December Daily - Day 23

Every year my sisters and I (3 of us live in Brisbane) make two slices each for our Christmas festivities and this year I made a new recipe which I first ate back in August at Jo's Birthday gathering in the park.  OMG this slice is amazing and the flavours all compliment each other.  It has pistachios, cranberries, cream cheese frosting with melted white chocolate, the list goes and and it doesn't come any better than that.  I can't find a direct link on line to this recipe today as I've got a printed copy so I'll see if I can find it later on and post a link because it is worth making.

I packaged up some of this and popped it over the back fence to my next door neighbour as throughout the year he mows my front footpath.  His section of the footpath is 2 metres and mine is about 8 metres however he happily mows the entire piece of lawn for me which is so kind of him and I really appreciate it.  Giving him and his wife some Christmas Slice is the least I can do.  I did ask him if he or anyone in the family is allergic to nuts before I sent it over and luckily for them they are in the clear so they will enjoy their cup of tea and slice tonight.

And some lovely Christmas lights we went to see tonight.

STILLS : A WEEKLY COLLECTION

Linking up with Emma at The Beetle Shack for my Weekly Stills Collection.  There is so much happening at the moment that I posted a "Mid Week Christmas Stills" a few days ago.

A visit to Santa this morning.  More photos posted here.

Sienna in her cubby house in the toy room.  So glad that sheets have a dual purpose in our house.

Saturday morning Christmas Crafts with Granny.

Our lovely decorated Christmas Tree.

Best orange juice on the market outside of squeezing your own.  This is a local Brisbane company which was a nice find and they sell it in Woolworths and IGA.  Haven't looked anywhere else.  This is real juice 99.9% of it however it does have preservative 202.  Most other juices are around the 50-60% reconstituted orange juice.

We love looking at clouds in the sky particularly from our backyard.

James purchasing his $20 Magic Kit that he has been wanting since the September holidays.

Sienna purchasing a little musical instrument for $5 with her holiday money.  Just after she paid for it she put some money into the charity box on the way past.  It was only 20 cents however it was her money and she just did it naturally which I was so proud of.  She's that kind of person and I felt very emotional about watching that little moment.

James pretending the be Father Christmas after his bath.

Sienna playing her musical instrument to Jassy and Rosie, a captive audience (ha ha).

We made home made pita pocket bread for the first time this week for lunch.

The kids and I in front of the Christmas Tree in King George Square.

Sienna saying hello to the street performer in the Queen Street Mall.

Sienna was now being the performer and the performer was pretending to take a photo of Sienna with her little purple camera, so she was posing and from the smile on her face, enjoying the all the lime light.

The street performer was giving her camera back to her and she was having a great time of it all.

Aunty Lisa with James and Sienna in the the Queen Street Mall.

 The Myer Christmas Parade heading towards King George Square. So glad we went to see it this year.

Our City Hall Building in King George Square lite up with a spectacular light show.

December Daily - Day 22

This morning we headed to Harvey Norman to visit Santa in his big beautiful white leather chair.  Last year we went to see Santa around 3.30 pm and he had finished work for the day at 2.00 pm so today we made sure we saw him in the morning.  James asked Santa for a skateboard and Sienna asked for a Ukulele that she saw at Kmart the other day.  Santa has whispered into my ear that he has got these items in his toy sack for James and Sienna.  I know how excited they'll be when they see that that got what they both wanted.  Santa has got all sorts of other little bits and pieces for the kids that they will enjoy on Christmas Day.  Here's some photos from our visit to Santa today with James having just turned 10 and Sienna 7.

STILLS : A MID WEEK CHRISTMAS COLLECTION

Since there's so many things to photograph in a week at the moment I figured I would do a "Mid Week Stills Collection" based around the festive season.

The Santa Countdown on the wall.  Sienna changes this with chalk every morning.

Our new Christmas Bunting from my friend Jo which Sienna decided she would hang up here.

Sienna and her Santa Bear ready to go to sleep.

James took Santa to bed with him tonight and he was being rather cheeky while I was taking photos.

Bring on the Christmas Twinkle.

Our beautiful Christmas Swag is hung.

Some Christmas friends.

Some Christmas Greenery.

We made yoghurt for the first time this week and we topped it with red raspberries which is very festive.

This was our Elf on the Shelf watching over the yoghurt wrapped up as it did it's thing.

The beautiful silver star and shiny decorations on our tree.

Christmas reflections in the family room.

Another letter to Santa from Sienna this time wanting an guitar that she saw at Kmart the other day.  I love that she uses "really" at least 8 times describing how much she wants this item but at the bottom she says, "If I don't get it, it's fine. Thank You".

A collection of gifts and hand drawn cards for relatives in Melbourne & Perth which had to be posted yesterday.

Hand drawn Christmas Card by James for his 7 year old cousin in Melbourne.

Our Christmas Angel.

Sienna posing for me with some solar Christmas Lights I got working.

Reflections in the mirror of me and our pretty Christmas Tree.