Christmas Gifts

I made these small gifts for some of my work colleagues. They are short-bread stars and paneforte wrapped in cellophane with a Christmas covered ribbon.

As these are difficult to wrap and I am not good at that I bought some asian food boxes and wrapped a metallic pipe-cleaner around to make it look like a bow. I just added a "Merry Christmas" tag as well. [I made similar boxes for the ladies in my day-time bible study but I filled them with tea and chocolates]

I think that they look pretty good for minimal effort - that is definitely my kind of craft.

What we do on Our Weekends away, Part III

Perform in (watch) Scottish Pipe Bands!

In October, there was a Scottish style Tattoo in Condobolin run by their local pipe and drums band. John is old friends with one of the organisers, and as he had some pipe band experience (drum major - not an instrument but he claims it still requires skill!) he was asked to go along.

So we drove the 4 hours to Condobolin, he got all dressed up in his kilt and paraphenalia and the bands marched up and down the street and then up and down a square for the tattoo. Unlike some of the other bands that were present, Condo band is ... non-proffessional ... so they hadn't had a great deal of practice so John just did drum major flourishes (ie throwing the mace in the air) for the Condo section rather than fancy scottish tunes or fancy marching.

We stayed the night at our friend's place and then turned around and drove the 4 hours home!

It was a fun weekend - Alex was beautifully behaved at the tattoo, and the dancing and the piping were fairly good. [The best pipe band in the Southern Hemisphere was there] If you click on the link above then you may even like to see if you can spot us in the photos that were in the local paper!

Sick boy

Earlier this week Alex and I were both sick (separately of course to spread out the pain!) which is partly why I have been silent on the blog front. We had a very long trip back from Sydney on Sunday. Fortunately we stopped at my parents - who fed both the big and little boy (;-)) while I slept, and also bought me some anti-emetic medication.

A few days later Alex woke up screaming in the middle of the night and we had to shower him and change the sheets and then have him sleep with us for the rest of the night. The next day he was still sleepy and cuddly. Here is my sick little cuddlebug - he'd gotten over the worst of it but was still at the miserable 'why is Mummy only feeding me crackers?' stage.

Christmas Cards

I have been busy recently assembling our Christmas cards for the year. They are not at all fancy - I made a potato stamp for the star and printed the verse from Isaiah with the computer. (Inside I printed the family newsletter) I just used paper and cardboard that I already had at home. Now all I have to do is write in them and send them out.

Flashback Friday

This weekend is our 11th anniversary - not our wedding anniversary, but the anniversary of when we first 'got together'. And how are we celebrating - by being in different cities of course!

This photo was taken about a month later - when I had gone on holidays water-skiing with John's family. I look at this and see how much younger (and skinnier) we both were, and yet it does not feel all that long ago.

3 by 6 meme

Cath from The Picket Fence has tagged me on this three by six meme. It has taken me a while to articulate my thoughts - not helped as I've been practising multi-tasking recently!


Six things I value

1. The confidence I have that nothing I can do can jeopardise my position before God.


2. My husband
   
3. My loving and affectionate but oh-so-at-times frustrating little boy (is it really necessary to watch me cook dinner perched on my hip?).


4. My parents - who brought me up to know and love the Lord. It is only now as a parent myself that you start to appreciate all that your parents have done for you.


5. Christian friendship. I have grown up all my life with an extended family of honourary aunts and uncles through the church (my grandparents etc were all at least 6 hours away), and still today it is the love and support of friends we have gained through the church that is the most valuable.


6. Books, books and more books

Six things I don't support

1. Exegesis/conclusions from scripture that fail to take into account the full context in which it was written(immediate or otherwise)


2. Worship of God that fails to account for the dual truths that God is an awesome, mighty Lord, whom we can approach as a Loving Father (Worship devoid of either fear or joy/love)


3. Legalistic approaches to living the Christian life - primarily drawn from poor exegesis of scripture!


4. Government decisions made purely for political reasons (ie popular) rather than on the basis of rigourous technical advice (you can't tell that I provide technical advice to politicians can you?)



5. The devaluing and subsequent oppression of the vulnerable in our midst - the unborn, the disabled, the illiterate, women.


6. Chocolate theives....

I am supposed to tag six people, but I seriously doubt that there are that many people who read this blog and even less who haven't already been tagged by someone else. So if you are reading this and haven't already been tagged, and would like to be, consider yourself "it". Just leave a comment in the comments box!

Great Grandparents

I can remember my great grandmother - she lived till over 100 and was a sprightly, well-read older lady. I think that I saw her about six times - she was in Perth - before she died.

Alex is a very lucky little boy - he has four great-grandparents still living. Unfortunately all of them are under some form of medical care at the moment.

• John's grandmother is starting chemotherapy for lung cancer (the doctor suspects that it is somewhere else as well)


• One of my grandmothers is in rehab after having a mini-stroke a fortnight ago. Unfortunately it looks like she may need to go into care as she also has demetia.


• My other grandmother is in a nursing home with advanced demetia.


• and my grandfather is in hospital with pneumonia and possible/probable renal failure.

I am not so sure if they will all survive for much longer. Please pray for our families as they minister to our elders - only one of the above is a Christian - especially with the rest of the extended family watching and worrying and grieving.

UFO update 1 and Christmas preparations

One week after I discovered the pile of UFO's which had been packed away when we moved, I have actually managed to finish the first one on the list - the rather large pile of mending. Unfortunately, the mending isn't very interesting to photograph (it has metamorphised into a pile of ironing ;-)).

As for my Christmas preparations, I put up our Christmas tree on the weekend. I waited until Alex was asleep, because it was not the sort of job one does with a 16month old about.

I know that if I was a true advent lover that I would wait until Christmas Eve, but we are going away for Christmas. It is also the first time since I left home that I/we have had a Christmas tree. (or decorations of any description really!)

According to some magazine I read there aren't enough decorations (apparently for a 180cm tree, there should be about 240 - I only have 80), and it is rather monochrome, but Alex isn't fazed. None of the decorations are precious, so it isn't a major drama if he does touch one. We are attempting to dissuade him but I suspect he will not remember.

I also wrapped the Christmas presents I have already acquired. They will not be staying under the tree as I fear that they will be far too tempting for a little boy, so they are ensconced on the top of our wardrobe. Instead, I have left a 'Christmas Train' - minus batteries under the tree - that one is ok to touch ;-)