After a whirlwind week I knew I wanted to stop and take stock, write my post and wish you all a very Happy Christmas. It seems we made it through 2021 and that is saying something after making it through 2020 and thinking that was enough. (Like I never want another year like 2020.) Thank you to you all for everything I will just say "everything" as there are too many to thank and too many wonderful contributions so thank you.
Now for my week. For someone who has been so busy all week I don't think I have much to list! I began preparing for Christmas in January but it seems like that wasn't early enough! haha!
We picked our first apricots from our tree.
I made Chocolate Fudge to share around.
Chloe gave me two kilos of chicken. I froze it but I think I am going to save it for a big batch of enchiladas.
I was given a bag of lemons.
My chickens have grown and potentially some more are due on Boxing Day. (It is the forgetful hen who is sitting and eggs have rolled out leaving maybe a couple that MIGHT be viable.)
Dear Zackie is smiling and I bought her Cod Liver Oil and she has two eggs a day, I am trying to get her coat in better condition. She is a happy girl though.
Chloe made a special Christmas lunch yesterday. I have to show you the Trifle she made! Trifle has always been big in our family.
It was a show stopper! And delicious!
She gave me a beautiful Christmas gift including this book which will be my after Christmas reading...
I still caught moments to sew and completed more cleaning cloths and a bag.
Tonight we are heading to bed early, it is so still and quiet outside. A beautiful evening. Dusk is my favourite time as the sun starts to set there is a golden glow over everything. This is my happy place. I am so lucky to be here.
I am counting my blessings over and over. Life is never perfect. If we want perfection we will miss it being wonderful. I just want to soak it all in and not miss it. Yesterday our little Tom opened presents and beamed and laughed and was just lovely. Tomorrow we get to do the same with Lucy and her family.
In the weeks leading up to Christmas we had endless news headlines stating that Christmas is cancelled in one form or another. This week they added Christmas is ruined in Australia due to bad weather. This theme has been relentless! Well, they sure underestimate us! They sure underestimate God! Christmas cannot be stoped or cancelled. We do not need permission to celebrate or worship. Tomorrows forecast is a perfect 27 degree day here which is gorgeous. But if the weather was terrible it would make no difference, it would still be Christmas and we would still celebrate! There is a joy that cannot be described, that Christmas feeling that is unlike anything else. You get it when your heart is full of gratitude for what God did for us all and what He is doing for us today.
I hope you had a good week. How did you build up your home, add to your pantry or garden?
Have a very Happy Christmas! xxx
Merry Christmas to you!
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas to you and yours! Much Love,
ReplyDeletePatricia
Merry Christmas to you Annabel and to all the Bluebirds. I have had the pleasure and the privilege of having two small girls living here in the lead up to Christmas. It has been an exciting time for all. The excitement has led to a few tantrums but overall we have come through. The little girls went out in the car tonight to look at all the Christmas lights. For the first time there was no complaints about it being bedtime. Santa does not come if you are awake. Both are now sound asleep and have been told that they are not allowed out of bed before Grandsfather tomorrow morning.
ReplyDeleteI too thought that I had all bases covered with gifting. NOPE. Katie's Inlaws have requested plain black face masks for a gift this year. I have also made up a chocolate caramel slice for them. I baked up pink mini pavlovas today for the non plum pudding eating people. Tomorrow I will whip up the cream and cut up the fruit and they can construct their own pav.
The house has been cleaned and Francis used the pressure cleaner on the veranda. The table has been set up ready for our seafood brunch. Katie's inlaws dropped off ten sand crabs for our feast. We are feeling just a bit spoilt.
Katie made a Santa board for the little girls. There is a space for a drink. It is too hot for milk so they put out a bottle of beer in a cooler. Rum balls were set out as a Santa snack. We didnt have any carrots so Sao biscuits are apparently very good reindeer food.
I am Granny at the Beach. There are some rather large boot prints of sand coming in the front door and up to the tree. I think Santa may have visited whilst I was in the bath.
I wish you all a merry and Blessed Christmas.
Wishing you and yours a MERRY CHRISTMAS.
ReplyDeleteGod gave us this day and this miracle - celebrate!
Merry Christmas Annabel and All Bluebirds!
ReplyDeleteMay All Celebrate in the Birth of Our Lord!
Hi Annabel,
ReplyDeleteI love this post, especially Chloe's trifle! It looks delicious! We haven't had one of those for quite a few years so I will add it to my must do list for Christmas next year. I also love the sound of that book, some great reading there I bet. The farm life seems to be really suiting you and your girls.
I have been picking apricots too, my tree is overwhelmed with fruit. I froze a couple of kilos tonight so I can make jam after the Christmas rush. I also have beetroot waiting for me to process. Hopefully Monday I will get them pickled into jars.
We have five broody chooks at the moment but no rooster, so I might borrow some eggs off Dad and pop under them.
A busy week here of making and baking in preparation for Christmas. Just like most households this time of year.
A timely message that God is always near and he is still in control even though it may not look or feel that way.
Enjoy this Christmas season with your family, and see you in the New Year.
Much love and best wishes,
Tania xxx
Merry Christmas to you and your family!
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas to you all!
ReplyDeleteDear Annabel,
ReplyDeleteWishing everyone a Merry and Blessed Christmas! Just a beautiful post, Zackie is a sweetheart . You now have a wonderful little trio between Scout, Molly, and her.
Chloe's trifle does look delicious. I like trifle as well. The book looks very interesting and useful.
Rejoice in the miracle of Christmas! Blessings, Laura
What a beautiful trifle. We are just getting ready to relax for Christmas Eve. It has been quite a wind up, and as you say, the theme of "cancelled Christmas" has been relentless. In fact, the bishop for our area cancelled all Christmas and post-Christmas services just 2 days before Christmas, in excess of public health requirements. As you say, it doesn't matter...Christmas is not cancelled. We still worship, we still celebrate, Christ has come to save the world, and we rejoice! Tomorrow, in lieu of a Christmas Day service, our family will go into the church and ring the bell for 5 minutes at the time we would have had service. I think it's important for the community and for all of us to hear the bells on Christmas Day.
ReplyDeleteBlessings to you and your family, Annabel. Thank you for your lovely blog and for your friendship.
A Blessed Christmas and a Joyous New Year!
In Christ,
Jen in NS
Merry Christmas! I love the Bluebirds group and your blog you do every Friday. Thank you! I have to chuckle at your forgetful chicken and love the fact the dog you adopted is doing so well. The trifle is beautiful. It is so good to be reminded to enjoy the good things and not dwell on the negative. I love the reason for the season! May God protect you and bless you this year@
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas Annabel and to all Bluebirds! May you all be blessed today and every day!
ReplyDeleteMerry, Merry Christmas to you and your dear family!! Thank-you for sharing your life with us on your blog! I’ve learned so much!! We are expecting a white Christmas this year! So exciting as it seldom snows at Christmas here in the Pacific Northwest of the US! (We usually get snow in January or February and not every year at that!)
ReplyDeleteBlessings, Laura C.
Merry Christmas Annabel and fellow Bluebirds. Thank you Annabel for continuing to provide such a beautiful place of respite in this crazy world, week after week. I look forward to each Tuesday and Friday when I think ooh I wonder what I will see and read today.
ReplyDeleteI finished work for the year on Wednesday and came home and got stuck into the house work so it was all done and I could have yesterday preparing for today. Yesterday saw myself and partner and the supermarket at 7.15 to beat the crowds. Not quite, it seems others had the same idea. I have never seen it like that at that time on Christmas Eve morning before. We got in and out as quick as possible. Every year I say I am going to grow strawberries,along with our raspberries. Well I never got around to it and ended up having to pay an exorbitant amount for two punnets. Lesson learnt and they are now on the priority list to grow. I spent the day making a layered chocolate mousse cake,pavlova,wrapping the 2 gifts we exchange with my partners brother and his partner and finishing my own Christmas crackers. No plastic trinkets in mine. Edible treats for all. Everything is named and ready to go. Today I just have to put together the fresh fruit salad and the broccoli salad and whip the cream. Dp's brother and partner will come down to us later this morning for exchanging gifts and drinks and later this afternoon we will all go to my brothers place for an evening shared dinner with my family and friends. It is a beautiful morning here with a high of 20C expected, so like you Annabel a beautiful day weather wise.
I want to wish everyone, where ever you are in the world a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I hope the coming year will bring some positive change for the world we live in but as we all know we can only control our place and space in it. I will continue to try and respond rather than react to events and have this beautiful place to come and be with like minded people each week. Thank you to each and everyone of you for all that you share and do, I love to see your amazing skills, you are an inspiring group of people.
Meri Kirihimete
Mandy(NZ)
Merry Christmas Everyone! Love Clare
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteWhat a sweet message for us, Annabel. You amaze me the way you get things done! That book looks interesting. I'm thinking you could have written it! Your handiwork inspires me and I will be using your 15 minute sewing sessions as we go in to the new year. It is quiet here at our place as we celebrated with our family last weekend. I think I will treat myself to a good movie or a good book later. I want to plan out some ways to do more for others next year. My granddaughter is a nurse who works in a nursing home. There are two older gentlemen there who have no family and never have visitors. She had a wonderful time putting together some Christmas bags for them. Just snacks and useful things in pretty wrappings. One had holes in his slippers so he got new ones! Anyway I thought that was the sweetest thing and something I can easily do.
ReplyDeleteI want to wish everyone much love and a blessed Christmas and new year. Happy Birthday, Jesus!
Merry Christmas to you, Annabel, and to all of the Bluebirds. To all of you Aussies and Kiwis who are expecting beautiful 27 deg. weather for Christmas...so are we! The difference is that ours is Fahrenheit, and we have white stuff all over the ground! LOLOLOLOL
ReplyDeleteWe normally travel 525 miles to our son's for Christmas because he always has to work. We canceled last week when it became clear there was going to be a lot of snow here, there, and everywhere in between. We don't mind traveling with snow on the ground, but we are not big on driving through blizzards. I mailed their gifts and hustled around to get ready for Christmas here (fortunately I have low standards, LOL). Today I am as ready for Christmas as I ever am. The one I feel bad for is my 43-year-old son. Except for his darling wife, we are his only family, and he is one for whom family is everything. And our daughter-in-law, who is a helicopter pilot who flies air ambulance in the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming, is flying this week in another town.
Well, now that I've told you our sad story, these are our plans...
It is Christmas Eve today in our part of the world. We are having an early dinner of waffles and sausages and then my daughter and I are going to a traditional church service at the Episcopal church. After we get home, we'll eat pie and watch Christmas movies with my husband, who is recovering from an attack of diverticulitis. We always open our gifts Christmas morning, which our 40something kids still insist upon. We will watch movies tomorrow and have a traditional Christmas dinner with rib roast tomorrow night. Our favorite movies are A Christmas Story and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and we will watch them anytime they are on!
Now I have to tell you why I'm going to be an Episcopalian tonight. We are Baptists who started going to an interdenominational church this year. We like everything about it except for the contemporary music. (My son calls it the rock'n'roll church). After hearing what the band did a few weeks ago to "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," I resolved not to stick around to hear what they do to "Silent Night," LOL. So we are Episcopalians tonight!
Back to real life last week...My 3-1/2 year old washing machine was giving me fits. The problem seemed to be either the motherboard or transmission. Either one would cost about $450 for parts and labor. My husband (who is not mechanical) thought of the reset button, even though there was no mention of one in the manual. Turns out there isn't a reset button on a Maytag Bravo! But I discovered online how to reset it...and it worked! At the very least, we saved the $100 it would have cost to have a repair guy ring the doorbell and do the same thing.
Oh my. I'm with your son on the "rock 'n roll churches". I'm more the "Old Rugged Cross" type of Baptist. Thanks for the good laugh and hope your new year is fantastic!
DeletePam, something I have come to realize is that if you want to be in a church with young people--and I'm not talking just teenagers, but everyone under 50--is that you have to move along with the times. No one from the MTV generation wants to sing the old hymns. The hymns just aren't a part of the music they know. We left a Baptist church that has all but died (about 12 members left) because it was stuck in the old ways. I actually prefer some of the stuff the new church does, but music isn't one of them! BTW, I stuck around that church for 15 years, hoping I could help it grow, but they were unwilling to change in any way.
DeleteAnnabel, I have been slack with keeping up with blogs this year. I hope you are really enjoying Christmas Day. We have had a cold lunch + pav and am having a Nanna nap now. There were only my sister and brother in law here with us for Christmas...no children nor grandchildren but that’s okay as I would rather they weren’t on the roads. God’s richest blessings for 2022.
ReplyDeleteDear Annabel Merry Christmas to you and yours :) .
ReplyDeleteThe trifle that Chloe made is a masterpiece and what a lovely useful book she gave you. The cleaning cloths and bags you make are gorgeous. The little chicks are getting so big and Zackie is looking more at home and happy.
We have done a bit more in stocking up the pantry and I would say with slightly over $100 in expenditure we will be at the level we want to be at.
Not a lot done with DH in and out of hospital and to doctors appointments but at least we found out what has gone on and now have a diagnosis and treatment plan. May I say to everyone if you get chest pain pay attention to it and get straight to a doctor.
We stocked up the medicine cabinet some more with a years worth of antihistamines and by buying them in our online pharmacy rather than local saved $55.76 on usual prices.
On specials at Drakes Supermarket we saved 10c per tin on tinned mangoes and 45c per tin on tinned champignons saving in total $10.65 on usual prices.
Hope you and the family have a joyous and blessed Christmas and you are so right the doom and gloom of the news and we can leave and pay no attention to in our homes. Christmas is not cancelled in our home either and we intend to enjoy it and some of the handmade chocolate fudge and each others company :) .
Lorna.
Merry Christmas to Laffie, Mollie, Scout, Zackie and all the other fur family.
ReplyDelete❤️
Mary in SD
Merry Christmas to you and your family Annabel.
ReplyDeleteThat trifle looks absolutely beautiful, what a talent to make something so lovely!
I have only just discovered The Cornersmith store and books, they look amazing! It is my birthday in February so I think I know what I’ll be hinting for or buying for myself!!
Thankyou for another year of sharing your life and wisdom and inspiring us all to do better and be better ❤️
Let’s all pray that 2022 improves for us all 🙏
Praying all you Bluebirds had a delightful Christmas! Thank you for all these lovely photos, Annabel. Chloe's trifle is sooo amazing! How proud you must be. The animals are looking well cared for...well done.
ReplyDeleteHad an amazing Christmas here at the McKinley home. The kids were all so generous esp. towards one another. My biggest savings was a huge 25% off sale on the 23rd at my discount grocery. These prices are already 1/3 off retail!! So blessed. Stay healthy.
Blessings, Leslie
Our President here (who no one voted for) has been all doom and gloom, too. We just went right on with our lives celebrating Christmas! I agree completely with your views about it!
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