My quilting thoughts and inspirations sprinkled with a glimpse of life down on the farm

Wednesday, December 26, 2018

SEASON'S GREETINGS!


I'm too late to wish you all a very Merry Christmas but I have returned from my unexpected and unplanned blog break to send Season's Greetings to all my lovely friends and readers in blogland
The New Zealand Christmas tree, the Pohutakawa, has been a lovely sight to behold around the region this Christmas season —
Our Christmas red
And where we live, with so much bush around us, I liken the swathes of flowering Manuka to Christmas 'snow' —
Hunting for a Christmas tree. The pines that have regrown after
  the fire in 2014 have got to a good height for Christmas :-)

We had a lovely Christmas day, with all of our family with us. Rather special as it's our son's first NZ Christmas in 12 years and the first one for the three new babies born this year. Mum is here staying with us and my in-laws were here too. It was a full house! So nice for everyone to be together.
The main food for our kiwi Christmas always consists of cold meats and salads. The only hot thing being a freshly glazed ham. For us, the traditional pavlova and lots of fresh fruits, is our main dessert. Then of course there are Christmas mince pies, Christmas cake and a never ending supply of chocolate in various forms. So we've eaten well and today, Boxing Day, is all about a bit of tidying and sorting, eating leftovers, a bit of quiet socialising, and some even quieter recovery time. None of our children/families are working over the Christmas/New Year period so I imagine we'll enjoy a few more family moments over the week or so :-)
We all nearly fitted 'around' the Christmas tree for gift giving.
As I promised myself (in front of all of blogland), I didn't do a huge amount of Christmas quilting or sewing this year, focusing instead on a few 'must-do' projects. But my halo did slip a little and I couldn't resist a few last minute home-mades.

I decided the 3 year old twins needed pillow cases to use for the lead up to Santa's arrival —
I made these using the Burrito method and they were a quick but effective make.

Inspired by Carole, of frommycarolinahome, I made these Doggy treats for all our canine family members.
I'm not sure what the dogs think of them, but they were fun (and easy) to make and gift!


Also from the kitchen, I put together a BBQ spice rub, and Cookie in a Jar mixes. I used recipes from Laura of The Kiwi Country Girl.

Earlier in December, I took the twin girls shopping at a nursery. We bought seedlings so that they could grow some presents for Mummy and Daddy and their aunties. (Trying to be a responsible Ganma and teaching them about the joy of giving!)
Selecting plants...!!!
(I cant resist adding this photo - lunch at a cafe on the way home).
They planted and tended three planter boxes (plus their own little garden at our place) and gifted them on Christmas day.
Hehe haphazard planting :-)
Well, it's time for me to rest again and then think about diving into the fridge for some more leftovers.
Season's Greetings again. I hope you are all well and happy, and have been able to spend some lovely time with those dear to you.

Till next time,
Best Wishes

15 comments:

  1. A marvellous family Christmas for you all.. great to see..and you've been so busy!!

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  2. Sounds like the perfect kiwi Christmas. Merry belated Christmas Raewyn!

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  3. Loved seeing your Kiwi Family Christmas.......
    The planter boxes the little girls nurtured are fantastic gifts.
    Cute lunchtime photo...

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  4. A lovely family Christmas, great to hear from you. Have a great new year too :) xx

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  5. Merry Christmas to you -- what a delightful post!!

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  6. it looks like you had a fun family filled Christmas - keep on visiting!!

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  7. Merry Christmas a day late. What great times, all the family, and the twins growing gifts are awesome.

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  8. It looks like a wonderful Christmas for all.
    I hope you are now relaxing and enjoying all your family visits.

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  9. Lovely post Raewyn. I had a bit of an "unplanned break" from blogging this month also. Also I have my Mum with me for Christmas. Your pics are gorgeous. Even tho you weren't going to do too much, you sure did some great gifting things in my books! Love the planting ideas. Happy festive season to you & your family Raewyn. Xx

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  10. Such a glorious Christmas, surrounded by your family. Thedoddy treats soundfun, and how nice that you showed the twins how to plant andlook after the seedlings

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  11. What a wonderful celebration to have everyone home. I love your little girls and I bet they were very proud of their lovely gardening gifts. Belated Merry Christmas and all blessings for 2019 xxx

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  12. I’ll bet it was nice to have so many together for Christmas. Probably also a little hectic. :-) The girls did a good job tending their plantings.

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  13. Season's greetings! I love that sentiment...and have gotten so used to saying Happy Holidays around our area, that I forgot all about "Season's Greetings!" :-) Of course, my favorite is Merry Christmas! ;-) Thanks for showing how Christmas is celebrated in a warm weather part of the world! Your feast sounds a lot more healthy than what most of have indulged in over the holiday....lol! Love those littles and they did a super job of planting! Merry Christmas!

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  14. Your family Christmas sounded wonderful. A family gathering is so much more fun when young children are involved. Have a happy New Year and may the milk price improve. Blessing!

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  15. Womderful to see the family all gathered for Christmas Raewyn, sounds like a wonderful time was had.

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