All I want for Christmas is...

hmmm Christmas presents. We have reached that point in the year where we have to decide what to get out kids this year. They pretty much have everything they want, my middle child couldn't even think of anything when I asked her last week. My oldest always asks for a P1aystation, (are we the only family in this country not to have one?), but I have held back for a long time on this because so many of the games I see at his mates places have been totally unsuitable for my two younger girls to see, and probably for him too. I am close to relenting now, because they are all a bit older, and because I can put my foot down on exactly what kind of content is allowed now that he is old enough to reason with. But I am still unsure. And my youngest wants a ... unicorn! Hmm anyone seen one of these about lately lol.

My in laws are giving them a table tennis table, which we will put up... somewhere, but I at least like the fact that it is an active game, and it gives them plenty of time to learn to play together, and develop good sportsmanship (because someone will have to have the littlest on their team) so they will have to learn to negotiate that, and to help her learn how to play.

Last year my brother gave them movie tickets. That was a truly great present, we don't go to the movies much we usually wait till things come out on DVD, so movie tickets were a real treat to them, and they thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

I have been asking the parents and grandparents to put money in for a yearly zoo pass, so we can visit the zoo whenever we feel like, or a yearly pass to Questacon, which is another fantastic place to go with kids, it stimulates their minds, and is lots of fun. So far the parents have been deaf to my ideas, but maybe one day! As an aside, anyone who is visiting Canberra I would highly recommend a visit to both places, especially if you have kids.

I read this post at No Impact Man about Christmas presents which I found thought provoking.

I don't want to take all the fun and gift giving out of Christmas, but I would like to make some changes. For the last few years the pile of presents under the tree on Christmas morning, and the amount of paper and packaging carnage that is left twenty minutes later has been obscene. My family are all comfortably off, our children want for nothing materially, but I do think that we have all become too focused on the material things, and forgotten about the personal. My parents buy all of the grand kids presents, but it has been ages since they have had the time to sit down and actually play with them one on one, particularly my kids because we live in a different state. I have heard my kids saying how long it has been since the saw Nana and Poppy, and that they miss them etc, I think they would rather have Nana and Pop spend a week with us and do stuff like watch them play sport, go for walks, have picnics, watch movies together, sit on their beds and talk to them, play boardgames etc, instead of receiving a package and a card on Christmas morning.

Don't get me wrong I do love presents! I would just like to see less emphasis on them. We see my parents often, but usually we and they are so busy, that there isn't the time to sit and really just be, there is always rushing off to do this and that, and be here and there, and the quality time just slips through the cracks.

This year on Christmas day there will just be me, DH and the three kids (and the dog) at home together until 4pm. What I want for Christmas is the awareness of being in the moment with them and enjoying each other. Sure there will still be presents, but my aim is for them to look back and not even remember what the presents were, but remember how good a time we had together.

What are you doing for Christmas this year?

Time

Lately it seems there just isn't enough time. I am your average every day wife and mother, who works during school hours, but I seem to achieve so much less than I need to. I have a list as long as my arm of things I need/want to do, and right now I am struggling to find the time to fit them all in. Maybe it's just to do with the silly season, heading towards Christmas the normal list gets exaggerated because of the other stuff you feel obliged to do.

All I want for Christmas this year is a bit more time! (well maybe that's not all I want, but its certainly what I need lol).

I read a great post about Christmas and the stresses we create for ourselves because of it over here. I really like reading Mary Alice's view on life, and it doesn't hurt that she has the same name as one of the Desperate Housewives which tickles my fancy, I don't come across names like that living in Canberra ;-)

Must get back to work, keep well everyone.

xxx

Well hello there

I spend so much time reading blogs etc, and on the internet in general that it always astounds me when I realise how long it has been since I actually typed a post myself, rather than just reading what about the lives of all of the other talented bloggers out there. For all of the time that has passed between postings it seems not a lot has really happened. I guess that could be a good thing lol.

I am fast becoming addicted to me new camera. It is so versatile, so easy to use, and the photos so far have been making me happy. Well some of them anyway. There are a lot of substandard photos too, I have been jumping in and out of menus, and experimenting with different settings to work out what suits me best, so a couple of photos were complete disasters.

Here are a couple of my favourites so far:



Usually when he knows I am taking photos my son puts on his "photo" face, this time he didn't get the chance, and the blue sky in the background is just such a great colour.



This is her usual look, hair in her face, outside in her pyjamas, off in her own little world :-)


I was planning on uploading more but blogger is not cooperating right now, so I will save some for another post.

Right now it is 8.47am, and I am still in my pj's, today we are going out for lunch at work, for my birthday and for my friends birthday, and work is pretty slow, so the last thing my boss said to me yesterday was "dont rush in tomorrow", I have the worlds best boss! So I have time this morning to sit and appreciate the quiet, there are stacks of things I could be doing, but they'll keep, its rare that I am home alone anymore, and I really miss it.

In some happy news, I weighed in at the gym last Tuesday for the first time since before my birthday and I have not gained any weight in that time, even though my gym visits have been ahem random... and I have had numerous celebratory dinners. Cool. I have actually been noticing that I feel full or satisfied, and I stop eating - OMG, this was the thing I struggled with for most of the year, it seemed like I had lost that sense of "enough" but slowly without me even noticing, it has crept back in yay! I've got more thoughts on IE dieting and weightloss swirling round my head that I might have to pin down in coherent form and post here soon.

The lovely Zanna has tagged me for five random facts about me. I did one of these not so long ago with seven facts, so here are five more - talk about value for viewing, twelve random facts for the price of five ;-)

1. I can wiggle my nose like Samantha from Bewitched, much to the envy of my sisters when we were small, and my children now.

2. I have the entire series of Charmed on DVD, and have watched it more than one time. When I was young I always dreamed of having magical powers, and being a witch, and my boss calls me and my co worker the witches, because we both have green eyes and constantly give him a hard time.

3. When I laugh (like really laugh) I make snorting noises. My husband thinks its hilarious, and rates the humour in our television viewing by the level of "piggy" laughs it elicits.

4. When I was younger I did work experience as a veterninarian nurse, and assisted in the caesarean delviery of a litter of kittens.

5. Even in the middle of the night, when there are no people to see, I will not drive through a red light. I will encourage my husband to do it, but I wont do it myself.

OK, that is the third time I have written this post so I will sign off now, and post some more when blogger is being more co-operative. Stay well my lovelies!

xxx

So what now?

I need to change the tag line on my blog now, because I am no longer in my late 30's, I have now officially entered my 40's, the Fabulous 40's as we like to refer to them now ;-)

My birthday celebrations went well, much more low key than originally planned, but still enjoyable. It seems that I was an early bloomer, as everyone else who attended the celebrations had a babe in arms, I meanwhile, was able to ignore mine for the duration, as they are all old enough to look after themselves. There are advantages to that! They are also all old enough to get the wine from the fridge/counter whatever and top up Mummy's glass, one of them is even at the stage where he can open the next bottle for Mummy - the joys of having children that have passed the hands on stage and are exploring independence, (please no scary stories about rat bag teenagers to ruin my post birthday glow lol).

The weather in Sydney was its usual accommodating self, not! So we moved the lunch time venue to my mums backyard, where they had covered areas to keep us dry while we mingled. Then dinner time we settled under the balcony roof of our cabin in the tourist park to celebrate.

I was also very lucky to receive some gorgeous gifts, lots of chocolate and flowers. Hmm maybe I should turn forty more often.

And the birthday joys are not over yet, in another week we go out for dinner with my Canberra friends, which promises to be a fun filled night, and this afternoon I get to pick up my new camera... aaahhhh

I have been lusting after a new camera for ages now, but the one I want is rather pricey, so I have reached a compromise, I will upgrade but not go all the way to the top. The new camera is not a DSLR, but has hugely improved zoom and movie capture capabilities, compared to my current camera, so will be sure to keep my interested for quite some time now. So for now I will be moving up to this, which makes me very happy!

For the last few months everything in my head has revolved around getting to my 40th, I am here now. I am a very different person to who I was when I turned 30, it's been quite a ride, rollercoaster like with huge ups and downs, I'm looking forward to finding out what the next decade will bring.

xxx

In the clear light of morning

Its amazing how well you sleep when you have made a decision that feels right to you. This morning I feel really good. I am looking forward to tomorrow, and I have no regrets. I have a beautiful big bunch of flowers here on my desk from one of my work colleagues, and I have just had a great conversation with my mum. All is good with my world.

Tomorrow we drive to Sydney, we are having pizzas at my sisters house, then heading off to bed, then Saturday we meet with my family and friends for some celebrations. Sunday we are back home again.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend. I know I will :-))