Okay.

You really don't need to come

To my sweet little guys,

You know I love you.  I enjoy being close to you and I miss the feeling of your sweet soft little bodies hugged tightly in my arms if I spend a few hours away from you.

But I would like to tell you this.  You don't have to go everywhere with me.

If I am in this room and move into that room, you don't have to follow.

If I want to go from that room into the other room, you don't have to come with me.

If I want to go into the kitchen to prepare a meal, you don't have to sit on the floor immediately behind me, nor to do you have to squeeze between me and the bench.

If I go to the bathroom, you really don't all have to cram in there with me.

I just say this to relieve you of the burden.

Mummy.

What's in the garden

The raspberry (in the foreground) - it will live! Thankyou to my good friend from Thistlebrook for giving me two suckers from her raspberry.  One died and one looked like it was going the same way, but here it is, alive!

The cherry tomato bush grew from a little seedling into a giant behemoth of a plant. There are hundreds of little green tomatoes on it ...

... and some are getting red! We go outside in the afternoons and eat all we can find!

Snow peas!  They are producing well, but there are never many snow peas on the plants.  This is because we eat whatever we can find.

Sweet corn.  Our last crop was a total failure, and this was planted by semi-accident in a bed I wasn't wanting tied up right now.  Now I feel that I need to offer the corn the dignity to at least try to produce a crop before I fill the bed with a new load of soil and clear out the weeds.  Not in that order.

Same for the beetroot.  Awesome yummy beetroot dip: roast a beetroot or two along with a head of garlic, peel beetroot and squeeze flesh from garlic, process until smooth, add low-fat Greek yoghurt.  I am making myself hungry.

Capsicum.  How do I know when it is ready?  I think it is growing slowly because we've had coolish weather.

Straw bales still going well.  I popped a few sprouting sweet potatoes into it and they are looking very grateful.  Now I despair of ever having the area done with so I can put new soil in.  I keep growing stuff there!

Succession-growing lettuces.  I've put these ones in after the last ones were eaten.  By us.

I am so happy when I am outside putting holes into stuff with my cordless drill.  On the right hand side of this picture you can see the wires I put up on my fence for things to climb on.  Time will tell if it's strong enough.  My entire garden is an experiment, I think it only fitting the structural integrity of the fence and supported vines follows suit.  Lots of green elsewhere in the garden, including the green beans which have kept on producing despite being eaten into oblivion each day by the children.

Weeds, weeds, weeds, weeds.  So many weeds!  And piles of tiles and the shoots from a 'rubbish tree' that a gentleman kindly cut down for me but failed to poison.  Goodo.  I'll deal with the shoots for the next 50 years.  Cool.

But more important than what's in the garden ... WHO'S in the garden!  Does Bullseye count?  I get these alert expressions from her by holding a tennis ball to the side of the camera lens.  I get the underexposure by not taking care with my photography and failing to photoshop the image after the fact.

And here's my favourite bit.  Children.  Children spending time in the sandpit that I made, playing in rainwater collected in the cover that I made.  Okay, it's just a tarp.  But I did attach it to cuphooks I put in the fence using my cordless drill.  The shadecloth was achieved after much drilling and use of my handy-dandy screwdriver set.  And lo, I was greatly pleased.

And that's my garden today.

Discipline. Light at the end of the tunnel

I was chatting to someone I know today.  "How are you going?  Your kids doing well?" she asked.

"Yes, they're all fine," I answered.  "But now the summer holidays have started, I get the feeling that I am standing at the front edge of six weeks of fighting!" (for they are feisty little things, and enjoy a good knock-down fight.)

She jumped straight into Expert Mode. 

You've-Obviously-Done-It-All-Wrong-Mode. 

Let-Me-Teach-You-About-Parenting Mode.

"Oh no.  No-no-no," she warned.  "You know what you need to do?"

(Goodness!  I had no idea she knew what I hadn't tried, let alone what would work if I did!)

"When mine used to fight, I smacked them.  I smacked them hard.  I mean, I really, really smacked them hard!  Both of them, and this was when they were really little.  It only took about four times, and they didn't do it again.  They came to me with their problems instead of fighting."

Well that was interesting.  She took some small children and smacked them very hard four times, and hey presto!  For the rest of their childhoods they never fought with each other.  What's more - if I took my three children and smacked them very hard the first four times they fought, they'd never do it again.  Ever. 

Fixed.

Silly me for not thinking of that before.

Search for: "sense-of-humour" - ERROR: file not found.

You'd think that if a woman breezed into a newsagency, marched straight to the stationery section and then went over to the counter, slapped some SuperGlue down and said, "Ninth of December and we've already broken Baby Jesus," that the assistant would laugh, make a joke or somehow acknowledge the humour of the situation.  But you'd be wrong.

Baby Jesus is fixed.

Call me Murphy

Just as I was beginning to think that perhaps you should be calling me Buckley, things started looking up.

It started, as many happy things do, with the doorbell ringing.  A friendly Australia Post man asked how my day was going and I told him that by the look of the two lovely parcels at his feet, I suspected it was going very well indeed.

I signed for the parcels and took them inside.  One was from a nice bunch of people who kindly took my money in exchange for a Nativity Set, and the other was - OH JOY - from Go Fish!  My giant order of many CDs had finally come!

It came two hours too late to give one to Buzz's class teacher as a Christmas Gift, but she was happy enough with the CD we did give her.  However, it came just in time to give one to a small young man of our acquaintance who was turning a year older and wished us to attend his most excellent party.

And to top it off, I put some wires along my back fence for my passionfruit and my raspberries to climb along.  I am never happier than when I'm outside creating something useful for my garden using my cordless drill and my lovely blue screwdrivers.

And to think - I was initially planning to spend this afternoon on the phone to Australia Post to ask where my parcel had got to.

Call me Murphy.

Google Image Story

I have something very frustrating to tell you.  But I am sick of the sound of my own typing, so instead I will use my old friend Google Image Search to find pictures that will help you understand what's going down.

Sad

Today was the first fine day after what seems like months of rain.  It was only a week or 10 days of rain, but it seems much longer.

I was walking in the back yard surveying the damage of rotten strawberries and zucchinis when I saw a tiny white egg on the ground.  The giant eucalypts in the bush behind us house many native birds, and I assumed that the egg fell from one of the many nests in the knotholes that overhang our yard.

The egg had been there for hours, possibly overnight and if there was a baby bird inside it would surely be dead.  There was no chance that it could be saved, incubated, hatched and raised.  It was a bit sad.

I decided to bury it.  Poor little thing.  As I picked it up, I noticed its shell was cracked.  I peeked inside, and there, curled up around some yolk was a tiny baby bird who was cold and still.  I could see its forming feathers and its black eyes.

It was just a little bit sad.

Running out of things to whine about

This poor little girl is running out of complaints.  It must be a huge burden.

Today, after complaining about every possible thing under the sun ...

• I'm tired
• I don't like this TV show
• I don't like these shoes
• I don't want to go to this shop
• Can I have this Barbie?  Please?
• Can I have this scooter?  Please?
• I don't like Doe-feff's crying
• I'm hungry
• etc...

... she came up with something new in the car on the way home.  It was whined in exactly the same plaintive, pathetic tone without a hint of humour.

• I've lost an eye!

I turned round in my seat and I saw this (faithfully re-created for the camera upon our return.)

It was shortly followed up with "I've lost my legs!" while sitting on the couch with her legs folded up tightly underneath her.

Poor little thing.