Holly

We have some growing in our garden, the shape of the leaves is not as irregular as some I have seen, ours is more like a regular leaf shape, but there are very sharp points on the ends.

Christmas.

Merry Christmas.

Puff: Christmas Fire Engines.

On Christmas Eve, three fire engines came through all the local streets, throwing lollies at the children. Santa was on the back of one of the engines.

A Gift.

image from Google.

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/good-news-of-great-joy-free-advent-ebook

This has brought me a huge amount of peace and joy this 

season.  Thankyou Fiona.

Writing Christmas Cards.

Turning Eleven.

Joined by friends for an indoor rock climbing party.  11 year old daughter reached the top many times.

Marble Cake.

These are not the best photo's, but I just wanted to record how I made marble cake.  Blobs of coloured batter.  These cakes are for 10 year old daughter's birthday party tomorrow.  She won't be eleven yet.

My White Snow.

School Christmas Concert.

The school Christmas concert was held on a beautiful, cool evening.  It was such a happy, community event.

A Forest.

The tree at the bottom is one we have had for quite a while.  We decided to get a larger tree this year but wanted to keep the older one; so now we have two.  The children decorated both, the older tree has the decorations which are golden in colour or are wooden.  Some decorations could not fit on the newer, thicker branches; so they have returned to our older tree.
I quite like having two trees... one greets visitors as it is at the front window.

All Decorated for December.

Our Nativity scene.

10 year old daughter made this Christmas decoration.

Decorating the House.

The box where all the Christmas decorations are stored.  

The elves.

The decorations all spread out on the table.

Compulsory family fun.

 A new, bushier tree.

Reading our Christmas books, one is set in Bethlehem and flaps open to reveal the story of that amazing time.

Wedding Anniversary.

It is our wedding anniversary today; 16 years.

Craft Area.

Six year old daughter loves craft.  I have moved her little desk into her room now for her to enjoy.  I put a protective rug on our cream colour carpet.  The toy box was given to us by Fiona who painted it as well.

Lunch at Lucy's.

This was last Friday, at Lucy's house.  Wonderful sausage, ham, bread, cheeses, salmon, greens, sundried tomatoes, chocolates and fruit.
The company was wonderful, there was laughter and the view of trees.

Stollen.

I saw stollen in the shops and have bought one for husband E to nibble on.  It is not as good as the ones my mother finds, so we will wait for them.  I have also bought this cake tin, the stollen is inside!  It has the sort of Christmas scene on it that I remember from cards/wrapping paper when I was a child.

Under Pressure.

Aunty L recommended a pressure cooker to me.  I have bought one.  We can have risotto in six minutes and casseroles in 30 minutes.  She told me how to do a roast chicken in the pressure cooker.  These pressure cookers have a wonderful browning capacity.  I browned the chicken after stuffing it with lemon and thyme and seasoning it.
Then I added a cup of stock, more thyme and lemon and raised the chicken on a trivet.  It cooked for 30minutes.
I browned it a little again at the end of the cooking time.  It was delicious, very moist.
I love the fact that a proper meal can be thought of and prepared in such a short amount of time.

The Pudding.

The Christmas pudding is mixed and boiled.  A few local ladies and I attend a pudding making day at my sister in law's church.  The lovely ladies there pre measure all our ingredients.  We all mix together and enjoy afternoon tea.  There is also a speaker each year who encourages us to remember the birth of Christ and the joy that we celebrate at Christmas because of that.

14 Years Old.

Our first born turned 14 last week.  10 year old sister had gone to a lot of trouble to get his present wrapped before the event.  The younger two had made beautiful cards for him to enjoy.
We enjoyed lots of seafood for dinner, we started eating at 5pm and stopped at about 9pm.

Quick Biscuit/Cookie Dough.

I wanted to quickly jot down this recipe that is just so easy and delicious in our household at the moment.

200g melted butter, 300g plain flour, 100g caster sugar.

Mix and then make a ball of dough with your hands.  Break off cookie sized balls of dough, roll and put on baking tray.  Flatten all balls slightly with a fork.  Bake at 180 degrees for about 10minutes.  

When 10 year old daughter made these, she put choc chips on some and almonds on others.  

These are a lovely short, crisp biscuit (cookie).  

Recipe from "The Baking Book" Jane Bull.

Trying and Learning New Things.

Fiona has blogged about "Stretching".  We are blessed to be able to try new things, access new skills and use our God given gifts in various ways.

For me, I feel as though my research into learning difficulties is opening up many opportunities to learn more myself as I read a variety of books.
Even, baking fruit cake this week... a first really for me.  It was not a complicated recipe though:

Quick Fruit Cake

375g mixed fruit
1 cup orange juice
1 cup SR flour.

Soak the fruit in the orange juice for as long as you can.  Add the flour.  Pour into a lined tin.  I then covered mine with foil.  Bake till cooked.  Sorry I don't know how long it took.  I then glazed this one with a lemon butter bought at the supermarket.  There was nothing very butterish about it, it was more like a marmalade.

This recipe came from our minister's wife at the church where husband E and I had met and were married.

Japanese Legacy.

Dinner at our house, inspired by our experience in Japan earlier this year.

Making Music.

Oh how fun to learn a new thing... 8 year old daughter is also starting tutorials in trumpet as well.

The Welcome Wall.

30 years in Australia was marked by a ceremony where our family's names were engraved on "The Welcome Wall" with many others.  We then enjoyed lunch at a French restaurant.  13 year old son was adventurous and tried snails.  He did not finish them, but enjoyed the experience.  8 year old daughter quite liked them.

A beautiful day in Sydney.