The Silly Season

The lead up to Christmas and New Year is always a busy time and here in Australia it coincides with the summer vacation season. This year saw a major change with my Christmas arrangements. With a couple of  our family too frail to manage the stairs into our house we swapped the venue to my son and daughter-in-law’s house. For the first time in thirty two years I did not host Christmas. Not one to bring in too many changes I opted to to have our usual menu made cold, except for the pudding. It was a meal cooked and plated at my home and transported four kilometres (two and half miles) across town.  It was a great success and perfect for the hot day.

Setting up the Christmas feast. 

Pavlova, a staple for Christmas in Australia. This year individual serves rather than the big one that usually graces the dessert table.

The Christmas production. This was a late run as I had been considering ending this aspect of my Christmas making.

A simple Santa hanging decoration. I have called them the Nordic Santas.

And Holly, a little angel, for a special friend.

This got my mojo back. A fun activity to do with my textile art group. I wanted them  to make something ‘Christmassy’ with them and these little tassel Santas were a relatively quick make and had the bonus of using up all the oddments a bits of balls of white yarn that have been in my stash for years. They were the inspiration for my Nordic hanging Santa production.

There has been a lot of catching up with friends and dining. So much dining! This white chocolate cheesecake was a great hit, recipe to come. In between times there has been some knitting and crafting  including this bracelet for my grandson. Made with the discarded chocolate wrappers from Lindor/Lindt balls that seemed to accumulate. He is an enthusiastic recycler for his arts and crafts and we have a lot of fun together.

I decided to just take each day as it came. I guess it is called the ‘Silly Season’ for a reason.