Boxing Day.

CHRISTmas; The Birth of CHRIST.

Moose Gingerbread.

More gingerbread baking.  Aunty L gave us some new cookie cutters for Christmas... Can you see the moose?

A Trifle Too Easy.

A trifle for special guests.
Lay a single layer of jam roll.  Pour over a third of a cup of apple juice (or sherry if you choose).  Put some jelly which was made earlier on the cake.  Scatter some sliced strawberries and blueberries next.  We added tinned berries as well for sweetness.
We decided to put the custard into a jug and 13 year old son was in charge of whipped cream if people wanted it on top of their dessert.
Our special guests brought a delicious non dairy and gluten free cake with butterscotch sauce.  Perhaps Fiona will give us the recipe?
We also had pecan pie and meringues with more berries.

60 Minutes.

Television, Foxtel, Playstation 3, Ipods and Nintendo DS... these are my friends and my foes.  They can be great when neighbourhood kids come by on rainy days, the older two can play many games together, they are portable etc.  However, they can consume the children,  and the entertainment comes without a challenge.
We are into day four of the holidays.  Today, the younger two have already constructed musical instruments from recycling and 10 year old daughter can get very busy with craft.  The challenge is for 13 year old boy.
The microwave timer was set; 60 minutes, the boundary set: the bedroom.... The request was made-show me something that you have worked on for an hour.
Hooray for LEGO.  13 year old son has been absorbed by it for almost an hour now and the product looks great!

The Reindeer.

I love these reindeer, a present from Mum.

Home Made Wreath.

9 year old daughter has made some lovely wreaths for us, using garbage bags.  She has made a pure white wreath for the Groovy Aunt and an all green wreath for my mother.  This is ours.

Hints of Summer.

Illawarra Flame Trees, Hydrangeas and swimming towels hung out by the older two children.

Homemade Cards.

I have some assistance in our card making.  Sadly some have more care taken with them than others.  Needless to say, no Christmas card has been posted yet.

Christmas Reading.

As school has finished for the year, we can now move into some of the activities that I value at this time of year.  We will attempt to read a book with the children each night this week, that tell of the birth of Jesus.  We might add to the festivities, by putting a card indicating the name of the book, into each pocket of the remaining week in the Advent calendar.

Thankyou to Sunday School Teachers.

Ingredients for Biscuit: Evaporate milk Choc bits Sugar Butter SR flour Ingredients  for those that minister to children: A love of God A servant heart Patience Kindness Love Thankyou for displaying these gifts to our children. Love The T....Family

As many of you would agree, the great ministry of teaching scripture to our children is a great gift.  How do we thank these kind people?  Packs of homemade choc chip cookies are but a token, we added a label to each.

Red and Green.

There does seem to be a lot of red and green in our home at present.

End of the School Year.

School has finished and we now see all the lovely art work that the children have done this year.  We have framed 7 year old daughter's above... the 'Swirl' artwork.  We also don't need to watch the clock so closely either; we had a late BBQ one evening.  The sky was very similar to this Christmas....

Decked Out.

As it has been so chilly, we have not really sat out on the deck this week.  I do love hints of red amongst grey and black.

Christmas Teddy Bear.

This bear comes out at Christmas time, there is usually a mustard coloured bear in this spot.  He is on holidays. I can't seem to find a photo of him at the moment and need to get onto some jobs.

The younger girls love the Christmas bears and 7 year old daughter was intent that one needed "needling"  ie a sewing repair.  He is now well.

Our Tree.

Our tree.  We thought that we would need a larger tree, but have decided that this one suits us just fine!  The four children decorated it by themselves and I enjoyed how they are recognising special ornaments and appreciating where they came from.

Nostalgic Father Christmas.

The Father Christmas on the left was found on top of our Christmas tree when I was growing up.....

More Ginger in Baking.

This time almost 10 year old daughter made her own ginger cookies.  They were her big brother's favourite and  also that of 2 younger sisters!

Thy Rod and Staff....

Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Ps 23.

This stick reminds me of a shepherd's staff.  Hanging from it, are these cute wooden ornaments which Fiona gave to me last year.

Gingerbread.


This recipe is from my sister in law, AMM...

Melt 125g butter
Add 3T golden syrup
2t ginger powder (I might add more next time)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 t baking powder
1 egg..

mix and then add 2 cups of plain flour and three quarters of a cup of self raising flour.
Bake 180 degrees and watch them....mine were done in 8 minutes.

This recipe can be frozen and if left, the ginger flavour intensifies.

Stamping Shortbread?

5 year old daughter 'stamped' hearts and stars on to our shortbread... Hopefully today we will make gingerbread.

In the Kitchen.

Hmmm, I won't manage a daily account of December I am afraid; Christmas excitement is coupled with the end of the school year for us...

I have hopes to bake some gingerbread this week so that 5 year old daughter can use her cookie cutters.  We made shortbread on Monday... I hope to post the picture of her 'stamping'  on that....

Yup, lots of time in the kitchen; thankfully it is very cold here right now.... Perhaps it will snow?

Trees.

Trees of different varieties; the one with our ornaments on it and a wire tree, made in Africa.

Christmas Tartan Coffee.

The first coffee, in the Christmas tartan mug; after the Christmas decorations are up and out....

December

This card was a gift from Fiona..... I love it.

Colourful Lights.

A treat in these humid Summer evenings is to sit in the dark of the living room and look at these colourful lights.

T Party

On Monday, a few mothers and a sister from our local school gathered here for a T party:  Tea/not Tea, Tic Tacs, Tiny Teddies, Tart, Tim Tams, Taco chips, Tsaziki, Tea bun etc....  They came to try my tricycle.

Crystal Anniversary.

It is our anniversary today; 15 years-crystal....

Towards 2012.

I had too many scraps of paper stuck on to the bottom of December 2011, so I have started putting details into the calendar for 2012.  I bought a super duper organised calendar with a space for each of our names.  This year's calendar has country scenes from my favourite magazine Country Style.  The organised calendar for next year also has stupid phrases at the top.  Guess which one I prefer???  I am going to miss the lovely pictures and I am not that confident that I will be any more organised with the new calendar.

Healthy Muesli Bars.

With the cooler weather, I baked muesli bars this afternoon.  Inside the 'healthy' mixture is 250g rolled oats, 75g coconut, 250g choc bits, 75g sunflower seeds and a 395g can of condensed milk.  Mix and place in 2 slice tins and bake for 20minutes. Wait till cooled and slice.

I like knowing what is inside these muesli bars.  

PS:  the oven temperature is 180C... also once you have the oats and the coconut in, you can choose what else to put into the slice.  Just make sure that the balance of dry ingredients as a total  is 325g.  We like dried cranberries and sultanas....