I usually do lots of Christmas cooking, but this year I just made a double batch of one special recipe.
These are Vanilla Kipferl, a traditional Austrian Christmas cookie, but known to my family as Oma's biscuits. My mother-in-law would always bake a huge batch of these every Christmas, but as she is no longer with us I now try to keep up the tradition. I hope that Julia will continue this each Christmas when she gets older.
Best wishes to you all for Christmas and the New Year.
Christine xx
Last year, Julia (then Miss 4) asked Santa for just one thing, a Yo Gabba Gabba DVD. And whenever anyone asked her what she wanted from Santa, she would tell them very quickly and running all the words together like this:
"AYoGabbaGabbaDVDtheonewithToodieonthefront".
No-one actually knew what she was saying and I was constantly translating for her. Fortunately Santa understood, and she was a very happy girl on Christmas morning.
This year she is giving Santa a few ideas to choose from. Fortunately she knows that Santa can't fit very much in his sack as he has to carry toys for all the kids in the world, so she isn't expecting Santa to bring everything on her list.
I wish you all a safe and happy Christmas and hope you enjoy some time with friends and family. Merry Christmas everyone!
I was looking back at my Christmas blog posts from last year. Julia (Miss 5) and I cooked and crafted our way through December - wow, we were busy!
This year I will admit we are taking things a little slower. Whilst the elves have been visiting nightly and leaving a chocolate in the mini stockings, I just have one Christmas craft to share so far - this colourful Christmas wreath. Julia loved making this and it was super easy to do!
Step 1 - Visit The Reject Shop or similar discount store.
Step 2 - Purchase a tinsel wreath and colourful, wrapped lollies or chocolates.
Step 3 - Tie lollies or chocolates onto wreath with ribbon.
Step 4 - Hang on door, stand back and admire!
I have some Christmas cooking on my list of things to do, hopefully I will have time to get started on that soon!
P.S. There's still time to purchase personalised books for Christmas gifts... books are usually posted within 2-3 days of your order & payment. And postage is free!
Santa
Deluxe Personalised Children's Book
$21.50 each with free shipping for delivery within Australia only.
Available now from Jelly Bean Books.
Julia (Miss 5) loves super heroes. She will happily play Batman on the X-Box with her Daddy and she loves to dress up in her magic cape and rescue Barbie dolls from the evil teddy bears.
But there is one superhero that outshines all others - Mario. I'm not even sure that this short Italian plumber can be classed as a superhero, except that he does have to rescue Princess Peach from the evil Bowser, and he has Luigi as his sidekick. Julia loves this guy and can play Super Mario Bros like a pro, on the Wii and the DS. She even has invisible friends called Mario and Luigi who have been visiting our house for at least a couple of years now. They usually get blamed for anything that goes wrong around here...
So for her recent birthday, I could not go past this wonderful Mario dress from Nicola at Enoch & Plonk. It is refashioned from a fabulous Mario t-shirt which has been upcycled and totally set off by the contrast sleeves and neckline. Julia loved it and I could hardly get her to take it off for several days!
If you like this Enoch & Plonk dress, you should see the others Nicola has in stock and planned! Take a look at her website blog for new collection and design news, then make sure you like Enoch & Plonk on Facebook and sign up to her newsletter to keep up to date with all the E&P happenings. You can also shop direct via Etsy and Big Cartel.
Superman & Wonder Woman
Deluxe Personalised Children's Book
$21.50 each with free shipping for delivery within Australia only.
Available now from Jelly Bean Books.