Salad and sunshine Christmas time

Twmff the cat is sad and a little bit lost. 

The cause of his bad mood is the fact that Sibs has gone camping with her dad. I tried to reassure him that I was staying at home with him, but it was no good.

Once he spotted the case he started to fret. I thought he was going to try and find a way to go with her. We have on numerous occasions found him curled up in a case that was left open.  There wasn't much space in this little overnight one though. Change of clothes, a few toiletries, a book, wind up torch, insect repellent, suncream and lip balm and a Harry Styles teddy and she's done!

So having a bit of time to myself I thought I would just record a few Christmas things. 

I've already done a bit of a recap of 2014  post HERE- two blog posts in a day? Who am I?!

This was the build up to Christmas

Sibs and I baked some cookies and some fudge for the neighbours.  We shopped...and then a bit more! We caught up with some family up the mountain. We went to watch The Nutcracker. We spent Christmas eve afternoon with friends and the girls made some reindeer cupcakes to eat after dinner.

Once home the countdown was on. Except this year it was slightly different...

We were teetering on the brink of it all last year with a tiny bit of belief still there.

This year though, there was no note for the man in the red suit and no glass of milk or carrot for Rudolph. Even though she was still quite excited, it just wasn't quite the same.

I however kept with my tradition of once the jobs are done I have a glass of Baileys with ice and some chocolates! The Baileys has to be served in the best Royal Doulton glass and the chocolates have to be imported real Cadburys!

It used to be a glass of sherry - Harveys Bristol Cream to be precise. It's so hard to find (and expensive) here that I have modified my needs and now go with the Baileys!

Usually our Christmases in Australia are big affairs. We average around 25 people not to mention the cats and the dogs!

This year was a change. We spent the day with lovely friends. It was a beautiful day. 

The morning was spent at home opening gifts and drinking coffee. Then we eventually got out of our pyjamas, got frocked up and walked around the corner. The kids jumped straight in the pool and I was served a glass of chilled champagne - what's not to love about that?

As is tradition, I'll just record what we ate. 

To start, crackers and dips and nuts, filled mini Yorkshire puddings and Sibs made Christmas trees from flat bread with spinach and feta dip and red pepper decorations. Then it was turkey (cooked on the bbq of course), glazed ham, potato salad, green salad, coleslaw and quinoa with beetroot, orange and feta. 

There was broken biscuit cake made by the son of our friends and a pavlova with lychee, coconut and passion fruit and to end the day and to soak up the champagne and wine there was a perfect cup of tea and chocolates. 

It was great just to sit and catch up. An Australian Christmas is always a relaxed day. The warm weather prevents you from rushing around even if you wanted to. 

We are very lucky to have family nearby so after the relaxation of Christmas Day and Boxing day at home we headed up the coast for Christmas number 2!

The weather had changed a little bit and whilst it was still incredibly hot and humid the occasional rain shower meant that the beach was slightly quieter than usual. 

The cousins spent time together in the water and playing the Christmas board game of the year - The Game of Life. The adults once again congregated around the table...

Nona was visiting from Victoria and so was an Italian relative of hers and the girls loved listening to her stories about Italy and learning the place names. Even though Nona has been in Australia most of her life she is so proudly Italian and has the most glorious accent.

We spent an evening here with a picnic dinner watching the river flow to the ocean and the ending of a day.

As we were clearing away our things there was a rustling in the tree overhead and this little baby possum was out gathering his supper. 

So to my family and friends back home  as you can see - Christmas is different. It's a day of sunshine and salads. There's no woolly Christmas jumper in sight!

Hope yours was great.