If every day could be filled with this much
love
happiness
laughter
celebration
and most importantly, family
then it would be a Happy New Year indeed.
Just as well we brought it in, in style. 😁😊
Remember, it doesn’t have to happen on January 1st.
No pressure. The conversion of time into days and dates is a modern convention (not my quote, but I love it). 🙏
You can start again, and make it a happy new year at any time.
So happy days.
And Happy 2023. 🎊❤🎉🥰
This is the aftermath of Santa visiting last night. (Kudos Hubbie 👏🤣)
This is the moment baby girl realised the very big present we bought her, where she started running to us for a hug. 🙏🥰
This is some of the beautiful lunch at my sister’s house, with my non-alcoholic sparkling so even I could enjoy. 🥂
Their gorgeously festive Christmas tree. 🎄 😍
Dessert time – my mango and white chocolate swirl cheesecake. 😋🍰
Dinner time feast! Nothing says Aussie-Euro Christmas more than a platter of prawns sitting next to a pot of sarma. 🤣🦐🫕
These are only small snapshots of a relaxing, beautiful and love-filled festive day spent with cherished family. ❤❤❤❤
Hope whatever you did today, it was good.
Merry Christmas. 🎄🎁🎅😍
Finally! All of us together tonight, my family. ❤
There’s been a lot of crap lately. But now there’s only time for love, happiness, good vibes and looking forward, as was so evident tonight.
Abundance. Always a plenty. 🙏❤🥰🥰
…With very, very simple things, but still they make me happy.
And it wasn’t even me, or us spoiling her.
It’s…
Overhearing a conversation between baby girl and her big cousin over the fence.
Finding out she had a special babycino-coffee date with her aunty.
Being told about her smorgasbord of pasta bowl with butter served by Baka!
I know when she is with my parents, sis and fam, that she is spoiled, but most of all loved.
And I 💖 that.
This is the only photo I have to show for tonight.
A chocolate tart and strawberry daiquiri.
And yet my videos show cannonballs, brave and repeated jumping into the pool, and lots of squealing and fun.
Not recorded in any way on my phone, is the laughter, the d&ms… the heated debates, then the jokes and good-humour that followed.
Nor does it capture the music, the stirring, the following from one room to the next…🤦♀️🤣 and it doesn’t capture, as my sister coined it, the ‘swim, swing and sing!’
But it was ALL there, all those special and entertaining and funny moments, and so much more.
Here’s to these nights where we have so much fun, the cameras are often forgotten.
Cheers. 🍻🥂🥃🍺🍹🍸🥃🍷🍾
Today was the first Christmas that we hosted at our house!
It was a beautiful and festive day, and each year I am more and more appreciative and grateful, blessed to have such amazing family surrounding me who I love so much. 🙏💖
This time last year I was missing out on all the family occasions.
This year I am revelling in them.
It was a joy to be able to celebrate and spend the day with my family for my Mum’s birthday. And beside the big things, like the food, the cake, and the singing of the traditional song, it was also all the little things that made my soul sing.
Like checking out the garden and admiring my parents new plants.
Eyeing off their impressive bunches of parsley blooming everywhere, and likewise with my sister’s mint… and then taking sections of them home to see if they will take in our yard.
It was standing around and not doing much but talk and relax.
It was a casual game of table tennis with baby girl.
It was watching her and my sister comb the dog.
It was a couple of cheers, here and there.
My favourite little moment was Mum’s little nod to her birthday year. I noticed it on her cake, and I immediately loved it.
She had spelt out her age in blueberries, and it’s exactly the kind of thing that she does. 😍🥰
As we said our goodbyes at the end of the day, I was already missing them and looking forward to the next time we meet again.
My heart is at peace, my soul is fulfilled, and I am nothing but grateful when we are together.
Equlibrium is restored, and all is good with the world.
That’s when you know. 💖💖
I was so happy to be looking at this coffee cup tonight.
Because it meant that the table I was on was surrounded by the most important people in my life.
I, and the rest of Melbourne, was filling up my weekend by catching up with loved ones. Which is what we did tonight when we went over to my parents place to catch up with them, and my sister and her family.
I realised as we drove home tonight, a path we have taken late at night so often, and yet not for a really long time, that I haven’t actually left my suburb for about 3 months.
Like, not even a cheeky trip into the next suburb when we were in hard lockdown. Not even venturing 15kms away when that was most recently allowed.
Nada.
But I saved the best for today. When we could sit around the table, eat, drink, be happy and talk about our pets.
It’s all about the pets!
So much love all around. 💖💖
(And tonight was only the entrée, as someone very clever told me tonight) 😉🤭
When I see something like this…
So many memories and people come to mind. I think of catch-ups with my friends, where we’d meet for sweet things and laugh wildly when we all ordered ‘The Hot Ball.’
I think of Hubbie and I in our pre-wedding days. I even had a delicious stack the day before my waters spontaneously broke with baby girl, so any pregnant ladies-to-be can take that to mean you might go into labour if you eat some of their pancakes* (not professional medical advice!)
But mostly, when I see this image, I think of my sister and me.
From as young as I can remember, she would take me to the movies when I was a kid, and then naturally, a visit to The Pancake Parlour would follow.
We would talk about the movie we’d seen, what we loved, and our conversation would naturally flow to everything else in our lives, as these things do when you’re with someone you love and feel so at ease with.
And we would eat, something sweet.
The joke goes that she would be finished with her dessert, and I would be barely half-way through, talking while eating so slowly, scooping the ice cream from the bowl like I had all the time in the world.
We were super lucky today, as baby girl and I got spoiled by my sister for a movie date! The special surprise was my nephew, baby girl’s ‘bestie’ coming along for the day, and we all headed to the cinemas to watch the very sweet Spirit Untamed movie.
But, there was a further surprise after it!
OF COURSE! Pancakes. 🥞🥞
The tradition lives on. 😊😊
And even better, we could enjoy it with our kids, and engage in some fun and especially beautiful bonding time.
Guess what? Things haven’t changed much.
Sister finished first again.
I came in about third, or equal second…
And baby girl hasn’t fallen far from the tree. She hasn’t fallen far, at all.
That is all. 🤣🤣
We have had the longest dry spell.
The ‘hosting’ dry spell.
Sure, we’ve seen people. Gone to people’s houses, caught up outside of homes… but between lockdown 1, 2, 3, and then most recently 4, we haven’t had people over at house properly, since like…
🤔🤔…
Hmmm. Honestly, not sure.
Tonight, the seal was broken!
Guess with who? 😁😁
Of course… sis and bro-in-law and family.
It’s reminded us of what we love doing so much, and I think the next few months will see an influx of people into our home, all willing, given the dam walls have now crashed down and the water is rushing through.
Happy times, memories, good company.
What more could one ask for? 💖💖
carcrashgratitude 