It doesn’t matter if you have fireworks.
It doesn’t matter if you’re at a raging party.
It doesn’t matter if you’re on the banks of a river, on a 25 storey high-rise, or up on a bridge.
It doesn’t matter if you are surrounded by 100 people, or 1.
All that matters is that you’re with people who you love, and who love you.
(Oh, and some Moet and choc-dipped strawberries don’t go astray either). 😉
Hope your New Year 2020 is all you want it to be. ❤🍾🎉❤
Today being forecast to tip 40 degrees, and with us living by the beach, well it was no wonder that we ended up dipping our toes in the bay waters and shoving our feet into the sand.
But it wasn’t this fact alone that had me grateful today. Rather it was the smallest event that had me going “awww.”
A small event, with huge repercussions.
Hubbie and I were sitting on the sand observing baby girl splash some distance away, jumping over small waves in the shallow stretch of water. She suddenly came to a stop, and we saw she was holding something.
“Has she got a ball?” I asked. We couldn’t tell. But she had this thing in her hand, and she looked around, uncertain, before she started charging for the sand.
As she got closer it became apparent that the glint of silver in her hand, was a can.
Litter. Left in the water.
She carried this empty soft drink can, this 6 year-old girl who doesn’t even come to us when beckoned. She ran across the sand, her eyes darting everywhere, passing over us as she went. She got to the big red and yellow bins and paused, uncertain where to put the can when there was so much overflowing trash.
Hubbie got up to tell her the yellow one was for recycling. And as she passed me to go back into the water, I had to grab her attention, and tell her something important.
“Hey.”
“Yeah?”
“You taking that can out of the water… that is amazing. You know how proud Mummy is of you? Well done honey.”
She didn’t smile but she held her head high as her feet led her to the water, lifting her arms up in a bit of a muscle pose.
💪
And then she went on again, splashing in the water and making random friends with other kids.
Just another day in the life of my mini environmental warrior. 😍🌊❤
Oh my.
I think we’re pretty lucky to have water views, but today what we saw, was next level.
We were at my bro-in-law’s family’s house, and, like I said…
Oh my.
But it wasn’t just the views. It was the people. The company. The dogs! The food nom nom nom. The memories made…
And oh, the sunsets.
Taking sunset pics must run in the family, as I’m not even pictured above taking any!
What a perfect way to start our holidays. ❤🌅😍
What’s better than a pink-y, orange-y sunset?
Why, a pink-y orange-y sunset at the onset of your family holiday break.
And your daughter wearing matching sky colours to boot. 😍🌅
The three of us have the best time making up stories at bedtime.
We’ll be in our bed, or baby girl’s bed (yes we can all squish into baby girl’s king single!)
We make up stories based off alterations of our name and things that have happened that day, or stories we’ve heard.
Tonight Hubbie was Tato Doce, and I was Mama Candy Cane.
Iggle piggle from In The Night Garden was drinking black coffee, and vomited, and there was a girl called Karisa who was going cray cray because it was school holidays. 🤣
The laughs we get out of our stories are priceless. Baby girl can barely get the words out as she tells her story, she is laughing that hard. Then I’ll throw her an exaggerated quizzical look, or I crack up and laugh along with her, which sends her into more of a laughing fit, and then I laugh MORE, and on and on it goes.
Meanwhile Hubbie, the only non-night owl amongst us three, looks at us wearily, yet still amused with that small smile on his face, as his girls go apeshit.
❤
The day after Christmas is usually spent –
nursing a sore head.
nursing a swollen tummy
nursing a tired body –
and as such not much happens.
Around here anyway.
There are new presents to play with and find homes for, a lot of cleaning, breathing out a sigh of relief that Christmas is over, yet simultaneously feeling sad that Christmas is a whole 364 days away…
It’s a well-intentioned catch-up and family day.
And what better family way to end the day than with an…
Old-fashioned game.
Guess which one?!?!
‘Santa’ got this as one of baby girl’s few presents. I LOVED this growing up and as she’s at an age where she’s getting a lot out of board games like this one.
I sat opposite her while Hubbie helped her work out the best questions to ask to eliminate the most people, and we got to work –
slamming the faces DOWN.
The best bit? The times I won, she was so rapt, thinking that by me guessing correctly she had won.
LOL LOL LOL.
The end of night scoreboard? 2-2.
😉
The tree we used to put presents underneath when I was growing up was much bigger.
It was a lot bigger than this tree. After I got married and moved out my parents downgraded to a smaller one, what with having no more kids in the house.
Despite the size, the love is still the same.
If anything, it has grown. Love has grown. Family has grown. Memories have grown. I am so grateful to have spent the day with loved ones, doing the best thing possible I can think of…
Which is sitting around a table in my parents backyard, with those that I love, relaxing in the shade and sun, music coming out of the garage stereo as we add to our memory bank and just chill and talk and eat and chill and drink and chill.
And talk.
And love.
Merry Christmas. ❤🎄
It’s so much fun looking forward to Christmas day with a 6 year-old.
Everything is so dramatic, and so passionate.
Because as soon as December arrived, it was –
“Oh, how many days until Christmas? That’s too long!”
And today it was the complete opposite –
“YEAH! SANTA IS COMING TONIGHT! I CAN’T WAIT TO OPEN MY PRESENTS!”
(With a lot of jumping up and down and diving into the couch for added effect).
I don’t know how baby girl (and we) lasted the past month with her questions about Christmas and how far it was… but we made it.
Tonight we sprinkled sparkly oats on our lawn to guide the reindeers to our house.
And then as night fell we took a quick drive around the neighbourhood, gasping and pointing at anything shiny and reflective in the night.
There are some seriously cool light displays out there.
Tonight, it’s the traditional spread for Santa and his red-nosed reindeer.
I don’t suppose I’ll be the only parent tonight downing milk, chomping on carrots and sneaking in gingerbread? (I say as I wipe away my milk moustache… 😉 )
Merry Christmas Eve all 🙂
Christmas vibes only.
Christmas stuff is making me happy.
My recent Christmas songs post has put good tunes in my head, poetic words of an Aussie Christmas surround my soul, and then there is the Fa la la la la top I’ve been wearing every day up to the festive day.
And gingerbread. I am happy with how the gingerbread baking turned out.
The biggest fan of it though is baby girl. She absolutely adores it… my gingerbread that is. Just today she was making all the sounds, doing the “mmm hmm” as she nom nom nommed through a giant gingerbread man-shaped biscuit, and she turned to me and said –
“Mama, I love you gingerbread more than the shop gingerbread.”
WINNING.
Every year I like to buy a little extra Christmas something something.
Today we finished off the rest of our lighting additions, with some very festive lights.
Sure the one big sparkly bauble was up there last night… but tonight after a second shopping trip we added another (for balance) and a string of retro lights to the top of our balcony.
Baby girl and I ran out into the evening night to enjoy our outdoor decoration and revel in the surrounding Christmas spirit.
3 days to go…
carcrashgratitude 