Christmas 2009

It's boxing day now but oh what a lovely Christmas we had. The fact that money played a very little part made it even better.

You see, we couldn't afford to buy any presents for each other this year. Sometimes life is like that and that's OK. We've lived through this in the past and survived and I'm sure we'll live through it again sometime in the future. There's many things you can do without money. My clever niece made her husband and her brother a tie made out of duct tape. They looked really good. We could have made something for each other or we could have given coupons but I came up with an idea that was totally 'It's the thought that counts'.

I had the children go through the advertising catalogs and choose things for each other (and mum and dad) that if we had the money we would have bought.

My husband was feeling very bad about not being able to have gifts this year. I kept telling him that the kids are fine with it. He said that they were only fine with it because they had no other choice. I tried to reassure him that our children were not like that at all.

Anyway...Come Christmas morning there were lots of little white envelopes under the tree. There were even some for our guest we had come over for breakfast. As it turns out this will be one of the most memorable Christmases EVER. Aaron (14yrold) gave Michael (18yr old) a pork roast. Well we were in fits of laughter and that pretty much set the tone for the day. Not only did Michael get pork but Sarah (19yr old) gave our visitors pork as well and Michael gifted Sarah Bacon!!! Can you see a theme here?

I got given 'wooden flooring' from Sarah. My kids know how much I'd love to have wood floor instead of carpet. I also got a big screen TV...I mean a BIG screen...along with a new computer with a nice big monitor. All in all we ended up with three big screen TVs (mine was the biggest of course) and three computers. Someone got insect repellent while someone else got deodorant.

"It's the most wonderful time of the year...." and presents...although very nice....didn't make it 'wonderful' this year. It was so enjoyable I'd be happy enough to make this a new family tradition. Just think of the money we'd save.

May 2010 bring us all more harmony and love.

Cinnamon Rolls

Every Christmas morning, while living in Utah, the children would wake us up early to share the exciting things that Santa had brought. I decided that while they were playing I would make cinnamon rolls to have with/for breakfast.

(Side note: My children have always had two stockings. One for their bed where Santa places any toys etc, and the other one is a smaller one that is hung in the living room or placed under the tree. The stocking under the tree has a small box of cereal, a tetra juice or milk and some fun candies. The cereal and the juice/milk take care of Christmas breakfast.)

It was so lovely to have fresh cinnamon rolls. The smell of cinnamon has ever since been associated with Christmas.

We moved back to Australia in 1999. As Christmas got closer the children were all excited and said "YAY!!! That means SNOW!!!" Ohhhhh dear. Christmas time is SUMMER TIME here in Australia and snow at Christmas time is like saying "it will be a cold day in hell".

To try and keep things as normal as possible for them at Christmas time, even tho it was over 100 degree F temperatures and no air conditioning, I started cooking our breakfast cinnamon rolls while the children discovered what Santa had brought everyone.

Needless to say it was the LAST time I made cinnamon rolls for Christmas. Whew it was HOT.

My daughter was visiting with us on her break from uni this past month. She said to me last week "You know what I'd really like? Cinnamon rolls!"

With it being WINTER (July) I agreed to make some for her. Todays batch of rolls will make the second time in the past seven days that I've made them for my family. My husband picked up the baking dish this morning and said "It would be nice if this was full of yummy stuff this evening". DONE.