Christmas Day 2011 - Part 2

After breakfast, the VIPs went and got dressed and played with their new toys, while I got stuck into the food preparations.

Grandma and Grandpa came, along with all the uncles and aunts and we had a late lunch.

Then there was lots of present opening. The VIPs, Baker Bob and I were very spoilt!

By this stage the VIPs were all pretty exhausted and they went to bed nice and early.

It's just a pity the weather was so crappy. It means all the photos are flash exposed., but at least this year we have photos! I'm very thankful for that.

Christmas Day 2011 - Part 1

Christmas day was very busy but fun. I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't get a big chance to chat to everyone but there was heaps of food and everyone seemed to have a great time and enjoyed their presents. The weather was crap though. We had massive thunderstorms and the pergola flooded so I'm really glad I deiced to set up the table inside. Of course the VIPs were spoilt, and so was I. But let's start at the start...

Christmas Eve we put out a glass of cola, some cookies and grapes for Santa. The VIPs, being as weird as they are, kept stealing the grapes off Santa's plate, not the cookies.

Then Santa came.

We opened presents. Poppy and I had been up since 6 and by 7 we were getting impatient for the VIPs to join us, so we went and woke them. Was a bit naughty but we were bored and once they realised we were telling them Santa had been, all was forgiven.

Then we had chocolate pancakes with bananas for Christmas morning breakfast.

Part 2 to come...

It's Christmas Eve

Well here we are.
The day before Christmas.
The sum of everyones efforts will be brought to fruition and enjoyed tomorrow.
Try to relax and enjoy the day. It only happens once a year!


Merry Christmas from Family Nemo. May it be a day filled with love, laughter and joy!

See you on the other side.

A New Age Letter From Santa

12 Days of Christmas Activities - Day 12 Get a personalised email from Santa

(Big Thanks to Amelise for this link)

I organised a personalised email video to be sent to the VIPs from Santa at the North Pole through "Portable North Pole".

They loved it! Definitely more exciting for their age than a snail mail letter from Santa.

I managed to take some webcam shots while they watched it...

Saltdough Handprint Ornament Fail

12 Days of Christmas Actvities - Day 11 Make saltdough Christmas ornaments better than I can!

Today my charming friend Belinda and her 3 munchkins came for a catch up pre Christmas and I thought it woiuld be a great opportunity to make saltdough Christmas decorations.

I knew a basic saltdough recipe and put it into action, rolled out disc, wrestled 6 little hands onto the discs and popped them in the oven.

However, I forgot to prick the damn things! So, they blow up like balloons.
So, for anyone that wants to have some success with saltdough decorations like these...

TRY HERE

Or you could try cutouts like this one...

TRY HERE

Belinda dear, I suggest you redo them lol!

Instead of a pic of my dismal attempt at saltdough, here is a pic of Belinda's cheeky 9mth old.

Down Time

12 Days of Christmas Activities - Day 10 Watch a Christmas movie

It is easy to be so damn busy at this time of year that you forget to just spend some down time with your VIPs.

The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of the VIPs favourites at the moment, probably because their Aunty Hayley can often be found wearing clothes depicting the main charcters.

But who am I to deny them a little Tim Burton craziness? Especially when I get lots of couch cuddles while watching it.

Gingerbread - The Smell of Christmas

12 Days of Christmas Activities - Day 9 Fill the house with the smell of gingerbread.

Whether you decide to make a lavish, pretty Gingerbread house like this one.

Image here

Or whether you attempt to make gingerbread men, (only to remember you still have no brown sugar, subtitute with white and then not melt it down enough so you get gingerbread men that look like they are multigrain!) Very tasty though lol

Or make something completely off the wall, like this gingerbread playdough!

Picture and recipe from the VERY talented Sugarbelle

It just ain't Christmas unless that spicy smells is drifting through the house.

Treats of the Season

12 Days of Christmas Activities - Day 8 Roll something in coconut

Every year, at Christmas, we make these delicious truffles.

This year the VIPs were old enough to help by rolling the worked truffles in coconut. (According to Eva that means squish it into the table and then shove it in your mouth - Have we noticed a trend yet with this girl?)

Please be aware of a few things while viewing this pics...

1. They are blurry because they were taken with my hands covered in sticky truffle mix

2. Mans has not turned into the half naked chef, he is actually wearing jocks. (TT partial success, but I'll post about that another day!)

3. I had help - Aunty Bry and Aunty Hayley were "Ball monitors" lol

Green and Red Christmas Cookies

12 Days of Christmas Activities - Day 7 Bake Cookies

Today we made these.

They are not as good as I usually make because I had to replace 1/4 cup of brown sugar with white sugar. I had already made promises of cooking them before I realised we were very low on brown sugar.

However, despite insisting they help, the VIPs contribution was picking the M&Ms out of the teaspoon of mixture I gave them for rolling and eating them. Then when no more mounds were forthcoming, they ate the dough.

All well, it's Christmas!

Christmas Stories

12 Days of Christmas Activities - Day 6 Read a Christmas Story

We read the Aussie 12 days of Christmas the other day and have since read many Christmas stories including The Night Before Christmas (one of my childhood favourites). Stories are important for young children to help them relate to situations, hence why they are an important part of the lead up to Christmas.

Please excuse the boobage and belly!

Multitasking Mummy + Free Stickers =

12 Days of Christmas Activities - Day 5 Christmas sticker craft.

The other day the boys and I were hanging out together. Eva was asleep and I was desperate for activity for them to do that was quiet, required little supervision from me but still something that we could do together.

When we went and visit Santa, the VIPs got given these nifty little colouring books and inside was a sheet of stickers consisting of a large Christmas tree, decorations, presents etc. "These are perfect," I thought. The boys sat at the kitchen table, while I studied and organised lists, and decorated their very own Christmas trees for a good 40mins.

See how each one shows off their very different personalities. I LOVE these pieces of artwork for that exact reason. Even though Linc ended up taking out his frustration and the imperfections by tearing the tree. It adds to the charm.

Now, you might not have a specifically designed sticker sheet sitting around but drawing a Christmas tree onto a piece of paper and providing your Little One with seasonal stickers (from any discount store) to decorate is the perfect, simple, indoor, low supervision, quiet activity for preschoolers!
You can;t go wrong.

All Alight

12 Days of Christmas Activities - Day 4 Drive around locally to check out the Christmas lights


I grew up with Christmas lights out the front of our house. It was just what you did. I remember as a child taking a trip to "Boulevard" in Ivanhoe to see the whole street light up. It was so exciting!

Needless to say I don't feel like it's Christmas unless I have some kind of festive illumination out the front of my house.

There is not much in our area as far as big displays go but we did find this one. Someone has put a lot of effort in!

If you live in VIC and want to check out your local light displays, try here.