December in our house!!!

We have such wonderful Christmas celebrations with traditions that keep rolling on every year.  Sometimes it's hard to be motivated to carry out these traditions but the girls love them!! And Christmas wouldn't be the same.........

We started with Christmas Tree shopping on 2nd December.  Which was rather a quick affair as it was about to pour down with rain............. So wasn't the usual middle of the range tree, ended up being at the higher end of the budget.

Then home to decorate it!! With christmas carols blasting.
Although there wasn't much festive atmosphere going on.  The girls needed to be coaxed, encouraged and nearly forced to help decorate it.  But we got there in the end.

Ever since the girls were little we always made gingerbread men when school finished.  We used to have the whole dining table covered in coloured icing and lollies, raisins, sprinkles etc for decorations and a great big sticky mess.  As the girls have grown we have mixed it up a little.  Last year we made a shortbread christmas tree..

.This year we made home made chocolates which we boxed up in little white boxes and red ribbon and gave away, after taste testing of course.

 

Then on the 5th December my gorgeous little nephew Jesse Budd arrived safely at home and had the very special privilege of being at his birth.  (A nice treat amongst all the festivities)

And on the 8th of December is my birthday!!! My husband packed up a very yummy picnic and took us to Hamilton Gardens on a gorgeous sunny day!

And we always try to check out some Christmas lights each year.  Either at the Mormon Temple or driving the streets.  But again as the girls have got older the interest in christmas lights is slowly being lost.  So we borrowed 3 year old twin girls to help us appreciate the beauty of colourful lights! Because they certainly enjoyed running around the streets 'ooooing and aaaaaahing' over them.

And of course the wrapping of the gifts!! We went for the brown paper and twine look this year.  Not only more economical it looked great too!

The next great event on the calendar is my husbands family Christmas!! He is the oldest of 10 children so it is rather a large gathering but we book it long in advance to make sure everyone can make it.  This year it was a bit later in the month because one of the brothers was returning from Australia.  We traditionally have a big cooked brunch (this year was, pancakes with bacon, bananas and maple syrup or pancakes with berries, ice cream and chocolate sauce) and when one of the in-laws is a trained chef you know the food is gonna be good!!!  Then Grandma santa comes with her huge santa sack and makes all the grandchildren very happy indeed!

Then we do the present game...... all the 15 year olds and up bring a $20 gift that is put in the middle and the order or opening is drawn from a hat.  The game can get a little heated when someone tries to steal a much wanted gift.  But always lots of laughter had!!

After picking at snacks and drinks all day we bring out dessert at dinner time! And that's the way the Johnston Christmas rolls!

Then Christmas Eve comes around with it's own traditions...........

We have always since the girls were babies, let them open a gift on Christmas eve (when they were little it was a surprise every year, but now they now exactly what it's going to be)  We buy them summer pj's every year for them to rug up into in anticipation for Christmas day.  Along with present opening we dish up some yummy treats and sparkling grape juice and talk about the year gone by and give thanks for all the blessings we have received.  It's always fun remembering all the good times had.  And we re'read the Christmas story from the Bible to keep at the fore-front of our minds just what Christmas is all about.

And then on Christmas day we were up early opening presents (which is was special in itself because Mike is usually milking and the girls have always had to wait for him to come home) And then off to Papamoa for my family's christmas.

And of course Bailey was spoilt too!!

We then headed off to Papamoa.  Where we had a nice lunch with way too much food.

And off to the beach for an afternoon swim.  Even though there was a cyclone moving down the coast.  We couldn't go all the way to the beach and NOT go to the BEACH!!!

Somehow we have developed a tradition of all having to wear our party hat from our christmas cracker, and YES we have to listen to all the jokes too!!

And then comes the end of all our Christmas Celebrations.  I am always totally washed out, but it is well worth all the effort to catch up with family and be very well fed!  

And I'm sure the traditions will keep rolling on for more years to come..................

My Melbourne Trip

Something I had always wanted to do was go on a holiday with my Mum and sisters, just the girls!  But sadly we never had the chance before Mum passed away 2 years ago.  

So I put the idea forward to both my sisters that we hit Melbourne for 5 nights!! One sister has a trip planned for next year so decided to give it a miss so my other sister and I got to it and started planning.

It was such a lovely time but sooooo exhausting!!!

Not to mention May is not the best time of year to go to Melbourne.  I found the weather alot like Wellington.  Cold, windy and wet.  But that's okay if you pay money to see a city you have to see it I guess. So the trusty old puffer jacket was an essential.  And an umbrella was a waste of time.

Not to mention the transport system....... which is AWESOME when you work out how to use it!!!

It took us one day to get our bearings.  And two days to work out the transport.  The first day we walked out of our motel and walked into town.  We knew we were staying on Londsdale St but when it was time to get out the map and head home (whilst feet are dying) we realized we didn't know which end of the street our motel was on.  The lady at the info center asked if we walked up hill or down hill as we walked to town. We had no idea. 

And on the second to last day after walking everyday to find a tram station, we realized we were 20 meters from one of the big tram stations.  Which is why every morning when we stepped out of our motel we were picked up by a stampede of what I called ants at work!  Everyone was getting off at the station all wearing black business suits on their way to work.

As you can see there was not much use doing the hair!

The highlight of my trip was Sovereign Hill village at Ballarat, which is a working historical village which you can purchase products from and the people are dressed in character.

Having a sing along around a fire.

  Tending the vegie garden.

One of the shop ladies.

I actually found gold!! And brought it home a little bottle.

Schools have camps at the village and dress in costume and re-live the daily routine of a child in the early mining days.

The queens birthday celebration.

Dinner at a VERY flash restaurant.  Check out the size of the wine glass!!

   

The historical buildings are so beautiful.

 The main street entertainment was cool and watching the little kids dancing in the street.

We thought we would walk to the markets for the morning, but who would have known it would take a whole day to get around the whole place.  It was truly an experience. 

A cute little french cafe at the markets.

Now this is the tram we had to look out for. The 'city circle'.

My sister Charlene and I riding the tram.  It was alot of fun!  We had some great conversations with strangers.

This is us waiting for the next tram.  We got off at the wrong stop and had to wait 15 mins for the next tram.  Was very funny!!

And this is literally what I did at the end of every day!!! 

We never cooked a meal but we also didn't eat out every night.  We were too shattered!! We ordered in a few times.

It was a great trip with great memories!! And it was lovely to spend that time with my sister.  Even tho she probably got really tired and frustrated with my map reading and direction skills.  (not my gifting)

I appreciated the opportunity to share this experience and memories with my sister.  

We will have to plan another one so all 3 of us can go!!!!