Happy New Year

Here's to the bright New Year,

and a fond farewell to the old;

here's to the things that are yet to come,

and to the memories that we hold.

Once upon a Christmas

Prepare for photo overload! I think over the month of December I have uploaded about 1200 photos and Now I need to go through them and decide which ones to print. I've been meaning to Blog about Christmas for days but the enormity of the number of photos I've taken as well as the severe lack of mojo to do anything much has meant that it hasn't happened. So I made some collages using Picasa to give you an idea of what went on in that 24 hours of Christmas without me actually having to write lots and lots. If you click on the mosaics you can see the photos much larger.

I hope you had a fabulous Christmas and have an equally fabulous New Year.

Max's last day of Kinder but no scrapping.

I thought I'd better update the Blog with some photos of Max's last day at Kinder. I can't believe the year is over and in a few weeks he will be starting school! At least I have until the 2nd of February before I have to face that reality. I think Jemima is going to miss Kinder as much as I will but at least she doesn't have long before she starts 3 Year Old Kinder and she's pretty excited about that. She's looking more grown up every time I look at her.

We all had to take a plate of party food on the last day and anyone who knows me knows how much I love fun food. These little reindeer cupcakes are so easy and the kids love them. I love the way the chocolate sprinkles look like fur. Last year I made them using 'Chocolate Royal' biscuits but the cupcakes work much better. The Christmas trees are just made with a truffle mixture and rolled into cones instead of balls and then topped with icing and sprinkles.

The Silly Season is definitely upon us and I've found myself running from one thing to another. I'll be glad when Christmas finally hits because I might actually sit down for 5 minutes. I've been taking daily photos and writing notes for my December Daily album but haven't had time to sit down and put everything together.

I was lucky enough to attend a workshop with the fabulous Heidi Swapp on tuesday at 'Create 08' and she really has me inspired. Inspired but frustrated with the lack of time to actually play with the things we learnt and the amazing bag of goodies we received. I'll update in a day or 2 with pictures of what we did.

Oh...and I saw these on Martha Stewart's site and they are SO cute! Might have to make these with the kids.

A letter to Santa

Jan sent me this email today and I had to share it.

I can sooooo relate to it.

Dear Santa,

I've been a good mum all year. I've fed, cleaned and cuddled my children on demand, visited the doctor's office more than my doctor, sold sixty-two cases of choc bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground. I was hoping you could spread my list out over several Christmases, since I had to write this letter with my son's red crayon, on the back of a receipt in the laundry between cycles, and who knows when I'll find anymore free time in the next 18 years.

Here are my Christmas wishes:

I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache (in any colour, except purple, which I already have) and arms that don't hurt or flap in the breeze; but are strong enough to pull my screaming child out of the lolly aisle in the grocery store. I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of my last pregnancy.

If you're hauling big ticket items this year I'd like fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music; a television that doesn't broadcast any programs containing talking animals; and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone.

On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says, "Yes, Mummy" to boost my parental confidence, along with two kids who don't fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the use of power tools.


I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting "Don't eat in the living room" and "Take your hands off your brother," because my voice seems to be just out of my children's hearing range and can only be heard by the dog. If it's too late to find any of these products, I'd settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without it being served in a Styrofoam container.

If you don't mind, I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare tomato sauce (even McDonalds for working Mum’s) a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely. It would be helpful if you could coerce my children to help around the house without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family.

Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is ringing and my son saw my feet under the laundry door. I think he wants his crayon back. Have a safe trip and remember to leave your wet boots by the door and come in and dry off so you don't catch cold. Help yourself to cookies on the table but don't eat too many or leave crumbs on the carpet.

Yours Always, MUM...!

P.S. one more thing...you can cancel all my requests if you can keep my children happy, healthy and always believing.

The Scrapbook Scene Sale!

We're having a big sale at work on friday and saturday.

Check out the blog for details.

It's a great opportunity to stock up on everything from cardstock to adhesive. Nearly all our prices will be going up due to the increased costs of products coming from the US. Some of the stock we have had in the past week has risen in price by as much as 40% which is just insane!

Go Elf Yourself!

This is so much fun, you have to have a go. For some reason I can't get it to show on the Blog in Firefox but it's fine with Internet Explorer. No idea why, it might just be the settings on my computer.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

24 years later...

This song is still one of my all time favourites. It's a classic. I remember being such a fan of all the British artists that featured on this project and I HAD to have not only the 7" version but the extended 12" remix. I played it over and over again. Every Christmas it's one of those songs that I have to play and sing out loud. The sad part is though that 24 years later the same message is so very true and there are STILL children starving around the world. It makes those multi million dollar salary bonuses seem rather obscene.



Oh, and if anyone has a contact number for Santa, I'd really like Michael Buble in my Christmas stocking this year. =o)