Lightening Online

Singstar Princess brought home a book of stories she has written. They’ve been typed up and made into a book that can be kept. I’m sure she’ll love it when she gets older and can look back at what she wrote as a young child.

I thought I’d share one of those stories with you:

Kate And Santa

One Christmas Eve Kate and her family were setting up the Christmas tree and then they went to bed. Kate woke up she heard something. She went outside she saw Santa and his slave. Santa said come aboard so she did. Kate said “where is your workshop?” Santa answered “at the north pole”. Kate said “cool”. “So Kate what do you want for Christmas before we leave?” Kate said “you know my name and I want um a Nintendo DS of course.” “I know your name because I have a list of people who are naughty and good and you are good helping your parents.” Kate said to herself “this is going to be the best Christmas ever” The end.

My favourite bits are “Santa and his slave” and “you are good helping your parents”.

While our daughter’s name isn’t “Kate”, I’m pretty sure she wants a Nintendo DS for Christmas - it’s mentioned in more than one story in this book.

Do you usually try and get your kids what they ask for for Christmas? All 3 of mine have come up with things in the past week and none of them are what I’ve bought. This happens to me every year - the kids ask for something “last minute-ish” which is different to what I’ve already bought. And I’m torn between “be happy with what you’re given” and wanting it to be a “perfect” Christmas.

Since we have lived in this house, we’ve had a tradition of displaying a Santa in our front paddock. Santa is always a hit with the school bus kids, neighbours and passers by. So, over the weekend, Santa once again mysteriously appeared in our front paddock.

Each year we try to do something different with Santa. The first year he sat on an old Bulldog tractor. The next it was an old Fire Truck and last year he did the “Aussie” thing, waving from his deck chair with a cold drink in his hand.

After 3 years, poor old Santa was looking a little worse for wear. So, first task this year was to give him a fresh, new suit.

Then the fun part, a ride with Santa on the back of the ute:

I think Lleyton would like to do a cricket playing Santa next.

And this year, we have a truly Aussie Santa once again:

Santa Up A Gum Tree!!!!

Ho, Ho, Ho….. Merry Christmas!!!!

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE Christmas????

The Christmas Season in our home is heralded by the Credit Union Christmas Pageant in Adelaide (and the subsequent arrival of Santa as part of that parade). When I was a child, it was a tradition to watch the pageant on TV in the morning and then put the Christmas Tree up that afternoon.

We started this tradition with our own children but the past couple of years we’ve put it off until after Trailer Boys birthday (which is December 1st). This year the kids were asking, so we decided to put it up Sunday (a week after the pageant but earlier than December).

I guess this means for us, the Christmas season has started. You can’t have too much of a good thing right?

The kids were SO excited and did lots of dancing around the lounge room during the tree decorating and afterward.

Here is Farmboy putting the tree together while the kids watch:

I remember as a child how loooonngggg it felt waiting during this part. All you want to do is get started with the fun bit - the decorating!

And here we are a decorating:

Once upon a time I had a more “magazine-ready” tree. Colour co-ordinated and perfectly balanced. These days we have a very “kid-decorated” look to the tree, complete with all sorts of home-made decorations. I will admit that it took a bit of an effort to step back and let them do it “their way”. They won’t be young for long and I want to enjoy this part of Christmas while we have them. There’ll be time for “perfect” Christmas Trees later (although I think I’ll keep the hand-made decorations).

And of course, the finished product:

Yes, we already have presents underneath. Aunty Santa has already been. I had lots of fun shopping for my nieces and nephews this year. We’ve already done presents with family on the East Coast but the rest of the gifts were languishing in the office. So I was pleased to get the tree up and have somewhere to put them. It feels good to have this part of Christmas sorted, wrapped and ready to go.

Want a sneak peak at what’s inside these presents? Here you go (any sister in law’s reading this might want to look away now if you want to keep it a surprise):

I bought all of these presents from the kindy toy fundraising catalogues. It made life so much easier and I really enjoyed browsing through the 4 catalogues I had looking for something that would be suitable. I tend to be a bit of a “perfectionist” when it comes to gifts - always wanting to get the perfect thing with the perfect “wow” factor. I’m trying to be realistic in that it isn’t really possible. If I can’t always get it right for my own children, how can I expect to get it right every time for my nieces and nephews? Anyway, I REALLY hope they like what I’ve chosen (and yeah, I did go a teeny bit over budget this year on some of them - but I had so much fun that I’m sure that counts for something!!!).

Now, I’ll leave you with a final shot of my little “santa”:

He’s so excited about the tree and Christmas and starting school visits and his upcoming 5th birthday (complete with pirate party if mum manages to get it organised). Life is good when you’re an “almost 5 year old”.

Anyone else got there tree up yet???

Ho, Ho, Ho…..

Some time ago I agreed to participate in a round the world envelope race. This race is all about raising awareness of the humble envelope. I want to post on the race in more detail in another post so I won’t say anything more now but I will say that it is an exciting thing for me to be involved in and it surely made me smile when the envelope arrived yesterday. As someone who is a big advocate of the value of printed mail (as opposed to only digital mail), I’ve really appreciated the opportunity to be involved.

This morning, my children are having a great time watching the Christmas Pageant. I remember growing up with the pageant as a child and it heralding the beginning of the Christmas season. Some people prefer to wait until December to think about Christmas but as a huge Christmas advocate (it really is the most wonderful time of the year, right? ), I like to stretch is out as long as possible.

Christmas and real life touchable mail. Two of my favourite things.

And this year I want to combine the two in a simple gesture to my blog readers. I want to send out Christmas Cards to any of you who are happy to share your address with me.

I know privacy is an issue on the internet and I understand if you’re not comfortable giving me your real name and address. But for those of you who are, simply fill in the contact form below and I’ll send you a simple Christmas greeting via “real” mail. All details will be destroyed as soon as the mail is sent and will not be shared with another soul.

cforms contact form by delicious:days

I hope a card in the mail from me will make you smile!
Happy Smiley Saturday!!!

The more we do “simple” Christmas, the more in love with it I fall! 

On Saturday 22nd we left home to spend some time at my in laws shack near the beach.  I spent the last 2 days before Christmas SLEEPING!!!!  Seriously!!!!  How cool is that?  Well, I did have a few small jobs like fill up the lollies and nuts and cook some pasta for a pasta salad.

Christmas lunch was held at my SIL’s.  A beautiful yet simple set up outside.  Few nibblies on the table.  BBQ set up one end so the cook wasn’t excluded from the gathering and food could be cooked as the meal progressed.  Just 3 wonderful salads!  Chicken kebabs, smoked salmon patties and garlic prawns on the BBQ.

Dessert was a salad platter, pudding for those who were keen (thanks to MIL) and some of the homemade goodies I’ve been making (which went down rather well ).

Plenty of good food, even better company and no-one was really stuck in the kitchen preparing food very long.  Totally the way to go!!!!  Yah for my SIL!!!!

Kids favourite pressies:

* Lightning McQueen watch

* High School Musical PJ’s

* MP3 player ($40 from Kmart)

Our kids are not all that hard to please really.  Of course, they got spoilt as usual.  And the Playstation 2 went down VERY well.  That was a family present and mum & dad are having lots of fun too!    Well, maybe more mum than dad  - he wasn’t too keen on joining me on the Singstar.  Well, we had to shut the window anyway!  LOL.  I’m sure he’ll feel better once we get back to the farm where no-one can overhear.

So, that’s about our Christmas wrapped up.  Most of my posts have been prewritten and this one I’m squeezing in while home for a few hours.  I should be back online soon and will answer all your lovely comments then.  Hope you all had a great Christmas!

This morning I made up Lisa’s fudge .  We had a storm and the power went out.  Trust that to happen to me on the only day I actually wanted to use the stove!!!!  LOL.  So, there I was stirring a pot over our camping stove (which I’m very thankful for ).  Of course, now I’m wishing I had a gas stove.  It heats up so QUICK compared to electric.  DH tells me it’s too much hassle (we’d have to have bottled gas etc).  Plus mine is only 3 years old.  *sigh*  Never mind.  We can’t everything in life that we want.  Thankfully I’d also written the recipe down (sort of) as I had no internet access without power either.

I was hoping it would be so rich that I wouldn’t eat too much of it.  WRONG!!!!  I’ve just cut it up and tiny pieces keep ending up in my mouth.  Somehow…..without any help from me whatsoever……  I think the walnuts I added have toned it down a little.  And my cooking chocolate was a dark chocolate (is dark what you’re supposed to use for that bit Lisa?).

Of course, in my usual fashion, I decided to have a play with the recipe.

Instead of using a can of condensed milk, I made up the homemade version (as I always do when a recipe calls for condensed milk).  I have no idea if 400g (as per recipe) is a can but I just used the quantity in my recipe and it seems to have turned out fine.

I wanted to make a sort of white chocolate/caramel version of the fudge.  So instead of using white sugar for the condensed milk recipe, I substituted in brown.

So make up condensed milk as follows (the easiest thing to do is make it directly into the saucepan you want to use for your fudge.:

1 cup dry milk powder

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup boiling water

3 Tbsp margarine

Mix together until smooth.

To this condensed milk mixture add:

500g white chocolate (or thereabouts.  I used what I had left which wasn’t *quite* 500g but it’ll do)

65g butter

tsp vanilla

Melt over slow-ish heat, stirring until all smooth and melted then pour into a 20cm square tin that you’ve lined with baking powder.

Mine isn’t quite set yet but I just pinched a bit and tasted it and this one really IS rich and very sweet.  If you’re not a lover of sweet stuff and white chocolate you probably won’t like it.  Hopefully my BIL’s do as they’re getting some of it for Christmas.

…or should that be making?????  Cos the oven certainly isn’t on today.  It’s warm and rather steamy here today with more rain expected tomorrow (making it even stickier!).  So I’m rather glad that my Christmas “baking” mostly goes in the fridge, rather than the oven.    I’m glad I’ve already finished with baking shortbread as that does need to go in the oven.

I’ve been given the job of “homemade treats” for Christmas Day this year.  My in laws know me well!  It’s great because I’m making a heap of treats for gifts anyway.

Naturally I had to start with the old Christmas faithful - Rocky Road!  Over a few days I’m working my way through whatever I get to….starting with the ones I REALLY want to get made and adding to those if I get enough time and energy.  So, here are my “recipes” I’ve made so far (not everything has a recipe so I’ll do my best to explain what I do).

ROCKY ROAD

1 packet chocolate melts (mine are 375g)

about 1/4 packet of copha (250g or 1/2 pound size pack)

1/2 - 1 packet marshmallows

red jube lollies (I didn’t have any this time so just picked out red, white and green jelly beans)

salted peanuts (you can use unsalted but I like the taste of salt and chocolate together, you can also leave these out)

Melt chocolate melts and copha using a medium heat in the microwave - 1 minute at a time.  Stir between minutes and continue until melted.  Add marshmallows, jubes and salted peanuts.  I add some of each until the chocolate looks to be “chock full” of stuff.  Pour into a tray lined with baking paper and set in fridge.  Cut into bite size pieces or whatever size you prefer.

Alternative suggestions: some people like coconut in their rocky road (I don’t).  You could also add something like rice bubbles instead of peanuts to make these a little more “kid friendly”.

HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE

My mum had the most awesome recipe for this that I can’t seem to lay my hands on.     Here’s the closest recipe I was able to find.

125g copha

125g icing sugar

6 Tbsp cocoa

4 Tbsp milk powder

pinch salt

Sift dry ingredients.  Melt copha and mix into dry mixture.  You need to work fast.  Pour into mini patty pans or into a thin layer in a baking tray.  Refrigerate.  If you make it in a slab, break into pieces when set.  You could also drop spoonfuls onto a tray lined with baking paper.

I made up a double mixture as that used a full package of copha.  About 1/3 was mixed with rice bubbles and the rest had salted peanuts added to it.  I was able to get some Christmas mini patty pans from Spotlight this year and used those.  This double mix made around 90 chocolates.

It’s quite a strong tasting recipe so you don’t want to overdo the cocoa, unless you prefer it that way! 

CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE BALLS

1 packet cream cheese

2 packets of chocolate biscuits filled with vanilla cream (eg oreos, delta creams….)

Blend in food processor, roll into balls and set in fridge.  Dip into white, milk or dark chocolate.

APRICOT COCONUT BALLS

1 tin/can consensed milk (or 1 quantity homemade condensed milk)

2 cups dried apricots (chopped/diced)

3 cups coconut

extra coconut for rolling in

Combine ingredients together, roll into balls then roll in coconut.  Set in fridge.  Makes approximately 60 balls.

This is as far as I have gotten so far.  I’ll be back to add some more if and when I get to them.

If you’re stuck for something to entertain the kids in the last few days before Christmas, here is a recipe for Christmas Playdough that I made for my kids recently.

CHRISTMAS PLAYDOUGH

2 cups flour

1 cup salt

2 Tbsp tartaric acid

2 Tbsp oil

Green food colouring

Few drops peppermint essence

Silver or red glitter (the cheap kind that is just flakes of tinsel type stuff - be careful as some of the finer, more expensive stuff can have glass in it)

2 cups boiling water

Stir until all combined then kneed to make a smooth dough.  Allow to cool a little before giving it to little hands as the boiling water can make it quite hot.

This is great as it stimulates so many different sense in one activity.  Sight, touch and smell.  If you have really young children you may need to supervise carefully as there is a temptation to eat such yummy smelling playdough!  I love the minty smell that permeates our family room when the children get the playdough out. 

Kate at Our Red House had a similar recipe for homemade playdough recently.  It really is a quick and easy way to make playdough.  I love the way playdough encourages kids creative side.  Ours has been made into all manner of things already.  Lots of fun for not a lot of $$.

I like to add epsom salts to my bath.  It’s very relaxing and apparently the magnesium is absorbed through the skin while you soak.  This is good for me as I seem to be lacking in magnesium and I’m terrible at remembering to take supplements.  There is quite a bit of information available online spouting the benefits of epsom salts.

Earlier this year I bought a large bag of epsom salts from a horse supply place.  It’s much cheaper to buy there than in the supermarkets.   Given my mum is allergic to almost all perfumed bath salts, I decided it would be nice to make her up her own bath salts with just a bit of colouring and no scent.  We’re also doing small gifts for DH’s siblings and their partners this year so I thought something homemade like this might fit the bill for the females.

There has been quite a bit of talk on the Simple Savings* forum about homemade Christmas gifts.  One of the ideas that has been discussed is that of making Candy Cane bathsalts.  It sounded to me like a great concept for Christmas Gifts.  There are quite a number of recipes available on the internet.

I kept my “recipe” fairly simple with the main ingredient being epsom salts.  I also added some bicarbonate soda as that is supposed to help soften the skin.  The red has been coloured with food colouring and while most recipes say to add Peppermint Essential Oil, I just used Peppermint Essence as that’s what I had.

I made Glass Deco images to add to the jars and the tag I found at Organized Christmas .  You can also find a recipe there if you prefer not to just “wing it” like I did.    Here is a photo of the finished products.