the twilight zone time of year

Greetings all,

Don't you find this time of year a bit like the Twilight Zone, stuck in no man's land, exhausted without direction??  Full belly from Christmas, family overload & sale shopping . . . if you can get off the lounge, afternoon naps, who lives like this??  It's actually difficult to move forward when you're all planned out & feeling so lazy without an agenda.

A little replay of our Christmas . . . children waited for me to watch them open their Santa sacks (i've never had a child wake before 7a.m. even at Christmas!!)  Lots of family phone calls, while i made iced tea & mango crushes . . .

 we had pancakes & croissants while the boy finished off each of his sisters' drinks!!

 Fun & games until someone gets burnt!!  Quick call to my brother for a complimentary Christmas Day burns victim consultation on my 3rd girl who spent 20 minutes with her upper arm under cold running water. 

 Lunch was Italiano style - simple & delicious, but with hiccups - i put the smoked salmon out first . . . my son ate the entire platter before anyone even sat down & there were tears as we all missed handsome soldier.  Then huge scoops of gelato in waffle cones, completely untraditional but it was truly all about fun for the children.  

 Someone got a sequin pineapple purse (we watched The September Issue on Boxing Day, poses were struck).  I have devoured Vogue since i was a young girl, i find high fashion utterly fascinating.  I'm so far from a model, but what an interesting life, one of my girls would like to model.

 Could not believe my luck at the Country Road sale, the ONLY pair of moccasins they had were red & in my size, yay!!  My girls acted like porters & carried the shopping, so cute, especially as i loaded them up on 6 new beach towels & homewares.  Also picked up the kaftan i had on my ultimate gift list, $80 off!!

 Slightly in shock my first born wears a size 39 shoe, she's not quite 13!!  I've had to hunt down suitable flat ladies shoes for her since she was 9, i wait for sales - she did well today.  Thrilled with my new foxy shoulder bag from Hive & this oversized beach hat from Trenery.  I am not a hat person, but who cares in Summer??  Time to done the Miu Mius.

So i spent my 36th Christmas afternoon, dozing on the lounge reading the new cookbooks the children received, putting a disected shark will full plastic anatomy together . . . listening to a storm pelting the roof, wearing new Peter Alexander slippers, i felt so OLD!!  As the children got bikes early for Christmas, their gifts were few & practical - like clothes, educational toys & VS hair dryers - how much fun is 'the big hair styler', it rolls & spins & doesn't tangle!! 

Thanks for the gorgeous well wishes this Christmas, i've been able to chat & Skype my husband a couple of times each day, takes the sting out of missing him.  We've also found a property i like & he's agreed to consider, yahoo!!  It's smaller (about 70 acres) & below our budget, in a great location.  Progress!!  Love Posie

Christmas wrap up, gosh i love the festive puns!!

Greetings all,

Christmas Day has been & gone again.  The house is ship shape & i'm already home from the Boxing Day Sales.  The children are in their rooms happily playing with new gifts & my husband is flicking between Ashes Cricket, Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race & some fantastic documentaries on the television.  As my Grandfather Christian always said "Christmas is as far away as it will ever be".  Sigh.
We had possibly the most peaceful & relaxing day of the year here, at home, just the 6 of us.  Sure there was the “oh no, someone chipped the Nigella platter” moment when pulling out the large bowls from the cupboard; handsome soldier melted my counter spray bottle while baking pancakes for breakfast; & we calculated that we wouldn’t be eating oven roasted pork until early afternoon . . . lucky i'm not one to panic or worry!!  Just gave me more time to take snaps of the children having fun . . . 

 The ultimate girlie girl gift, a tutu, shame Santa got the credit!!

  I can't imagine what it's like to be a twin, other than admire from the outside that it's something incredibly special!!

 Perfect gifts for boys . . . a bed of nails & a GiggleSpotDesigns robot, our son is pretty chuffed!!

 Note books & pjamas never fail as stocking fillers for children of all ages.  The Ivy Designs cushion was a gift which i'm thrilled our eldest loves as much i do.  It's perfect on her red Arne Jacobsen egg chair.

 . . . tut tut, those reindeer . . .

Check out the Mediterranean & Euro styled Christmas Day menu . . .

anti pasto & olives

cheese & crackers
beetroot, hummus & eggplant dips

smoked leg of ham & mustards

zesty herb & lemon marinade octopus

green garden salad

smoked turkey breast & cranberry

BBQ roasted potatoes, sweet potatoes, snowpeas & mushrooms

roast pork with homemade apple sauce

gelato panettone & fresh berries

 . . . free up space in your oven, BBQ the vegetables & cheat on the dishes with disposable trays (shhh but i was & reuse them a couple of times) . . .

 Our 3rd daughter was so excited that we were having dessert at lunch time, she called it 'lussert'!!

 What else can I say other than full belly, lots of phone calls to our siblings & extended families, gorgeous handmade gifts & a couple of Wii games (Lego Star Wars & Harry Potter) to see out the evening.  I spent the afternoon lounging about with a child drawing & naming her dream farm animals, names like Lavender, Ginger & Daisy . . . while I was engrossed with Lisa Johnson’s ‘Covetables’ book filled with snippets of her ‘sabatical’ in the South of France with her husband.  She has a range of gift cards too, I can imagine them framed in my homestead kitchen in sets of 4.  This Christmas, at home, I can almost taste our farm life, the barn, the animals, the produce – I’m so carried away with the idea of some olive trees & patient enough to plant avocado too!!   
My in-laws got together at my husband’s childhood home for Christmas, one nephew started off the school holidays like many – with a broken arm!!  My siblings all did the solo thing like us & all sounded extremely relaxed too.  We’re meeting up in Sydney in January while my country doctor brother & family house sit in Balmoral, pool & beachfront.  We’ll trip between Summer Hill & St Ives, ticking off all the parents for various events + catch up with old friends from Seaforth to Rozelle. 

Wishing everyone a delicious festive time of year, I’m stealing one of the children’s gifts now – The MasterChef Junior Official Cookbook – it’s pitched at my level of cooking & like my fondess & success with The Silver Spoon for Children . . . my cooking the evening meal can only get better from here!!  Love Posie