and so that was christmas.

Christmas decorations made from wrapping paper.



























My christms turned out to be OK after all. I was a little afraid I would spend it on my own as Chicky Babe and Bantam Boy's father threw a spanner in the works at the last moment (well 2 and a half weeks prior to the day!)

Fortunately I had been running far behind my usual timetable, Starting a new job this year meant work had taken priority to general life. Anyway I had not yet decided exactly what I would be making for dinner (the last few years it has been a rolled turkey breast stuffed with a herb, fruit and nut, coos coos stuffing)and had not yet ordered the turkey, then out of the blue I was told the kids were going to have dinner with their other family. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise because we had a small family christmas morning breakfast instead.

I made ricotta hotcakes with berries in syrup with brandy butter along with "pastryless" egg and panccetta pies, quiches? and this all cost less than the price of just the turkey. The kids had a great time catching up with their cousins and grandparents. Once I got over my disappointment of not having them on christmas day I realised christmas is really all about the kids.They are young for such a short time and soon christmasess will be further complicated by their desire to share it with a boyfriend or girlfriend's family as well!


I bought a better digital camera with the intention of recording aspects of the seasons celebrations but promptly forgot to do so then when I did decide to take a picture of the yummy pancakes and beautiful berries the batteries were dead in the camera and we didn't have any more. What about the charger for the rechargeable batteries that came with it? Your guess is as good as mine! The kids have put it somewhere and are not sure where. Well we have a few weeks of holidays to locate it and several other missing items.

Christmas was almost unbearably hot and boxing day was over 42 degrees c. We went to visit my sister and her family in the country. It is generally about 2 to 3 degrees hotter where she is. Luckily she has an air cooler and a pool.

These are some photos I took from the car as we were driving along at about 100k per hour. It is a mystry to me that these can be so clear taken from a fast moving vehicle and some others when I'm standing still are so blurry. Oh by the way I was sitting in the back of the car with my kids. My mum was driving!