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 tree brownies

i had my last appointment before christmas today, with my beautician, to have my waxing done. i have been going to rachel since we moved to aveley and i absolutely adore her, so i wanted to do something really cute for her. i had seen these brownie christmas trees online a few times, so i decided today was the day to make my own.

after finding this photo courtesy of google, which i used as a pattern to make sure i didn't waste too much when cutting, i baked my normal brownie recipe and threw them in the fridge to cool (i don't normally do this and probably wouldn't recommend it, they are a much better texture when they cool on their own) before cutting them up to decorate.

perfect brownie recipe 

(i call it this as they are literally perfect every single time and so so easy)

200g butter

2 cups packed brown sugar

1/2 cup cocoa

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 cup plain flour

2 eggs

1. grease a 20 x 30cm tin, preheat oven to 180deg celcius (160 deg fan forced)

2. melt butter in a large saucepan on a very low heat, add brown sugar, mix until well combined, do not allow it to boil!

3. add cocoa and vanilla, stir well

4. take off heat, add flour and stir it in

5. add eggs and mix really well

6. spread mixture evenly in tin and bake for 22 minutes 

to make the trunks, break candy canes into pieces... (try for about an inch, but they are temperamental and you just need to work with where they break to be honest haha) and poke them into the base. for the icing, i combined icing sugar with a tiny bit of milk at a time and a few drops of green food colouring, until the icing was smooth enough to stir, but was starting to go stiff as it was left for a moment or two. i used a ziplock bag with the tip cut off to pipe it onto the trees into a zig zag, then added sprinkles to decorate.

honestly? they were delicious! but i will absolutely be adding a few drops of mint to the icing next year, cause the mint with the brownies was amaaaazing. so so yum. highly recommend you give them a go, they look nice, they are fun and delicious to boot! we are taking them to christmas eve dinner at the pinkers, so hopefully everyone else likes them too! 

 

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! ❤

 

oh christmas tree

i was on the ball this year - with our christmas tree up on the 1st of december. go me! haha

these two loved every minute of putting it up and quickly ran off to get red and green pjs on to pose in front of it, even though alexander had already been put to bed.

i love a traditional tree, but have a few surprises in there, like mini gold pineapples, pale green macarons, some gold swans and some new decorations this year, like these cute glittery initials from our local big w

which the kids loved finding a spot for and putting on the tree themselves

and some gold glittery seahorses, one of which you can see tucked away on the lift hand side here. my all time favourite ornaments remain the silver praying angel my mother gave me on the day of my baptism, just ten days before christmas in december 1991 and this glass bauble filled with leftover white satin from my wedding dress. i am hoping it's something my daughter will keep hanging on her tree in the years to come.

i love having the tree up, because it feels like the christmas season has officially begun. i am hoping christmas rhis year will be special, being that alex is a lot more mobile now and not a newborn - and the other two are really starting to understand what it is all about.

merry christmas everyone! i can't wait to start the celebrations! 

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! ♥

a very kendall christmas

we put the tree christmas tree up last night. i am so excited for christmas in our new house... the tree looks amazing and we put it in the theatre room, so we have the advantage of closing the door to keep it away from teeny hands...

i love christmas so much and i feel a real thrill each year when we put the tree up, because it is all beginning... we have so many traditions of our own and i can't wait to do things with the kids over the next few weeks. 

as joseph is older this year, he is excited about the tree and just wants to touch the lights and the decorations all the time (thank goodness for the theatre room door hahaha). i love seeing his eyes light up when he comes in the room.

kendall christmas is under way! :)

christmas decs are up

i am a sucker for beautiful, traditional christmas decorations. we bought a new tree this year. a beautiful full green tree from myer with frosty tips like a real snow edged tree. it looks absolutely stunning, especially with the gorgeous decorations we got (snowflakes, birds in glass domes and deer heads from target australia, red and gold balls from big w australia.) and the twinkle lights from kmart australia. they are brilliant, with a button for multi function twinkling.

i must stop and confess here, doug and i stayed awake until 3am ish putting all the decorations up, 1. because we love to see the kids eyes when they wake up and they are just there waiting for them and 2. let's be honest, any one with even one child knows how much easier and faster it is to put them up with no little hands in the way. sad but true.

i love to set up my nativity scenes, including the first one i purchased, the original willow tree... my last big spend before doug and i got married... which my dad made a creche for (not without grumbling i might add) he said it would never be happening again - 

until i bought the large size willow tree holy family and my mother convinced him yet again. what a good man he is.

this is my newest and i love the way it looks, tall figures with a word of inspiration across the base. super cute.

and my mini one that came with the pictured book from deseret books (which is still available here and worth every cent!) i love nativity scenes so much, because they remind of us of the true meaning of christmas and bring such joy to our home, as well as giving us the opportunity to teach our children. madeline moves between them, touching the figures and telling me about baby jesus. what a sweetheart, having children at christmas truly brings magic to your home.