Thank you for a wonderful Christmas

I have not felt much like Christmas this year, partly I think it is that I have not had much lead up to Christmas: This is the first year I have not taken the grandchild to carols by candlelight.... something I really do enjoy:

Midnight Mass was uneventful, the Church was not over flowing... usually it is standing room only....but this year it was 3/4 full... there was a new priest...and I was not use to him,... I was not inspired by his sermon.. another first we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus... a strange concept for me... in all the years I have gone to Midnight Mass this was a first...I was less than impressed.... again I am not sure why....


Christmas morning for me is relaxing...the family come over late afternoon, however my daughter Kirsten (who stayed over to help) stated..."I've never known Christmas morning to be relaxing... preparing for Christmas dinner for 20 plus".... different concepts on what is relaxing... but you see for me that is relaxing....the thought of preparing a feast....pleasing all the children with a banquet of wonderful food, Turkey that melts in your mouth.... beef fit for a King, ham, asparagus salad, peas with pancetta,cauliflower gratin (made by Margaret K)green bean and broccolini balsamic salad, roast potatoes, pumpkin, stuffing balls, onions and of course Yorkshire puds and gravy: Fruit salad, Christmas cake, panettone, chocolates, ..wine,juice, beer.... etc.


Most of all I love it when Santa comes and gives all the children there presents... I love watching the excitement when they open their presents...it is such a delight. Christmas for me is about family, friends, children, love, giving, good food, laughter and fun....I had the best Christmas ever and I am so grateful for a wonderful family: God Bless You All......love mum xx

Holiday time.... off to Bali for a family wedding....

At last, it’s finally holiday time. We are going to Bali for a family wedding at the Alila Ubud in Bali. Life has been extremely busy, as usual, with the Adelaide Conference and the semester coming to a close it is constant work. As well as that I am trying to complete my Graduate Certificate of Tertiary Teaching. I have completed two units this year and am currently completing the third unit, which is visual learning. The assignment is due on Friday, so I will be completing in Bali and posting it back….. The Joys of study, I think it is referred to as continuous learning or life long learning. When I return home I then have all the papers to mark from the student’s last assignment. Of course my husband thinks I’m completely insane…. Taking work with me, but he ought to know by now he married a workaholic.

I am excited and saddened by the prospect of being on holidays, the sad part is I am looking after a pregnant woman who is currently 38 weeks and I hope all goes well. The woman is now hoping that the baby will wait until I return…… in two weeks time. She has been well prepared so I am not worried. However when you have spent the last 38 weeks looking after them both you want to be able to share the wonderful experience with them. We all now that babies never come on their due date, they come when they are ready, so here’s hoping that “Jack” comes at 40+1.

I will be taking my laptop so that I can be inspired by the pool and begin to write my memoirs which is a life time ambition of mine. I have started with a timeline of events throughout my life; I have found this to be beneficial in being able to link events. Every one has a story to tell they are all different and as important as each other. I love reading people’s stories and thinking what a wonderful life they have had. I’ve read several amazing stories and couple that come to mind…”Three cups of Tea” by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin and “The hospital by the River” by Dr Catherine Hamlin, amazing stories and amazing people.

We will spend the second week in Nusa Dua and there will be the obligatory game of golf, thats the payoff for taking the laptop, its a small price to pay.

I also have to keep up to date with Facebook, Skype, Twitter, Emails, and friends also show the photos from the holiday and most importantly the wedding. Unfortunately some of the family will not be able to make the trip, so need to keep them updated. Goodness I don’t know what I would do without my gadgets.
Most importantly I need to spend time with my husband and family (even though I am taking my laptop). I am really looking forward to watching the grandchild experience something different from flying to seeing another country and another lifestyle. Life needs to be enjoyed; we need to take what life has to offer with both hands, as we come by but only once.

Bali here we come!

The making of Isabella Rose's christening gown

Isabella's christening was last week, Faye organised it for March and has asked me to make the dress. Which was not unexpected as I did make Dylan's outfit and his was a challenge because you want it to be special but boyish. Me I like grandiose, lace pretty etc, but for a boy well you have to curtail the pretty and lace, so I made a Satin suit, bow tie and a satin blue embosted waist coat. However for a girl, well, I could just go mad. But my daughter added a special challenge for me, that was to incorporate some family lace on her husbands side for me to use - some beautifully handmade lace which was around some pillow cases. The lace was handmade by Isabella's great grandmother it was quite heavy looked croqueted but it wasn't it was very nice but not what I had in mind, so I had to re think the whole outfit. I looked for a pattern that would enhance both my ideas of what I wanted and also bring out the best in the lace. I spent several weeks looking for material that would match this lace. If you know anything about material it fades or looses it's original colour, for whites they go yellowish or off white. I eventually found some beautiful off white satinish material, imprinted with a rose through out, it matched the lace perfectly. Faye and I both went to this fantastic store called 'Fabulous Fabrics' in Balcatta, what a store, lace galore from all prices we looked at some that were $175.00 per meter, I could not justify that, we settled for one that was $45.00 per meter and it was fabulous.


Now the hard bit was done, finding the pattern, lace and material. I set aside a whole weekend for the job of making the outfit, nobody was invited to the house for dinner and no looking after grandchildren or socialising with friends. A small problem occurred I had not used my sewing machine for at least a year an had forgotten how to use the roll hem feature - so had to call on my Shaz to help, we used to do lots of crafts together, those were the days, making teddy bears, where have they gone! just not enough time. Thankfully between us both we worked out how to roll hem the lace. I spent the whole weekend sewing - Bella had a fitting on the Saturday night, Faye cooked us a lovely dinner then it was home to burn the midnight oil, which is not unusual for me at the best of times.
You might well ask how do you fit it all in, well you know there is an old saying 'the more you have to do in a day the more you do' 'the less you have to do, the less you do' how true that is for me, however very rarely do I have less to do.
I thoroughly enjoyed challenge of making the outfit, where I added the lace was trial and error, it looked perfect on the bottom and around the sleeves of the dress, however the hat really showed off the lace and Bella, I am sure great grandmother would be smiling from heaven, both Nanni's and mum were delighted and Bella is truly blessed.

I get such joy out of making things for the children, I feel the days of hand making are over, it is so expensive now to make your own clothes. Material is not cheap any more and then off course there is your own time and labour. When my children were small it was cheaper to make there clothes, now it is not, apart from the personal pleasure there is no benefit from it at all.
My consolation is that in generations to come I will be the great grandmother smiling from heaven and I will be remembered for making this gown and a tradition continues.

I am so happy & grateful for having a wonderful family.


Dylan's Christening 16 October 2006 & Jessica