Thursdays are always a busy day here at home. We have music in the mornings and this morning was a special session of Mainly Music as it was the last one for the year. Everyone wore their Christmasy outfits and we even had a visit from Santa. Everyone received a lovely gift. The story of the first Christmas for the kids and a 2010 planner for the adults. So thoughtful. I wanted to get some pics and took my camera but after one photo the camera battery died so that was a bit of a failure.

This afternoon we went out to help a friend pack her house as she is moving away. It was nice to be able to help, even if just for a short time.

Tonight found me finishing off these -

I just need to finish a few address labels and they’ll be in the post. It feels good to have them almost completed.

Only 2 more sleeps til Vicki gets here… can’t wait!!!

Today Matilda and I made wrapping paper for the Christmas presents this year. We took some lovely long butchers paper (thanks Daddy) and set it up in the driveway and used potatoes to make stamps. We also splatted the paint with brushes, rolled stamps on it and matilda walked on it and used her hands to paint too. It was lots of fun. So be prepared for some ‘interesting’ wrapping paper this year guys lol.

Matilda wasn’t just satisfied painting paper but decided to paint some nearby rocks too. When asked what she was going to do with them she said wrap them up. I asked her were they for presents and she said yes. I asked her who for and she started with Gemma…and ended with Miles. So if you are one of these two or a special person that she mentioned in the middle (as she kept painting more and more lol) then you may have a very specially painted rock waiting for you under the tree this year

We are going to see Oliver (Shannon’s brother) play Volleyball this afternoon as he is in Melbourne representing his school. Looking forward to seeing him. Then home for the Early Learning Centre Christmas party tonight

Today the Christmas tree finally got prettied up with coloured lights and all

This evening we went to watch Nunawading Christian College’s end of year production and speech night (well actually we left before the speech night part). What a great job everyone did. Congratulations to everyone involved. Good job Izzy, the hard work paid off

Today we began the day by decorating the Christmas tree. All that’s missing now are the coloured lights. I will share a pic once it is fully complete. After that was done I decided to dress the girls up (or down in Zoe’s case) for a little Christmas photo shoot. Here are a few of my faves.

Even Rusty got involved lol -

Today we headed out as a family to find and collect a real Christmas tree. We headed off to the Christmas tree farm and found a tree, amongst the hundreds, that looked perfect for our house. After it was cut down with the chainsaw, we tied it to the roof of the car and bought it home.

Here it is at home-

We didn’t get a chance to get the decorations up as we had to head out to our playgroup breakup Christmas dinner at the lake -

Here is Zoe getting her present-

and Tilly-

Zoe got a little book to attach to the pram and Tilly got a doll sling to carry her dolly around in.

Lilydale Adventist Academy had their closing exercises program today (for those of you who don’t know, this is where Shannon works). We attended the church service in the gym this morning and then had a lovely lunch with friends this afternoon before Shannon headed up for their speech night this evening (I decided to keep the girls at home since it didn’t begin until 8pm). Here is my handsome hubby ready to head off to work -

Christmas Shopping began today. Yep you read correctly. I have done hardly any Christmas shopping up until now. It was nice to get to the shops and get a start on it today. I actually love Christmas shopping. Some people hate it and avoid it with a passion but I LOVE it. I love choosing stuff for people and wandering the shops looking at all the specials and all the decorations set up. At Eastland tonight they even had Carollers singing. It was lovely. Here are a few snapshots from our day.

isn’t she adorable!

Feeding at the shops-

Crazy girl-

All taken on my new….iphone! yep that’s right. I’ve finally joined the craze and I love it! Still learning how to use it and what it’s actually capable of. Isn’t she a beauty!

Today was a pretty busy day for us. Thursdays are generally our busiest day of the week. We had ‘Mainly Music’ this morning and then Dannii & I decided to take all the kids out for babychinos at Gloria Jeans. Yummo! On the way out Ashca copped a lovely bruise on her elbow. You can read all about that here on Dannii’s blog.

The afternoon was very productive with the girls, Megs, Bek and Dannii coming over to help me out for a bit and to spend the afternoon fellowshipping, cleaning and enjoying each others company. Here are some pics from the afternoon.

While Zoe slept today Matlida had a little lesson on Colours. Here are some pics I took of my little girl being so so clever. She only put a couple in the wrong squares (quietly moved by Mummy when she wasn’t watching lol – only because I want to use it to reinforce this lesson in the future).

Good job Tilly!

The 1st of December marks the beginning of the festive season. I love this time of year. I love thinking about what to make or buy for people and trying to find something that I think they will love. I love getting creative and making lots of goodies. I love the celebrations and the presents and I love that I can openly talk more freely about Jesus and His birth without people feeling like I’m being a pushy Christian lol.

Last night marked the beginning of our Christmas traditions. We joined the Bests for a Christmas dinner- a yummy roast with trifle for dessert! This year Megan, Andrew and Joel Spinks joined us as well this year. I was allocated dessert to make this year. Here is the yummy trifle i made. I was quite proud of myself as I made it all from scratch. Homemade cake, jelly, custard everything. It was delicious!

The kids had fun cracking the Bon bons -

Then we walked up the street to see the jolly man in red turn on the Christmas lights -

Here is our little family in front of the manger -

and a few other pics from the evening-

Tilly & Joel at the manger-

The Bests at the manger -

The manger where baby Jesus lays -