I have a confession to make. I actually started my Xmess shopping a month ago, before any of the toy sales started.

I just didn’t want to be the first to mention the dreaded ‘C’ word.

I won’t say what I’ve gotten so far because my children often read my blog, but suffice to say that one of them will be looking super smart!

With the youngest now 11 the toy sales are no longer a focus for us. Sure they are useful if we are planning a bigger purchase, like the Wii a couple of years back, but we are leaving the era of toys behind. Now everything is clothes, and shoes, and accessories, and CD’s, and DVD’s, and I-tunes vouchers, and books, and Wii games, and DS games, and the like – most of which can be purchased closer to December on better specials that what’s on offer at this time of year.

But still, I have made a start and after years of developing the habit of getting started at this time of year, I feel some sense of relief at that.

Now I just need to find a good hiding spot to stash the goodies as I accumulate them…. I wonder if my mum has room at her place!

new bloggy home at least.

My new feed is http://feeds.feedburner.com/robecriluto/iiOz

for those of you that subscribe through a reader or email……. or you can just hit my pretty green button over there ————->

A new blog means a little change – a new look, some new things now that I can have plug ins and extra widgits. Let me know what you think won’t you?

It’s a work in progress. I’ll be adding more pages and things over the coming weeks, shifting things around, re-doing my blogroll etc. If you have any suggestions or idea’s or problems be sure to leave me a comment.

We have a few new additions at our actual home too -

TJ has some new pets – 20 or so of them.

Yes, it’s an ant circus, filled with big black ants. It’s really fascinating watching them.

PSLS also has some new pets

Two lovely blue and white budgies – we gave them to him for Christmas. He’s always wanted to breed budgies. The boy has the most white on his chest and is named ‘Tweety’, the girl’s name is ‘Chirp’. PSLS didn’t get a say in the names, the kids named them before we gave them to him.

Being quite young we have been able to get them used to being handled. It’s a real exercise in patience teaching the kids to move slowly when handling them.

So there you have it. A new blog, a bit of change and some new additions to our family.

We love our Christmas Lights

I have attemtped to take some piccy’s for you of our lights.

I haven’t bothered attempting to take pictures of our pathetic efforts at decorating the inside of our home this year as it’s well…. pathetically non existant with all the busyness and rushing and dizzyness and being sickness this year.

Nothing spectacular – still had a lot of cars and a bus drive past gawking though lol

I love these little  lights! We had them along our front path – like mini fireworks to guide our footsies! lol

Our pressie lights are pretty cool too – I wanted to put them around Santa, but PSLS couldn’t quite figure out how to safely put Santa where I wanted him put…….. I must remember to start nagging him about putting up the lights a lot earlier next year!

This is the elf that is sitting next to our front door.

And this is how long till we do it all over again – EEEEKKK!! Maybe I’ll be organised next year with that long to………. oh who am I kidding!

Miss Lou was watching Batman and Robin earlier – one of my favourite lines is Joker talking to Two Face and saying “Your entrance was good. His was better.” but I got to say that neither of them topped Santa’s entrance to the swimming club Christmas party tonight!

First we were buzzed by an aeroplane, and presumed it was Santa heading to the fly in at the airport hosted by the local aero club. Then we were buzzed again and this time there were people walking around with their eyes glued to the sky watching this ——–>

yup, that’s Santa and his technicolour parachute!

I got to say that it was really freaking funny watching the big red dude hanging from a parachute and drifting in the wind

I was just disappointed that I only had my mobile phone camera and not my other camera to take pics with.

Santa eventually landed on the athletics track next to the pool and was promptly swamped by kids wanting their lolly bags before dashing away to his next appointment, but that was one Santa visit that won’t be forgotten in a hurry I can assure you!

After the assault on our ears committed by Naomi and Widdle Shamrock early this week with their choice of Christmas *ahem* carols I felt that it might be the appropriate time to share some of mine.

Some of my earliest Christmas memories are of sitting upstairs in our church, lit only by candlelight, at midnight mass listening to the choir sing carols.

I remember, and I was only about 4 at the time  sitting, watching,, listening, completely awestruck and thinking that God must live here.

I miss that simplistic faith of my childhood some days but despite the more complicated theology of adulthood I still find that there are often moments where I am sitting in church and and catch myself thinking that God must live here.

Now I’m one of the privileged ones that sings in the choir, who gets to help create atmosphere for others through music but not in a creepy ‘hype you up then lead you to religious fervour’ way like some churches we won’t mention here.

We haven’t had midnight mass for a couple of years because it was too many services for our priest to manage on his own but we still sing carols at the evening vigil mass and at the Christmas morning mass. I’m hoping that this year, now that we have a second priest again that midnight mass might be reintroduced. Having been part of my Christmas tradition for  most of my 35 years it is sorely missed.

Now I’m not going to torture you with some of the all time worst Christmas music as I believe that Naomi and Widdle Shamrock have already done a good enough job of that, instead I’m going to share my favourite traditional carol and my favourite version of it -

Now just to make WS laugh again, and also to appease our tall dark frosty goddess of political incorrectness  Anja,  here is my next favourite Christmas Carol

Somehow I don’t think they’ll let me sing that version in church…….. do you? lol

….before my posts were so rudely interrupted by revelations about the freaky ex’s treatment of Miss Lou and the antics of my husband?….. oh yes. The mil.

This is what she gave to TJ for Christmas.

It’s a 3d pull back puzzle car. Took me ages to put the flimsy, fiddly thing together too. It was broken within 5 minutes.

But that’s not the point.

It was wrapped in the plastic bag you can see it sitting on in the pic. That’s right. A plastic bag.

Also in the bag was a packet of Scoubies for Miss Moo (CJ – she’s decided to call me Moomy so I’m calling her Miss Moo in retaliation. I think I’m winning), but that’s not the point either.

I don’t care if T wants to shop at the $2 shop and only buy crap that falls apart during the first good play with it. I really don’t.

But I do mind if she buys big flash presents for their cousins, wraps them prettily in nice bright Christmas paper, complete with bows and gives them out in front of my kids who are later pulled to one side and handed a plastic shopping bag with trinkets in it.

It’s not fair. It’s not nice. It’s not right. It’s no way to treat your grandchildren. It’s not like she didn’t know she would be seeing them all that day. It was at the freakin family gathering on boxing day.

And she wonder’s why her son is so ticked at her lately.

*rolls eyes*

 Monday – Spag Bol & Salad (Chicken & Salad for me)

Tuesday – Rissoles & BBQ’d veges (carrot, sweet potato, tiny taters, zucchini)

Wednesday – Chicken Tenders & veges (potato, peas, corn, broccoli)

Thursday – Crumbed Lamb Cutlets with Salad & Chips

Friday – Chicken Steaks with Tiny Taters & Salad

Saturday – Fish & Chips

Sunday – Homemade Hamburgers

I like to keep things light, easy and quick during summer. I can’t think of anything worse than spending hours in a hot kitchen. UGH!

For more Menu Plan Monday ideas head on over to Laura’s.

This is my gorgeous nephew E all kitted up for a game of backyard cricket with the family on Boxing Day.

Had some kids prank calling me from a mobile phone last night …….. rang the little shits them back and told them that perhaps they should make sure that the person they are pranking doesn’t have caller id in future
 
bahahaha
 
stupid kids

Question?

How do you get your mother in law who doesn’t like you, blames you for being estranged from her son, and who hasn’t spoken to you in 6 months to stop being rude to you at the family Christmas gathering?

Answer -

You start asking her if she got the photo’s of the children that YOU sent to her whilst sitting next to her mother (who adores you) and videotaping the backyard cricket match!

She wasn’t quite game to continue her rudeness in those circumstances! lol

And then a funny thing happened. It’s like a switch flicked in her head and everything was fine again. Before I knew it she was leaning in the car window giving me kisses goodbye and stealing the neighbours junk mail for me to look at!