Trying to slot the days into order here. Working backwards.

I must say Christmas came around way to fast this year. For the first time in years I wasn't really prepared. No pressies, no cards sent out, no baking until the first few weeks into December. Very disorganised and very unlike me.

Once again we put our tree up at the start of December. J spent a ridiculous amount of time untangling the lights for the tree this year. The girls and I decorated the tree. J continued to work on the lights. Let's just say next year the lights have been put away so they will never tangle again and cause such headaches. The tree looked pretty special with it's lights twinkling. This year was Leah's turn to put the star on top of the tree.

November/Mid December

- Kady went to Wandin with Dylan and Debbie to watch Dylan compete

- parent teacher interviews

- I had a Spotlight Demo at Ballarat

- Leah went ten pin bowling and to see Madacasgar 2 for her end of year break up.

- Indian cooking class with Asha. Debbie and Mary came with me. We had a ball cooking yummy recipes. I always love Asha's cooking classes.Came home and made Budgies (not the correct spelling) later in the week. Yum.

- 4th December I had an oncology checkup. I saw Kate Hamilton and she was pleased with my progress and physical examination. Kate was happy with the weight I have lost and gave me clearance to continue with Karate. I was a little worried as I have many blood clots in my right arm from my first two treatments of chemo. They are considered to be in the tiny veins in my arm and shouldn't be a problem when punching and blocking at karate.

- Kady and I along with Dylan and Debbie (Dylan's Mum) began Rock N Roll classes this month. Lots of fun. Dylan has done Ballroom dancing/Latin American dancing for a number of years so is quite good. Debbie has also done a bit of rock n roll so Kady and I have a bit of catching up to do.After a few classes the instructor Brian has asked Kady and Dylan to do competition dancing in 2009.

Karate Christmas Party

Our karate christmas party was held at the Ballan Dojo instead of Blackwood Reserve due to the weather. It had rained for a few days and it was bitterly cold. We lit the fire so it was lovely and warm. We had a great day with all the other dojo's in the area coming along.

The kids had a ball when Santa arrived on the fire truck.

Fiskars Christmas Party

We had our Fiskars Ambassador Christmas party at Lago at Albert Park overlooking the lake.

A lovely restraurant and great food. Lyn did a great job decorating the table with lots of goodies.

It was great to catch up with everyone socially. We exchanged Xmas pressies. I received some yummy handmade chocolates and a very cute bamboo plant in a ceramic pot.

Christmas Day

We went to Jason's Mum's Christmas day and stayed overnight in the 'love shack'. The girls got spoilt rotten with lots and lots of nice presents. Heaps of clothes. We had a lovely late lunch. Turkey, Pork, stuffed Snapper cooked on the bbq, prawns, roast potatoes, pumpkin, carrot, asparagus, salad and potato and leek soup. Kady and Leah got Cranium for Christmas so we were up till very late playing a game. Lots of fun. Thanks Cassi for the lovely gifts. The girls loved them.

Christmas Morning

The girls woke up at about 7ish and opened their stocking at the end of our bed. It was so much fun watching them unwrap their pressies. Thanks to Auntie Mim and Uncle Tony for the lovely earrings. Leah wore hers all day on Christmas day. Thanks to Auntie Rose and Uncle Pete for the the lovely gifts. Kady and Leah loved their hats, socks, and other goodies.

Christmas Decorations

Old and new. Lots of them made by the kids over the years. A yearly photo ornament of the girls made by me.

Christmas Eve

Lots of traditions on Christmas eve.

One of the local firetrucks always comes by with Santa on the back throwing lollies to all the kids in the street. Leah raced outside to see Santa. She was so excited. Leah decorated her 'Reindeer Food' bag and spread it over the back yard. Kady didn't take part this year. Getting to big for this type of thing lol. The Santa key was hung on the front door. The biscuits and milk left for Santa on the kitchen bench. The Christmas eve photo of the girls in from of the tree. ROFL This year with their rats. It was quite funny.

We ate some prawns, salmon on rye bread with capers, various cheese, polish sausage, gherkins, quince paste, chilli mussels, antipasto, cherries, grapes, smoked trout and a few chocolates for good measure. Yummo. We watched carols by candlelight. Love watching these each year.

The girls went to bed about 10.30pm. Leah was up and down for hours as she was so excited she couldn't sleep. Kady wasn't feeling the best so it was quite late before she fell asleep. I went to bed at 1.00am Christmas morning, exhausted.

It Is The Day Before Christmas

and I have finally finished filling and decorating my glass baubles. I have used various papers including some Heidi Grace meadows patterned paper. I embossed the tops of the baubles with opals and finished them off with some pretty ribbons.

I don't know about you guys but this year it has taken me a bit to get into the spirit of Christmas. Christmas just seemed to come around so fast this year. I have been so busy in the lead up to Christmas with lots of work and social happenings. All good but it is nice to finally relax and enjoy Christmas eve. The kids are so excited. I love how we have all our traditions in the lead up to the big day and their excitement grows daily.

All my presents are wrapped (a feat in itself for me to have them done and not left till tonight), my baking and shopping is done and now we are waiting for the man in the red suit. We are looking forward to eating some yummy prawns and other yummy food and watching Carol's By Candlelight tonight on tv. May you all have a lovely day. Enjoy.

Our Weekend

We have had a busy weekend. Jason took Kasey to the vet for her annual needles and did some grocery shopping. I worked all day Saturday until late afternoon. I rushed home and changed and we headed to Scott and Michelle's for a Christmas party. We had a great night. They had hired a jumping castle and the kids had a fantastic time. It was a very cold night so luckily they had their outside fire roaring. Nice and cosy. It has been so hot for the last month it's a real shock to feel cold again. The kids got some great pressies, lollies and a fibre optic butterfly wand. Jason and Scott spent a few hours playing their guitars and singing. It was really nice.

Today I spent the day cleaning. My only free day for a few. Caught up on washing, dusting, vacuuming etc. Tonight we had Carol's By Candlelight at the local reserve. Leah was in the choir. Here is a pic of her all dressed up in her Santa hat. No pics of the choir etc due to privacy reasons. Leah has an awesome time. She was rapt to receive SIX candy canes from Santa when he dropped by in the firetruck. It was a freezing night. We were all dressed warm but the wind was icy. I drove home and got some blankets to keep us warm. Felt more like winter than summer.



Here are a few of my monthly calendar pages. Quite behind in sharing these. I am missing one May picture. I think it's disappeared between a few sheets of paper I put away on my desk. I only have November to add photos too and I am up to date.

Aussie Fiskateer Christmas Party

On Monday we had the Aussie Fiskateer's Christmas party. I took Kady and Leah as it was a nearly three hour drive one way over to Lyn's house in the beautiful Yarra Valley. Everyone had an awesome time. Caught up with old friends and new. The Aussie ambassadors and demonstrators bought a gourmet food hamper for Helen and Danielle. We all wish Danni and Helen all the best in their new ventures.

Fiskars were very generous. Each Fiskateer received a goody bag containing heaps of gorgeous flocked, embossed and patterned papers, a Scrapboss template, a Cloud 9 Design album and heaps of embellishments, adhesive, some Heidi Grace lip gloss and jewellery and much more. I am sure everyone adored their goodie packs.

We also did a secret Santa. Everyone contributed a gift and we all drew one out of the Santa sack. I received some beautiful Petaloo flowers. Santa bought all the kids a pressie too. Kady and Leah are both Fiskateers and they loved their goodies and can't wait to start scrapping some more pages.

Here are some photos from the day. Thanks to Lyn and Rod who did an awesome job on the day.

Beginning To Feel A Lot Like Christmas

It's been another busy week in the Stan household with the lead up to Christmas. Last weekend we put up the Christmas tree. This year we opted not to put the handmade bows on the tree. I am making some more homemade ornaments that still have to be added.

The weather has been lovely over the last few weeks. Summer is here. The kids have been swimming in our pool most days. My veges in the greenhouse are growing more and more each day. The tomatoes are about 1.5 metres high. Looking forward to fresh homegrown tomatoes.

Other news,

Mum is back from England. She had a great time. Got jet lag on the return trip. I am sure she is not looking forward to going back to work. Mary is still on holiday in China. The kids miss their Bubba. Auntie Beryl is recovering well from her recent operation. Leah has her school concert this coming week. Her class have a beach theme with some Beach Boy songs. She is looking forward to it. Tomorrow we have the Fiskateers Christmas party over at Lyn's house. If you want any details and wish to join in the fun email me on dawnstan_fiskars@iprimus.com.au

Here are a few photos.

See what our poor kitty Kasey has to put up with. She doesn't complain too much. I actually think she liked the shoes.

Leah is still addicted to watching 'Kath and Kim'. We are hoping Santa brings some new episodes because we all know them off by heart.

Kady and Leah take turns each year putting the star on top of the tree.

Our annual Christmas photo at Myers. Kady was unsure whether she would take part this year but decided to continue with the tradition. After they sat on Santa's knee a lady and her adult daughter had their pic taken. Yesterday we went to Highpoint to do a little Christmas shopping. Boy our feet were sore by the time we got home. It was so busy we had to park across the road near JB Hifi. We couldn't find a park anywhere.

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Although we had a very cool and unseasonal Christmas and still not a lot of rain, here is a song that is very Aussie.


Aussie Jingle Bells.

Dashing through the bush,
in a rusty Holden Ute,
Kicking up the dust,
esky in the boot,
Kelpie by my side,
singing Christmas songs,
It's Summer time and I am in my singlet, shorts and thongs
Oh!Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way,
Christmas in Australia on a scorching summers day,
Hey!Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Christmas time is beaut!,
Oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty Holden Ute.
Engine's getting hot;
we dodge the kangaroos,
The swaggie climbs aboard,he is welcome too.
All the family's there,sitting by the pool,
Christmas Day the Aussie way, by the barbecue.
Oh!Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way,
Christmas in Australia, a scorching summers day,
Hey!Jingle bells, jingle bells, Christmas time is beaut!,
Oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty Holden Ute.
Come the afternoon,Grandpa has a doze,
The kids and Uncle Bruce,are swimming in their clothes.
The time comes round to go,we take the family snap,
Pack the car and all shoot through,before the washing up.
Oh!Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way,
Christmas in Australia on a scorching summers day,
Hey!Jingle bells, jingle bells,Christmas time is beaut!,
Oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty Holden Ute.

The Sunny Cowgirls sing a great version of this.

This afternoon I was naughty and added to our growing credit card debt. I bought tickets to see Lee Kernaghan and his sister Tania perform in March. A birthday pressie for me, Jason and the girls. Looking forward to this so much.We deserve to be spoilt.

Christmas Day

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Ours felt very busy and we weren't home much at all. Christmas morning I actually woke the kids up at 6.40. I got a cramp in my leg and woke up in agony. Leah heard me and got up all excited. We got her to wake Kady up. Kady wasn't too keen to wake up.

The girls opened their stockings on the end of our bed. There were a few little presents and lots and lots of lollies. Leah (as always) started munching away on hers straight away.

We got up (made Jason and I a strong cuppa, tea for him, coffee for me) out of bed and got comfy in the lounge room. Santa and Jason and I were very generous this year and the girls got a lot of presents. It's been a rough year for everyone so we felt we deserved a little spoiling.

There was wrapping paper from one end of the lounge to the other. We all loved all our presents. Santa bought the girls a pool and lots of accessories to play with in the pool.

Here's Kady very happy with a Futurama x-box game for her and Leah. Kady also got the Simpson Hit and Run and Leah got Hello Kitty. Both the girls got Lego. Leah got some Ello and the biggest littlest pet shop with accessories. Kady got a bead kit I made and a nail art kit I put together (plus more).Both girls got a new bean bag. Jason got a few cd's, two dvd's (Melinda Schneider and Two Men In A Tinnie) and a subscription to a fishing magazine as well as some aftershave.

Kady and Leah with the pool. We put the pool up yesterday. We bought water a few weeks ago for the tank and it took about 5 hours or more to fill it up.

Me with my stash of goodies. This is the first time in years I have ever received so much under the tree. I could get used to being spoilt like this. I picked out a new handbag and purse a few weeks before Christmas. Jason bought me a cd/mp3 player for the four runner. I have been without music for ages in the car. He thought with me driving back and from radiotherapy every day I would need to listen to some music. I also got handcreams, a new blender, a bitty bag of flowers (from Paula), some scrapping goodies, lavender products and other goodies from Tony and Mim and the girls (love them all).

Christmas afternoon we drove an hour over to Jason's brother, Adam's house. It was so cold here Christmas day. We had sleet and hail all day. So much for summer.

We had heaps of yummy prawns, lobster, pork, turkey and salads. I made a heap of desserts to take over. We had to wait a few hours before we could fit the desserts in as we were so full.

Miss Megan loved unwrapping all her presents this year. She was so much fun to watch.

Here are some photos of Megan, Kady and Leah.

We got home at nearly midnight. A great day.

Boxing day was spent at Jason's grandfathers place. It was the first time in about twenty years everyone (except one cousin) had been together. We had a lovely day. Yesterday was spent at home doing nothing but catching up on the washing and finding new homes for clothing and toys.

Traditions

We have many Christmas traditions that we try to do each year. Each year the girls make reindeer food from oatmeal and glitter and decorate a brown paper bag for it to go in. Kady was a little over it this year and Leah had to beg for her to take part.

Every Christmas we put our tree up on December the first (this year we put it up a little early for the first time beacause we decided to enjoy it for a little longer), each year

We also drive around and view the Christmas lights each year and put out milk and biscuits for Santa and a carrot for the reindeer. Each year we email Santa and also put a key on the front doorknob so Santa can get in. Each Christmas eve we eat yummy food together. We never go out on Christmas Eve. It has become our tradition to enjoy a nice bottle of wine, some oysters and prawns, smoked salmon and other yummy's. This year we were too full to eat anything other than the oysters. The girls also put a stocking on the end of their bed for Santa to fill.

another tradition is our Santa photo a Myers. It's so nice to look back each year and see how the girls have changed. We have one for each year except Kady's second Christmas.

All I can think of for now but thought I would share a few pics.

Christmas Eve

We spent the afternoon with Jason's Dad and his fiance Penny, Jason's djudek and his uncle Stan. We had way too much food. Half wasn't even photographed. Penny bought a lovely platter of salad and chicken, we had a heap of deserts I made as well as prawns and Djadek bought a bucket of KFC. I did up small platters of food but we still have so many leftovers.

Christmas eve I made oysters kilpatrick. We were still so full but I didn't want to leave them till today to eat them as I was worried they would go off. We ate them whilst watching carols by candlelight.

What Kind Of Christmas Tree Are You?

A friend sent me this quiz. A bit of fun.

You Are a Traditional Christmas Tree

For a good Christmas, you don't have to re-invent the wheel. You already have traditions, foods, and special things you bring out every year.

What Christmas Tree Are You?

The Stockings Are Hung

and the babes are asleep. All is ready for Santa.

Some sad news tonight. I rang my Nan to wish her Merry Christmas. Nanny is not too well and was awaiting Uncle Michael to take her to hospital. I hope she doesn't have to stay there over Christmas. She feels she will as she feels so sick a(she has been awake all night and feeling really yuck). She is worried she won't come home. She was hoping to spend this Christmas with the family.

Happy my pressie arrived to her prior to Christmas (she got it three days ago, yah the postal system). She hadn't opened it so I told her to take it to hospital with her.I hope the photos of all the Aussie family will bring a smile to her face.All the grandkids and greatgrands plus the overseas son (my dad) and wife (my mum).

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas. It's now Christmas morning. It certainly gets harder as the kids get older. The parents get much less sleep as they head off to bed so much later.Mind you J has been snoring away for over two hours.

Only Two Sleeps

till the fat man comes. The kids are excited. Kady really wants a new mobile phone but has no chance of getting one lol and Leah's wish list changes daily.

We are exhausted today. We got up at 5 and headed off to the Victoria Market this morning. It took us half and hour just to drive along the road that runs beside the market and then park. I think everyone had the same idea of getting there early. We spent up big. Lots of meat for the freezer. There are so many bargains there.

We bought

Blue Grenadier ($5.95 a kg)

t-bone steak ($10 kg)

diced topside (2 kg for $10)

sirloin steak (trays for $10)

rump steak (trays for $10)

mince (2kg for $10)

pork chops ($5.95 kg and they are huge and look so yum)

lamb chops

4 homemade dips (spring onion, hommus, spinach and pinenut and smoked trout)

quince paste

3 tapenades

Turkish delight

wedding sausage and juniper berry sausage

various deli meats for platters tomorrow

sundried tomatoes

marinated baby octopus (Jason's fav but not mine)

marinated mushrooms

marinated calamari (done in lemon and oregano)

smoked chilli mussels (another of Jason's favs)

stuffed olives

Turkish bread

pork pies

cherries ($10 a kg, they had some for $7 per kg but the dearer ones looked much nicer)

strawberries

Prawns ($30 a kg for the biggies)

Oysters ($10 kg)

Tomorrow Jason's Dad and his fiance and Grandfather are coming over. I am doing platters of cheeses, dips, crackers, breads, deli meats, all the antipasto stuff etc and a few different deserts.

Yesterday I made almond fingers dipped in chocolate and today I made a layered deserts in glasses for tomorrow ( have to make more again for Christmas day to take to Jason's brothers). The bottom layer is white chocolate cream (just melt white chocolate and fold through the extra thick cream), next layer is mixed berries (from the freezer department), next layer is custard and finish off with strawberries cut up. I also made a raspberry cream today. Frozen raspberries folded through whipped cream (add icing sugar to help sweeten and makes it a little stiffer). Tomorrow I will put the cream in little meringue cases and top with sugar frosted berries and cachous ( I also have to make more of these for Christmas day).

On the way home from the market we stopped at Highpoint for our annual Christmas pic with Santa. The girls weren't very dressed up after being at the market but at least we have a nice picture. I thought Highpoint would be packed with shoppers but it was no worse than normal thank goodness. The Santa and helpers in Myers are so good when taking photos. There was a little girl before my two and they spent at least ten minutes getting a good picture of her smiling and checking that Mum was happy with the image on the screen before they printed it off. Beats the pubescent Santa we visited (only time we haven't been to Myer) a few years ago.

We are now home and exhausted. Looking forward to tomorrow. Love entertaining. I have laid out all the Christmas chocolates and whilst I was outside gardening this afternoon Leah ate about 1/2 a kilo of cherries. Guess who is banned from eating any more.

Santa's Replies

I finally feel like I am back in the land of living. Still not 100% but out of the chemo fog.

I thought I would share the letters Kady and Leah received from Santa this year. Each year (for the past four or five) we have emailed the same website and within a few days there is always an individual reply.

The site is http://www.thereindeerbarn.com

It used to be http://www.dm.net/~santa/

These letters made me laugh and cry. I didn't see what they wrote (except Leah's wish list of toys). Obviously Kady wrote a few things for Santa to worry about. I was surprised Kady still wanted to email Santa this year. lol

Kady's Letter

Dear Kady,

I must admit I got a good chuckle out of your Christmas wish list. Clothes, shoes, CDs, DVDs... all of these things make perfect sense. In fact, I’ve already chatted with Twinkletoes, my elf stylist, and Flittergleam, who’s in charge of media, and they’ve both said they’re checking their departments to see if they can find something just right for you. But Kady... an ear piercing? Blonde streaks? I may be magical, but even I have never figured out how to pierce a child’s ear and dye her hair while she sleeps on Christmas Eve! As much as I would like to grant your wish, I’m afraid this is one gift for which you are going to have to ask your mum.

There are a lot of changes going on in your life right now, aren’t there, Kady? Graduation and high school and a boyfriend and your mum’s sickness... that would be a lot for anyone to think about. Well, to start, I don’t want you to worry a whit about high school. You’re right that high school brings a lot of changes, but I believe you can handle them all with no trouble. The day you start high school, I want you to march right in the front door with your shoulders back and your head held high. Just as Mrs. Claus and I have always told the elves, if you ACT confident, everyone will BELIEVE you’re confident, and they will treat you accordingly.

The same might be said for your graduation speech. A very, very, VERY long time ago, public speaking used to make me nervous, too! It gets easier with practice (in fact, now, after hundreds of years, I actually ENJOY it), but as you don’t have several hundred years to practice between now and December 20th...

I’ll tell you what: between now and Wednesday, I want you to practice and prepare as much as you possibly can. In the meantime, I’m dispatching an Emergency Elf just for you. Her name is Gigglebreeze, and her special job is to go around the world, helping out kids who need a hand. She can’t actually come up and introduce herself, of course — there’s the Elf Code of Secrecy to think about — and she’ll have to be in disguise. (Just imagine what your teachers might do if they saw an elf, complete with curly shoes and pointed ears, show up at your graduation dinner!) But when you give your speech, she’ll be in the audience, smiling at you. If you look around, I bet you’ll even see her. I hope knowing you have a fan from the North Pole will help you feel a bit calmer!

Kady, I know that your mum’s sickness has been very hard for the whole family. Sometimes it can be extra hard for you as the big sister, because it becomes your job to help out if your mum needs help or to try to help Leah not be worried. I’ve been very proud of you so far, and please tell your mum that all of us up at the North Pole send our best wishes.

I hope you have a very merry Christmas, Kady. Keep being a good girl. Work hard in your last days of school!

Love,

Santa

P.S. I’m not sure I remember receiving a letter this year from Zack. Sometimes talking can make a person feel better when they’re “on the down side.” Sometimes a person needs to talk to a counselor, but sometimes a friend (like me!) will do. I’d love to hear from Zack, if he thinks it would help.




Leah's Letter

Dear Leah,

Thank you so much for your letter. It’s very nice to hear from you! Mrs. Claus and the reindeer and I are very well, thank you. Mrs. Claus is very busy making extra meals and snacks for the elves (as they are working very, very hard right now and have big appetites!) The reindeer have been stretching and exercising in preparation for their big night Christmas Eve. Last night, all the reindeer raced to the moon and back. Vixen won, but only because Dasher tripped over the Big Dipper!

I forwarded a copy of your letter to Mother Nature, as your request for snow falls into her department. She tells me that many children in Australia have asked for snow on Christmas Day. She would love to oblige but says Jack Frost is quite stubborn about the subject. He has always spent November through March in the northern hemisphere and May through September in the southern hemisphere, and as a creature of habit, he’s unwilling to make a change. (April and October are, of course, Mr. Frost’s vacation months. I’m told he generally spends the time on either Neptune or Pluto.)

You know, Leah, I think you might be the first child this Christmas season who’s asked me how many elves there are; it’s not a very common question. Good for you for being creative! Now, I wish that I could tell you the exact number, but they move around so fast that I’ve never been able to get a count. I know all of their names, of course, and I even sat down once in July (when things aren’t very busy around here) to make a list. I started with the “A” names (Ablestar, Acorndew, Applekiss, Archsmile . . .), but somehow, I never got to the end.

I gave your Christmas list to an elf called Dazzlesheen, who reports back that things look promising. I don’t know if there’s room for EVERYTHING you asked for in my sleigh, but I’ll try my best.

Oh — before we go any further, I need to ask you a question. Would you please have a talk with Kasey? I have such a difficult time with cats on Christmas Eve; they tend to wake up when I’m visiting their homes, and they either think I’m an intruder and scratch at my legs or they leap up on my shoulder and bat at my hat. If you could explain to Kasey who I am sometime between now and Christmas Eve and make sure to mention I’ll be coming by, it will make my Christmas Eve visit SO much easier.

Leah, please pass on to your mum that all of us up at the North Pole are thinking of her. I know her breast cancer is very difficult for everyone in your family, and I’m proud of you for trying hard to be a good girl during this time. I hope very much that she’ll be well soon. Would you please give her a hug for me?

Keep being a good girl. Listen to Miss Carmody and your other grown-ups!

Love,

Santa

P.S. It is, indeed, snowing here, but then, it’s almost always snowing at the North Pole. I’ve just gone out to catch a few flakes on black paper, and would you believe I found a snowflake that’s shaped just like Rudolph?

The Christmas Tree

Early this week we awoke to find our Christmas tree on the ground. Sometime in the night it had fallen over. At first I thought it was the wind through an open window that had blown it over. On closer inspection we realised the based of the tree had cracked.

All week the tree lay on the lounge room floor (driving me nuts). Yesterday Jason made a new base (as we couldn't buy one anywhere and the tree is only about 5 years old and cost way too much to throw away. We bought it from one of those cute Christmas shops in the city) out of 30kg of concrete. Not sure the wind will ever blow this over lol. Jason will just have to lug it upstairs every year lol

The tree is now back up in all it's splendour.

Can you see the cute little Santa in the background (left). So sad that it doesn't work lol. NOT. The most annoying thing we have ever owned (thanks to a generous Uncle). The kids however love it and get great joy out of clapping their hands to make him sing. mmmmmm I suppose I will buy some new batteries for him. After all 'Tis the season to be jolly'.

Am loving Christmas this year. Always do but this year it's even better. I even have a few pressies under the tree with my name on them for the first time in a while. Jason and I don't usually bother much with gifts for each other but this year we decided that we deserve to get a little something.