an ornament for willow

i went to drop some christmas goodies at mel's house today...and i felt the urge to make something beautiful for her, a christmas ornament, in memory of their angel baby. 

i bought these clear glass balls some years ago and have put a few things in them for our own christmas tree - (for instance the ball tickets from our first date are in one of them.) but for baby willow, i bought a bag of feathers from spotlight and carefully put some white ones inside. it was simple, but beautiful and mel loved it. i think next christmas i will make two for our tree, in memory of my wonderful in-laws.

 

bush wreath

you know it's christmas time at my house when one of these lovely bush wreaths appear on the door. made lovingly by my mum from gum leaves growing on their farm in clackline, i love having one on my door, because christmas in australia is the best. my favourite part was that she turned up with it for my birthday today.  

it's the country life for me. give me the trees and i'll be happy.

 

christmas decorations are finally up!

after alll the delays in the world, our christmas decorations fiiiiinally went up today. as we've done renovations, the theatre room was unfortunately a major part of that when we discovered a bad leak coming through from our shower years ago. the shower was not at all waterproofed and years of damage had left the wall soaked and the plaster at the base like mud, rotten skirting and soaked mouldy carpet. i can't even tell you how upset i was the day they stripped it as i honestly thought it was beyond repair. but it has all come together piece by piece as the wall was replastered, left for weeks to dry out perfectly - the carpet and skirting were thrown away... then the room was beautifully repainted before new skirting and carpet went in. it looks amaaaaazing and i am so so so so so happy.

the kids favourite part of christmas is always putting up the tree (i mean who am i kidding, it was always mine too!) and they have been harassing me non stop since december 1st to get it up and decorated but we had to wait for all of that to be finished as quite honestly, we had no where else to put it!!!! but it's done, they are happy and it all looks beautiful as always.

i am so lucky to have these cuties here with me. i may want to kill them on the regular, but having kids in the house at christmas makes me remember just how magical it makes it.

i mean honestly - that's what it's all about. christmas is the spirit of giving, not getting and teaching them the story of christ's birth and everything that goes along with it, makes the magic. ❤

 

christmas wreath

imagine my absolute delight when this christmas wreath complete with a possum was delivered for me, hand made by my mum this week. i love love love her rustic bush wreaths and i am obsessed with this. it is so beautiful and even smells like the bush! it is just perfect.

i swear my mum is actually good at every single thing she does and if she wasn't my mum i would probably hate her for it, but instead i just relish in it and remember how lucky i am - every single day! 

mum. you are the best! 

 

christmas tree is up!

i love love love seeing the christmas tree up. i just love the lights and all the stars and how festive it all is. so much. so i am always so happy to get the decorations out even though it's messy for a while and a pain, i love the end result. i have been on the hunt for certain decorations this year too as kmart have brought out ceramic pieces with koalas, kookaburras and gum leaves on them. so cute. i love christmas in australia. i love that it's hot and we can eat seafood and bbq and salads and icecream. i love that we can be outdoors all the time - and most of all i love that aussie christmas is becoming so much more loved around the world. it truly is the best. 

one of my favourite memories of christmas as a child was the year that we had a missionary couple serving in northam that were really dear to my parents and mum went all out decorating for them (if you know my mother, she does not do things by halves. ever) with vases of blue gum leaves all over the place. i can still remember the smell, it was heavenly. i love this country and where i was blessed to grow up, so much. 

so magical. ❤

now to see how long it lasts before alex starts ripping decorations off it hahah.

i also have an obsession with nativity scenes (because my mother also used to talk about how christmas was about christ (it is obviously) and not about santa) and have them all over the place. 

they are all so lovely and i love getting them out and setting them up, that is my favourite bit of christmas decorating.

i bought this one just before doug and i got married, so it's always been a part of christmas with him, getting it out and setting it up.

and this beautiful one we brought home from samoa when we visited when joseph was a baby. it's so special to us.

i love christmas and the decorations. cause once they are up, it finally feels like it's time to celebrate! ❤

 

it’s beginning to look a lot like christmas

between a trip to melbourne and school open days and well life, we've been very slack and didn't get our christmas decorations up until last night. the kids were nearly dying by then so we couldn't have possibly put it off any longer if we wanted to live a peaceful life. i loooove having the decorations up, even if i am a "okay it's boxing day/ day after boxing day let's take them down" kind of person. i am always on the lookout for super cute decorations to add to my tree and this year, i found these gorgeous gold glittery swans. so in love!

i didn't put out absolutely everything this year, in fact i left quite a few things packed away, but i am so happy with what's out... including this teeny nativity set (most of the pieces around an inch high)

and these cute chalkboard painted wooden signs i picked up a few years ago, along with a musical box nativity set... it's the best and the kids love it. i'm kind of regretting showing them that it plays music though, not going to lie...



my favourite thing is seeing the lights of the tree shining in a dark room... i remember as children, mum and dad would leave the lights on all night on christmas eve and i would sneak out numerous times to check if there were any presents yet, so now i do the same for my kids.

i quite simply just love christmas - and everything about it! ♥