Meals, Menus & Munchies

This week for us, begins the family Christmas gatherings and meals. Ugh, all that wheat and sugar!!!!!!

Monday: Pork & Feta Rissoles & vegies
Tuesday: Pasta & veg sauce (I'm out...they can have as much pasta as they like!)
Wednesday: Chicken Parmigana, vegies
Thursday: Veg Patties, wedges, cauli/broc au gratin
Friday: Pork & Apple meatloaf, vegies
Saturday: Frittata & wedges
Sunday: leftovers from a lavish lunch....or tinned tomato soup!

I'm in charge of dessert at the lavish lunch. I say lavish, only because a SIL delegated different parts of the meal to different family members. Said SIL is doing the main meal and I am doing dessert. Others will do nibbles before, bikkies & slices for after etc. So...my contribution will be:

Individual Chocolate pavlovas with whipped cream and fresh strawberries
Baked Pistachio Ricotta with Cherry Syrup
Fresh Fruit Salad
Homemade Ice Cream

Saturday will be spent in the kitchen!

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I have nearly finished my Christmas shopping, thanks to a conversation at recess time this morning. I had lots of little tots to buy for this year so as we were talking Mr Busy's 2009 teacher said "Oh, I like to try and shop local...it's far quieter up here than down the hill at the big shopping centres". Well...that got me thinking, so I took myself for a lovely little tootle over to Sassafras to visit Geppetto's Workshop. I just adore that shop! It is brimming with quality toys that range from relatively inexpensive to rather extravagant in price. I left with an armload of beautiful wooden puzzles, some bath toys and many more ideas than I had children to buy for!

My tip for all you prefer a quieter shopping experience and have children to buy for, is to head up 'the hill'. Enjoy the drive. Have a spot of afternoon tea at one of the little tea houses or cafe's. There are lots of little shops in Sassafras and Olinda that will delight you. I noticed that Olinda has a 'Baby Geppetto's'. I didn't stop in, but I was intrigued. I don't know about the weekends, but during the week it's lovely and quiet up in the Dandenong's! Certainly beats the 45 minutes getting out of the car park that I heard about on Sunday. Give me trees and quiet stores any day!

Mr Busy's Performance

It seems like all the funny little tales of childhood come from the 8yo boy in our house. The girls have never been quite as imaginative as he. The last time Miss Mischief didn't want to go to school she just asked straight out "can I stay home tomorrow, I don't want to do the class detention ~ I didn't do anything wrong"....mixed with a lot of sobbing and boohoo'ing. First off...silly question for this mum with three 'dabs of mean' installed. Secondly, grit your teeth, suck it up and get on with it girly.

So...Mr Busy's little get-out-of-school effort was quite something to behold. He has had a cold this week. Every morning he has benignly mentioned that he feels sick. "Sorry bud, I think you've just swallowed too much snot overnight. You're going to school". He eats his breakfast, runs around the house like the mad thing he is and races off up the hill at school without a second thought.

Friday was another story.

He moaned and groaned in a way that only someone with a cold can do. I was playing the piano...he crawled into the dining room (where the piano is) and lay on the floor moaning. Oh Please!!!!! He still ate his breakfast and still annoyed his sisters between all this groaning. I sent him to lay down....he couldn't stay there, he just had to keep coming out and trying to make me feel bad for sending him! So off we went....with that pathetic little look on his face of "I just don't want to go and you're so mean and I want you to feel really bad". Poor boy...he so has the wrong mother for that!

At recess time I saw his teacher and asked how he was. "Oh, he doesn't seem sick, he just seems tired....he's been such a grumble bum". Apparently he'd been caught out copying someone elses work (not that it matters much 4 days before the end of school!) and wasn't in a good mood when he got sprung. So we agreed he should stay at school. He was just tired.

On the way home he found his energy. Funny about that!

To top it all off, Dh's sister and her family were here for dinner that night (Mr Busy was oh so fine by then!) and his cousin had managed a day off. I had to laugh. Mr Busy just looked at me with a look that said "he's so lucky".

Christmas Tradition Quiz

Felicity did this on her blog and I really liked the idea. So, in my newly acquired Christmas spirit, here it goes....

Wrapping paper or gift bags? Paper. I was given rolls and rolls of the stuff from Mr Busy's Prep teacher. I have a few year's worth to get through.

Real tree or artificial? Artificial. It's more cost effective and environmentally friendly...and less messy.

When do you put up the tree? Any time from the 11th onwards. We follow Dh's Mum's tradition of allowing 'the twins' (dh) to have their birthday before we put it up. Plus, we all need to be home. That's quite an ask at the moment.

Do you like eggnog? I don't know. I don't think I've ever had it.

Favourite gift received as a child? A Baby Alive doll. Oh how I had coveted that doll for ever so long. She was the love of my life until I got to about 11 or 12yo. I got too old and she went mouldy. You gotta love the Tropics! I wish I'd never given her away though.

Hardest person to buy for? My Dh. No hobbies and doesn't read. And when you ask what he wants he says "I don't know".

Easiest person to buy for? My Mum. We have a lot in common.

Do you have a nativity scene? I have three wise men, Joseph and Mary hold the baby Jesus. I'll have to post a photo when I get it out. It's very cute.

Mail or email Christmas cards? Neither. I've copped out completely. Consequently I get very few, which is not something that bothers me in the slightest.

Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Some gadget thing the older of my two brothers gave me when I was about 10 or 11yo. I still, to this day, have no idea what it was or what I was meant to be used for. He couldn't tell me either!!!

Favourite Christmas movie? Miracle on 34th Street. The Santa Clause.

When do you start shopping? If I'm smart, in July. If I'm really silly (like this year), about two weeks ago. This year isn't working for me.

Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I don't think so. At least not that I remember.

Favourite thing to eat at Christmas? Fruit mince pies. Real plum pudding boiled in the cloth. Mum's sugar coated peanuts. That is really the ultimate comfort food!

Lights on the tree? Of course!

Favourite Christmas songs? Colin Buchanan's version of 'Who is He in Yonder Stall'. Gets me every time.

Travel at Christmas or stay home? We are always home for Christmas...our families are both here.

Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? Nope. We don't have Santa in our home. A Christmas stocking yes...but no make believe stuff.

Angel on the tree top, or a star? Angel. It was a toss up but we found an angel we loved first.

Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Morning...first thing. Both our families did this. FIL has been known to be up at 5am waking his kids!

Favourite ornament theme or colour? I like gold ~ if I could have a coordinated tree (post child-made decorations) I would have white and gold.

What do you want for Christmas this year? Ducted evaporative cooling....and on a more realistic note, the newly available 'Maggie's Kitchen' recipe book. Because Maggie Beer is my kitchen hero and her recipes are always beautiful, simple and fool proof.

Person most likely to respond to this? Surprise me. I have no idea! But if you do, then leave me a comment so I can enjoy the fun with you!

My New Skill

I learned something new yesterday. Predictive text on my mobile phone. Mum clued me in to the little secret I needed to make it work for me. It is so much faster! Yes folks, I have caught up just a little further in the advancement of technology!

Predictive text has always baffled me because I couldn't figure out how to make it go for a different word if the one that came up was wrong. It's all about the little button in the left hand bottom corner. What a shame I don't get that many SMS's LOL

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Dh is happy and Mr Busy is the most excited 8yo boy on the planet. We got the car back after being fitted with gas and a different spare tyre mount. Just in time for Dh to be out all over the countryside today making deliveries and installing coffee machines. Poor Dh has come down with Mr Busy's cold and is quite miserable. It's a pretty nasty one, although Mr Busy seems to breeze through it. His only complaint is that his tummy hurts. I keep telling him it's all the gunk he's been swallowing....he still eats three weet-bix for breakfast so he can't be too sick!

Christmas Spirit

The Christmas spirit has finally arrived Beyond My Picket Fence. I was kind of despairing of it ever arriving this year...I was feeling just a tad 'bah humbug-ish'. Not so difficult to come across in the modern consumerist culture we live in.

Last night we went to 'Road to Bethlehem'. What a moving experience. All of us enjoyed it and got different things out of it. Mr Busy was all about racing on to the next scene as fast as he could. My girls enjoyed their time with Rel's children. Us grown up's were taken with the amount of effort it took to put the sets and costumes together and the copious number of volunteer hours. Not to mention of course, the true-to-the-Bible beauty of the Christmas story. As I said we all loved it and Mum was very glad to have been able to be with us for the evening too. I feel very blessed to have been able to take advantage of the opportunity.

This morning I had my sewing circle break up...well, the group is having two. One for us Mums this week and one for everyone else who don't have children at home next week! I got up this morning and made Maggie Beer's fruit mince to make mini fruit mince tarts to take with me. Ohhhhh they are so GOOD! I must send some to work with Dh for his Dad. Dad is always feeding Dh treats and such. I think he will appreciate a little reciprocation. I have checked with him today ~ he loves mince tarts.

So with my house smelling beautifully of Christmas spices, I decided I needed to unearth the Christmas CD. We breakfasted together with that going in the background. Dh and I also managed to sneak in some Christmas shopping for our children. They will finish school next week ~ it needs to be completed before then!

So yes, I would say I have dusted off the bah-humbugs and am now officially ready to get into Christmas. According to Mr Busy's teacher it is now officially the Christmas season (as of Monday!). It took me a few more days to catch up to her LOL. The tree will need to go up this weekend, won't it?

It Was the Best of Days...

I kind of had to stop there...there is no 'worst of days' just now :) No...just lots of fun things.

It seems that this week is full of celebrating in our house. We have a couple of birthdays and the ensuing celebrations that each are worthy of. We have just taken delivery of the 'dream car'. Well...it's a dream car to us. Something that suits the needs of Dh's business and our family requirements. How wonderful to have one car that can do it all!!!!!! I still keep my car, but the Ute is gone :) The new car is so much easier to drive than the Ute ~ I've backed it out of the driveway, so I would know all about it LOL.

I can't wait to go and do 'The Road to Bethlehem'. I've been wanting to do it ever since I heard about it This year a very dear friend offered us access to some tickets, so the five of us and my Mum will join her family to experience the Christmas story in action.

See...lots of celebrating and fun going on here! I love it when the week is full of really good things to enjoy, instead of feeling like you just have to get through it all.

Square Peg in a Round Hole

Actually it's more like round peg in a square hole, isn't it?! This is the latest quilt block from my Block of the Month class last week. We're into hand piecing again. This is one of those blocks you simple cannot do by machine. Going slow, one or three stitches at a time makes easing those curved pieces a lot easier!

We have one more block to go in February, and then we'll be putting the quilt together!!!! What an incredibly efficient way to get a quilt made within 12 months!