NYE 2010

We haven’t hit midnight yet, but have enjoyed a great night. As we are still in Melbourne, and haven’t gone away as we had originally planned, we partied here.

First stop was Kun Ming in Chinatown, which never fails us. All the family love it. Tonight’s feast included honey chicken (for the kids), king prawns with cashews and sliced beef Szechuan style (for the adults). Very affordable, clean and the food is reliably delicious.

Next stop was Yarra Park, in the shadows of the MCG. What a beautiful night. We picked the shapes in the clouds while we waited.

Guy Sebastian was performing, but from where we were seated the music was drowned out by the carni rides. Fireworks started at 9.15pm. We always head for the Family show inside of the midnight spectacle. I have no desire to mingle with drunken teenagers. Here’s a very small sample:

Not truly spectacular show, but enjoyable. Quick easy exit from the city, and we’re home by 10.15. I’ll now get comfy on the couch with Kid1 and Kid2, watching a movie until midnight. To end our night we turn the lights out and watch the fireworks at Sydney Harbour.

Suits me for NYE.  A night with my family and lots of sparks!

Christmas Meme

As my 2nd post for the day, as a means of catching up, I’m cheating a bit and using Shewgirl’s Christmas Meme. Very fitting for the season, and a quick win to boot.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?

Wrapping paper. For all the presents this year, I tallied about 5 hours of wrapping! But I so love the expectant faces and the ripping sound on Christmas day.

2. Real tree or artificial?

Artificial, though Kid1 has asked for a real one. I am fighting this as I see the recycling of the artificial one as greener – though it seems to drop the same mess.

3. When do you put up the tree?

Though the kids fight me, the rule is the first weekend in December. The kids do it now and thoroughly enjoy it, though there can appear to be less style in the haphazard arrangement of decorations.

4. When do you take the tree down?

Traditionally by January 6, though if we’re busy (or lazy) it may be a bit later.

5. Do you like eggnog?

Not sure if I’ve ever tasted it – I like eggflips…. are they similar?

6. Favourite present received as a child?

Hard to choose, but probably the apricot bike I got when I was 12.

7. Hardest person to buy for?

MotH! then my father – who I now just baked for, because that’s what he loves most.

8. Easiest person to buy for?

The kids, and my mother-in-law.

9. Do you have a nativity scene?

No.

10. Mail or e-mail Christmas cards?

Christmas cards, though I’ve been slack the last couple of years. This year to immediate family I sent these lovely advent cards at the very beginning of December. MotH’s side, unfortunately, got ones from work (shhh, don’t tell).

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?

A summer dressing gown from my sister-in-law that I’m sure she stole from a nursing home. I’m sure she wouldn’t have been caught dead in it, so why on earth would she think I would like it?? Worst KK ever.

12. Favourite Christmas movie?

Miracle on 34th Street – the original 1947 version.

13. When do you start shopping?

Usually around September I start picking things up, but the serious stuff happens in December and I can still be picking up bits’n'pieces the week before.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?

Probably? Not against the idea.

15. Favourite thing to eat at Christmas?

The sweet stuff – Christmas pudding, white christmas, rum balls….

16. Lights on the tree?

Of course – about 3 layers that flash independently.

17. Favourite Christmas song?

Joy to the world

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?

We only travel afterwards, but it can be a bit of both – depends on the year. Last year we went to Bright on December 27. This year we’re at home as we have a big holiday coming in February.

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer?

Dasher, Dancer, Donner, Blixen, Comet, Cupid, …. Rudolph (doh!)

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?

A star – lit up of course

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?

Christmas morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?

Crowds – so we make sure the grocery shopping is done a couple days before Christmas, and don’t venture out to the sales until the 28th.

23. Favourite ornament theme or color?

I love baubles (balls) and would prefer to maintain a variation of one colour – probably silver, but that’s in my dreams. The kids go berserk and every colour and shape is used. Perhaps I’ll get my tree when they are grown, and no longer interested.

24. Favourite for Christmas lunch/dinner?

Roast meat (preferably pork) and roast vegies.

25. What did you get for Christmas this year?

I did very well – a tomtom & ipod nano, gold hoop earrings and a gold cross on a necklace, and a new handbag from KK. Absolutely no complaints from me – I felt especially lucky.

 

Christmas cooking with memories

Alas, I’ve been distracted so Day 5 of #blog12daysxmas got away from me. I will try to catch up with 2 blogs today, with this as the first.

In preparation for Christmas, I do a fair amount of cooking – rum balls, white christmas, gingerbread and other goodies. This year though I thought I would try for the first time my mother’s recipe for plum pudding. I have meant for years to do this but have always run out of time, or found other excuses, and it hasn’t happened.

To make my mother’s plum pudding is a great undertaking, which I knew before I began but just how great an undertaking didn’t become clear til I was in the midst of it all. And I should actually clarify, it’s not my mother’s recipe. It is a receipt from her great-aunt May, my great great aunt May, who passed it to my grandmother, then to my mother. But I know it from Mum making it every year. Though Mum died 2 years ago, with the Alzheimer’s she really was not present for 8 years prior to that. So the last time the pudding was made was about 1999.

The recipe involves about 2.5 hours of measuring and chopping a variety of fruit and nuts, sifting the flours and spices, and preparing the other ingredients (including the translation from imperial measurements to metric), before you even butter the pudding cloth. Once the pudding is all together, it then boils for six hours. Needless to say, I took two days to cook the pudding.

The whole process evoked many memories of Mum. Of Mum making the pudding – and me not paying enough attention, so that at times I was left thinking, what on earth did she mean by this bit. The bit that really threw me was at the end of the recipe: the addition of the rum – ‘rum to taste’. That’s not a bloody measurement! 

But after putting it all together and in the pot, I sampled the mixing bowl. And I’d got it right – because with that taste of the batter I was transported back to the kitchen I grew up in, where all four kids stood in line for a chance of the bowl, fighting over the mixing spoon and wishing Mum had not scraped the bowl so clean. The mix of fruits, nuts, rum and spices was exactly as I remembered it.

We had the plum pud on Boxing Day, with my family who all ate it with relish (thankfully) and promised me it tasted just like Mum’s. Of course, I forgot to take a photo before we demolished it, and so this photo was taken after first servings.

 Having tackled the Christmas pudding, I also decided to have an attempt at Mum’s boiled fruitcake – as a present for my Dad. This was also a success.

Again, it’s a recipe originally from Great-Great-Aunt May. It was lovely to make these gorgeous recipes and remember my Mum in the days when she truly delighted in Christmas and it’s preparations. I hope she watched over from wherever she is and thought to herself ‘finally the girl’s had a go – well done!’

Karma?

We were woken at 1pm last night by a very loud bang. Some lovely individuals had set off fireworks in our letterbox, and well…. the letterbox has not survived. MotH has setting off a la Bunnings to seek a replacement, and has already rang through his horror that a new one of the same kind will cost $170. Not happy Jan.

In cursing what was probably the larking of teenagers, I have had to stop short and rethink some of my behaviour at the same age.  As a teen, I was part of a boisterous group whose behaviour  was probably borderline thuggery. Stupid I know, but as a teen the hotted-up cars, and supposedly even hotter boys were very attractive. The urge to be part of a ‘gang’ was strong, and with it came smoking (a habit I struggle to quit even now) and admittedly under-age drinking.

With my kids now entering their teen years, I worry about them becoming involved with similar groups.  As a teen, I was let loose by my parents who were by then divorced and didn’t provide much (any) supervision and little guidance. MotH and I work hard though to provide a better environment, and definitely more supervision.

I realise now that the larking in my teen years would have caused others discomfort, and damage to others’ property. While I was generally a witness and bystander to the mischief, I was by no means innocent, and never tried to alter others’ behaviour. I’m not sure how you repay that as an adult, except to ensure the behaviour is not handed down to the next generation.

So my apologies to those to whom I have caused distress. I will at least endeavour to make certain my children do not behave likewise.

Over-Grinched

Today has not been a good day, due to illness. The lurgy I’d been fighting since last Thursday has found new form and once again claimed my energy and spirit – hence, I have spent most of the day in bed. Though we has already earmarked today as a lay day, I hadn’t anticipated it being as useless as it was.

The kids have been great, amusing themselves with jigsaw puzzles, a bit of painting and some cookie creations. And for some reason, the movie of the Grinch, which appears at this stage to be running on a loop. Asked why it is STILL on, the only reply is ‘we like it’.

It was not favourite when it first cameout, and Kid2 used to be scared witless by it. I still remember managing one of her nightmares, and wondering why she was so scared of the ‘French’. It took me sometime to make the connection to the Jim Carrey green creature, and so we actively avoided the movie for a number of years. Apparently both kids like it now – enough to watch it over and over and over.

Unfortunately I see similarities between that green fiend and the illness that has beset me. I can see the Grinch inside my head, turning the headache screws with glee, jumping up and down on my sinuses, and setting of firecrackers in my throat. So, as the title states, I am over-Grinched. Back to bed.

Boxing Day – the spider won

We have arrived back from Ballarat from our third Christmas celebration, and though very weary the kids are happy to finally carefully analyse their loot and play!

Last night was MotH’s family’s celebration which is a very big noisy affair – 21 people and it went for 6 hours. The night is full of eating & joking, with a visit from Santa for all the grandchildren before all the presents are opened. The children range in age from 23 to almost 3, and I have to say they are an absolutely wonderful bunch of kids. They all enjoy each other’s company immensely, including the big ones down to the little ones. The role of Santa is performed by whoever gets suckered in on the day, but it is usually Uncle Sam. You have to pardon the photo – it’s my ham-fisted attempt with my blackberry #fail.

This year’s festivities included a pinata, and poor Rudolph ended up obliterated. Kid 1 scored Rudolph’s head as a trophy for mounting as she accomplished the beheading.

It is a very gregarious event, which usually goes to about 11.30pm when all kids get upset that the adults are tired and need to go home. They are especially upset as after Christmas Day the families all spread out on holidays – some head to the High Country, others to coast. They do not catch up again until late January, when it’s time to go back to school.

So getting ready this morning to head to Ballarat for my family’s Christmas was a bit difficult. Having planned to leave at 11am, Kid2 could not be coaxed from bed until 10.40am and everyone was moving at a very slow pace. We reached Ballarat by 1.20pm, but as my older brother wasn’t due til 2 we were still ‘on time’. My family’s affair is much smaller – 11 in total, with only 4 children. It is quieter and more refined, or as Kid1 and Kid2 would put it – boring. The other 2 children are much younger, with my niece at 6 and my nephew at 18 months. While they do enjoy each other’s company, the rambunctiousness is just not present. My brother’s children are ever mindful of ‘inside voices’, and are quite meek and polite. After the rowdiness of MotH’s clan, my children are underwhelmed by this behaviour and it takes a while for things to warm up. A lovely day was enjoyed though, and so we set off home.

Which is where the spider enters the story. For, of course, Kid2 spies the spider on entering the car to leave. And promptly refuses to get in. After a not quite thorough search by parents who just want to leave, my family of four gets into the car and trundles off. The spider waits for his moment, and as I am hurtling along at 110km per hour, he makes his appearance.

Do you know how hard it is to keep an eye on the spider running across the back window while you are driving at 110km per hour?? Add to this, two hysterical, screaming girls who have unfastened seat belts to avoid the marauder, one angry MotH yelling at the girls to stop screaming, and in the meantime the spider’s taken to the roof of the car, and is apparently poised right over the driver’s head – that’s right - over MY head.

And this is where the spider wins, because as soon as I have the opportunity I pull the car to the side of the road and all four bodies pile out the car. A five minute, more thorough search finds the little bugger hiding under my sun-visor, and one minute later he meets his death, squished on the windscreen. Though he gave his life, I still say he won as he completely detrailed our trip home and scared the willies out of at least three of us. It seems silly to add at this stage that the spider was not huge, not even a huntsman, but instead was about 2 cm with full leg span and obviously of the garden variety.

There is no lesson in this. I am just glad to get home, and am glad there are no more Xmas events for 12 months. I enjoy them but I am weary. Now we rest up for New Year’s.

Christmas Day and it’s competition time

After a reasonably early start ( 7am – as the kids are not allowed to come near us till then, but are usually up at 6am), the morning tradition of opening presents commenced. Both kids know some form of breakfast must be consumed first, so that if there are any goodies in the pile of pressies they will hopefully already have a half full tummy and won’t eat the lot!

This year the biggest present, which was really for the whole family, was a table tennis table. We had some difficulty coming up with ideas for the ‘big’ present as a ban had been placed on ‘electronics’. The family has enough ‘electronics’, and any additions at this stage would only be upgrades or equivalents of a different brand. So we went the physical entertainment route.

The table tennis table has been a huge hit – with all family members having a go, even Mum. The surprise of the day was Grandad – who had hidden the fact till now that he used to play competition table tennis – ‘A’ Grade even. And so it was on.

MotH (Man of the House) is never one to be bettered in things sporting. He frequently bores his children with “in my younger days, I played top division of tennis… of cricket… of football”. So to watch him be beaten outright by my 75 year old Dad was golden. MotH of course had his wins, and if he wishes to crow about the great face-off against Kid2 (10yo) and it helps his ego, we’ll let it be.

The other family member who has greatly enjoyed the table tennis table is Buddy, our cavie. He has grasped the challenge of ‘ball boy’ very well, though has not understood the part about giving the ball back.

Anyway, at this stage lunch is eaten – a reasonably light affair of chicken and cold meats, with salad and rolls, as we face a larger meal tonight at the mother-in-law’s. We did finish with a small plum pud and custard – thank you to ‘Big Sister’ – the real homemade plum pud is for tomorrow at my brother’s place. And I am about done and desperately longing for the afternoon kip before we start the night affair. As I am still fighting a horrible virus that has made panadeine my best friend, I need to rest to get through tonight and tomorrow. So til I blog again tomorrow, ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Merry Christmas everyone – I hope you had a lovely day.