Merry Christmas

Just want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. It is hard to believe that another year has gone by, but then again when I look back a lot has happened in that year. Now it is time to enjoy your holiday and time with your family and friends before welcoming 2011.

I think that we did really well with our family Christmas photo this year, if I do say so myself..

Take Care!

Christmas Time

I know it is that time of the year already, hard to believe that a whole year has gone by, so fast.

A lot has happened in that year, and I hope that you have enjoyed your time with us during the year.

Christmas is not Christmas without the tree, here is ours, decorated by two small very excited people.

I have done my holiday pictures from our Christmas day, as it was such a great day, and lots of pictures were taken. So here we go.

First we start in the kitchen, which is where most of our Christmas day was spent, in the kitchen or at the table.  The Little Man and I were in charge of decorating the Christmas cake, this is the little snowman that we made to put on it. Unfortunately I neglected to take a picture of the whole cake, but the snowman was the best so it doesn’t really matter.

Then we have the finished Pavlova, it was really tasty.

Out of the kitchen to open the presents, I know you are all thinking why haven’t you opened them yet. Well heres the thing, my poor Mum had to work on Christmas Day so we waited for her to get home, cause we are nice people.

Every year we nominate a Christmas Fairy to hand out the presents, they get a wand to carry around with them as they hand them out. This year was Hedvig, she is a Rotary exchange student from Sweden who is staying with my parents for a few months, I don’t think she knows what really hit her, spending Christmas with my crazy family.

Then the Christmas Lunch at 5pm, bit late for lunch but that doesn’t matter. Firstly a few pictures of the table before it was destroyed then one with us all at the table.

Cheers!

Little Man enjoying his Christmas lunch

Little Miss enjoying her Christmas lunch

The aftermath, this was late on Christmas night lunch, nibbles, drinks, games, singing, just generally having a great time.

Now head over to Beth at I should be folding laundry to have a look at some other peoples pictures. Also I will be back on track next week with the correct challenge.

I hope that you have a wonderful and safe few days with your family, it is a wonderful time of the year when we all get together and have some fun and family time.

Just enjoy yourselves!

I hope that Santa is nice to you all this year, even if it is just a hug and a kiss from someone very special to you. You deserve it!.

Will see you all next week sometime, I am going to enjoy a few wonderful days with my wonderful family, you do the same!.

This is a really yummy dessert, in Australia it is a traditional dessert for Christmas Day. I am not sure where the tradition comes from, I can’t seem to find anyone that knows. It just seems to be that way, and we have one every year. You can have it at other times of the year of course.

You will need

6 Egg whites
1 1/2 cups (300g) caster sugar
2 tsp white vinegar
1 tb cornflour
300ml thickened cream

Fruit to decorate - Banana, Mango, Kiwifruit, Passionfruit, Berries (fresh or frozen).

Tips:
- Make sure the bowl you are using is well washed and free of grease.
- Refrigerate eggs before separating: the yolks will separate easily when cold.
- Then you need to let the egg white time to warm to room temperature, and ensure they are free of yolk - otherwise, they won’t beat well.

Putting it all together

1. Preheat oven to 120℃. Line an oven tray with baking paper.

2. It is easier and quicker if you use an electric mixer to whisk the egg whites, don’t forget the bowl needs to be clean and dry. Whisk until soft peaks form.

3. Gradually add the sugar one tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition, until meringue is thick and glossy and all the sugar is dissolved.

TIP: Rub a little of the mixture between your fingers, if it is still gritty, then continue to whisk until the sugar dissolves.

4. Add the vinegar and cornflour and fold until just combined.

5. Spoon the meringue onto the lined tray and use a spatula to shape into a 20cm disc. Bake in oven for 1½ hours or until pavlova is dry to the touch. Turn off oven and leave, with the door ajar to cool completely.

6. Transfer to a serving plate. Use mixer to whisk the cream in a medium bowl until soft peaks form. Spoon on to the top of the pavlova. Decorate with the fruit that you have chosen.

7. Serve immediately and enjoy!

If you make one, tell how it was, I will post a picture of our finished pavlova when I have made it.

Ok here is the finished product, it was really yummy!.

I recieve a couple of cards that have a letter telling everyone what they have been doing during the year, but I decided that I would prefer to send a photo of us, that way they can keep it from year to year and see how much we have changed.

Thought that I would share all the Christmas Photos that I have put in our cards for the last 4 years.

Our First Year - 2006

2007 - Just the three of us

2008 - Now with two Little People

2009 This Year - It has been a crazy end of the year for us, so a bit of a crazy photo to end with.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Do you add anything in with your Christmas Cards?

Well I wasn’t really sure what to do with this one, so I have just taken some shots of a couple of my favourite christmas decorations from in my house.

Firstly is the Advent Calender, I really love it. I know what you are going to say when you see the pictures, “why doesn’t she have anything in her calender. Well here is the thing, I bought some lollies and chocolates to put in each day, which I did, but I noticed that they were not surviving the heat that we are having at the moment, and they were starting to melt.

I had to put them in the fridge, but we still go to the calender and find the day, then the Little Man gets to have a chocolate or Lolly. One for each day. Little Miss is still too small for treats, I am afraid she will have to wait till next year.

Ok so here are my photos for this weeks capture, I hope that you enjoy.

The Advent Calender

The Bell

The Star

Christmas Eve - Get two treats this day!

Calender on a different angle

Another one of my favourite Decorations are the (not sure what you call them), fold out sparkly ball thingos, so I put together a few photos of one of these. I love how when they move they sparkle, we each have one above our bedroom doors.

Don’t forget to check out more You Capture - Holiday Decors at I Should Be Folding Laundry

I think every house has something to add to Christmas, in their own little way. The Little peoples Nana & Pop have the dancing Santa.

The first couple of years the Little Man didn’t know what to think of him, he was a little bit scary. As you can see by the picture he is almost full size. But this year he is a winner!, Little Miss hasn’t been scared at all.

The Dancing Santa sings Christmas songs and dances along with them, he even moves his mouth with the words. Yes you can even plug in a microphone and sing along with him.

He usually scares the crap out of me every time we walk in the front door, as he has a sensor to start singing when there is movement. Ho Ho Ho Ho.

Thought that you might like this video so that you can see what I mean, excuse the little mans dancing, I don’t know what it is but he thinks that he has to poke his tongue out when he dances.

Obviously there are going to be different flowers available and growing in different countries of the world. I grew up in England so I know what it is like to have a Christmas in Winter and there are not many flowers. You could decorate your house with many other things, like:

Sprig of Rosemary
Pine needles or cones
Oranges studded with cloves
or a bunch of Cinnamon sticks
They not only look great they smell great too.

As it is Summer here in Australia, we still have flowers blooming, my garden is full of Hydrangeas and Agapanthas, so I have decorated my house with these flowers. They are such pretty flowers, it is just a shame that they don’t smell.

Outside in the garden

Inside the house

They have just great flowers, I had to take a couple of close ups.

Do you decorate with flowers?, if so which ones?, if you don’t what do you use?.

Christmas:
Gingerbread Tree
Christmas Card Tree

Since it is not very long until Christmas, you will notice a bit of a Christmas theme happening this week on Justbeingamum, Funny that.

So why not start with the Christmas Cards, I always wonder what I am going to do with them every year. I don’t want them to just stack up in a pile and do nothing with them. You could go and buy one of those you beaut fancy card holders, only to find that there are not enough spaces for all the cards, or it keeps falling off the wall.

Well this year I found this idea and I think it is fantastic, you can make a couple if you have too many cards. So what is this fantastic idea I hear your say, well you arrange the cards to form the shape of a Christmas Tree on the wall.  I just used blu tack to stick them up with, this makes it easy to take them down afterwards.

Here is my Christmas card tree

It looks great as you walk in the door

Gingerbread Christmas Tree

Works for me Wednesday - Monogrammed Ornaments

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