Some of my 25 Days of Christmas posts...

Eight years ago a friend suggested I join her in a project that she called ‘25 Days of Christmas’ where each day, starting on December 1, we would post a photo on Facebook with a Christmas theme. Little did I know that I would continue to do this for these past 8 years and my friend dropped out eventually when other matters in her life were more pressing. As I had changed my Instagram account to Private this year, I decided to also post the photos on that too. This brought my little project to the attention of a former principal with whom I had worked 16 years ago and she was inspired to do her own series. E’s posts were from different perspectives from mine and they really inspired me to branch out a little as they say. 

This year’s photos prompted lots of comments from others, and, best of all, they shared their memories with me. 

Here are some of those photos...not in any particular order though. 

When I wrote the post that went with this photo, so many people commented about their childhood dolls. 

Here’s what I wrote...

25 Days of Christmas; Day 20

It was Christmas 1959 and my parents surprised me with the gift of a large doll. I was rapt because I’d always wanted one as I only had stuffed toys and 2 small dolls. I called her Suzy. On the same day I received her, somehow Suzy fell on to the floor and a gaping crack appeared on her head running from the top of her head, behind her ear to her neck. I was mortified and was too frightened to tell my mum as I would have got the strap. I remember that I put sticky tape ?? over the gap and put a bonnet on Suzy’s head which I never took off! 😬🤣

John East  ( our neighbour at the back) would have agreed that my mum was scary 😂

Thanks to E, I started to look wider afield as to what Christmas meant...and here in Australia, it can mean the long summer holidays! This memory went back to the early 90s. This is what I wrote...

25 Days of Christmas; Day 16

Here in Australia, the word Christmas also conjures up thoughts of the long summer school holidays. In the early 90s Liz, Jen and I had a memorable holiday in Cairns when we visited my BFF who had moved there. Having a very limited budget, we travelled by Greyhound bus which had the cheapest fares. (I wasn’t teaching at that time and earned very little running an OSHC centre) 

 I took little surprises, crafts, puzzles etc to help pass the time on the long journey. The girls were so good...no complaining whatsoever. In Cairns we had the best time; visiting Kuranda, Port Douglas and even snorkeled on Arlington Reef, to mention just a few of our adventures. We even found a family crypt with my family name in Mareeba! 😄

 

On another day I wrote about the joy I felt as a child, when a friend of my father ( and his wife) would give me a book for Christmas each year. Usually it was a Girls’ Crystal Annual and oh the memories when I found these photos on the Internet. The one on the left was my absolute favourite. 

I described how after Christmas lunch, I would sit and read all my new books for hours...yes mum and dad always included books in my gifts too. To me, it was absolute bliss. 

Friends commented on my post of similar experiences and many also had received Annuals from popular comics of the time.

Another post I wrote was how my 2 daughters have started a tradition with their daughters...making gingerbread biscuits together before Christmas. Miss Holly is very enthusiastic and very helpful in doing this, so maybe one day she will be in charge. 😜

Another post was to do with the Nativity at our church. Unlike Nativities at shopping centres, ours does not have the Magi in the stable until January 6, Epiphany. So those 3 kings make their journey gradually to the stable...

Now this next photo collage got lots of comments. You see, this lovely shop, like a lot of Patchwork Shops, has been closed for many years. Commenters had lovely memories of this shop...as I do. 

25 Days of Christmas; Day 15

In my first year of retirement in 2011, I enjoyed the extra time indulging in my crafting hobbies. So I was a regular visitor to the now long gone Patchwork Tree shop at Alderley and of course went to their Christmas in July and Christmas (in December 🎄) events. At each, Alison and staff put on an amazing spread, games with great prizes, a little stitchery to work on, Secret Santa gifts...and of course shopping the store! 😉😜

The first few years that I did this series, it was really hit and miss what got posted. The last 3 years, I work during the year on getting a lot of my photos ready in an album on Facebook. Of course, there’s always room for new ideas etc to come up and be added. All great fun! Best of all are the discussions and memories that are prompted by my posts. 

Way back to last December...

Now that the grandies are getting older, I like to involve them with things like decorating for Christmas. 

When the tree first came out of its box early last December, Miss Anthea straight away put 2 decorations on the tree...just 2! 😜

Firstly a toy phone from our toy box...

And Mary from my knitted Nativity...Along with baby Jesus too of course 😄. 

The next day, Holly came for a sleepover so that was a perfect excuse for more decorating of the tree...but first there was some playtime in the red felt sleigh. 

Holly loved helping me with unwrapping the decorations from the tissue paper and then organising me to put the decorations on the tree where she wanted them 😉


We left Mary on the tree...

Holly even got to play with a Santa decoration made with a dolly peg that her Poppy ( her mum’s dad) made when he was at kindy! (Some how this family heirloom is still in my Xmas boxes) 

Before Holly went home after her sleepover, she had time to write out some of her Christmas cards...

This was the card for Mummy and Daddy...

A few days before Christmas I dropped something I’d made in the letterbox at Anthea’s place...ready for Christmas Eve. 

A mug rug! There’s a pocket to put a letter to Santa in. 

As the month went on I did some more Christmas decorating...this year the knitted Nativity was set up on the corner table...

 We added some battery operated candles....

But alas no Mary and baby...she was still on the tree. 

As usual we had the family Christmas on the evening of the 24th. And what a bonus; this year all 5 of our girls, our 4 sons in law and 5 grandchildren were able to come! 

All lovely memories. 

Who knows what Christmas 2020 will be like. It’s closer than you think...a mere 6 months and 2 days away! 😂 🎅🏻 

Christmas came...and went!

Yep! Christmas 2016 has now been celebrated, and except for a Christmas meal with DsD1 and Dan on Wednesday night, it's over for another year. ( they spent the actual day with Dan's extended family who all gathered in the town of Brigalow for Christmas)

So DH and I had our usual Christmas Eve family gathering for all family who could make it.
Anthea wore her Christmas dress that DH and I had bought her in November (hoping it would still fit by the end of December) and now she is crawling, I realised that Eduardo's water bowl would have to be relocated as soon as I took the photo!

As well as Anthea being on the move these days, DH and I are also  babysitting DD2's dog Jimmy while they are away at Rainbow Beach. So that's two potential escape artists, so DH and I had bought a gate for the back steps of the veranda. DH took one look at the instructions and was a bit flummoxed. But two of our sons in law are a builder and mechanical engineer respectively and I had asked for their help. 'Fifteen minutes tops, to get that installed!' they both said...and they were right!

 

 

Because DsD2 wanted to get little Anthea fed and off to bed by about 7ish, we gave Anthea her gifts before this. There was a bundle of things for her but I think the favourite was the mother quokka, complete with a baby in her pouch that we had bought on Rottnest Island.

And the 'touch and feel' animal books from Albany were pretty popular too.

 

This year I was thrilled to have my nephew from Sydney fly up to Brisbane on Christmas Eve, so he and my niece joined us. My niece Jenny, is the Coronary Care nurse and she had to dash off after dessert to start her shift at Prince Charles Hospital. Max and Lucy my great niece and nephew were spending Christmas with their dad Eric...a few changes there since last Christmas.

On Christmas Day DH and I went to the second church service in the morning, as I was serving...so a little sleep in! The Nativity had been set up at the Family service on Christmas Eve... no dinosaurs or exotic animals like lions, tigers and giraffes were in the stable this year...unlike some years in our other parish church, when 'littlies' want to put 'special' animal toys there. :-)

Christmas lunch was at DH's younger brother's place with all that extended family in attendance...always a lovely meal. This year my sister in law's nephew brought some afternoon tea items that he had prepared...my goodness, the spread was overwhelming. I asked DH to take a photo of this spread as I had forgotten to take my phone...he only took a photo of the multi layer pavlova, not the 2 fancy trifles, some fig pastries, profiteroles and honey puffs. There was a lot, plus my SiL's signature cannoli.

We came home to our place around 4pm and were visited by DD1 and Cam. They were hoping that I still had some of the rumballs (well brandy balls really as I used that spirit not rum) I had made, left. Apparently the box of them that I'd given Cam and DD1, had all been 'accidentally' eaten by my daughter and Cam had had none. :-(. Luckily there were some left here, so hopefully Cam can finally try some.
Despite having visitors, DH and Jimmy were caught snoozing on the cane lounge...

 So that was Christmas!

Some more '25 Days of Christmas Project'...

Thank you for all the lovely comments on the post I wrote about the first week of this project. So, to continue...

Day 8

This collage is made up of photos of Christmas trees that I saw all on one day earlier in December. The larger photo shows a big pile of real trees that had obviously been delivered to this suburban shop earlier. The staff were gradually moving the trees into the side yard of the shop. The smell of the pine trees was wonderful!  The smaller tree at the top right was a tree made of wooden fence palings in the foyer of a big hardware store. The decorations were store gift cards 😊. The other tree was a little artificial tree on the table at the Holland Park hotel where a group of us lunched to celebrate the coming of Christmas. 😉

Day 9

Found in a box of old photos was this treasure! It's a handmade pop-up card made by DD2 for her dad and I. Vintage would be mid 1990s.

Day 10

I was surprised by how much the Day 10 photo stirred up memories of childhood for others. I'd actually been a bit reticent about posting it, but I'm glad I did. When I was about 9 I really wanted a Christmas tree at home, but my parents weren't too keen on the idea. Probably it didn't fit the family budget. I'm guessing that those families who did have a tree had 'real' ones as I don't remember artificial ones around in the 1950s. 

So...not to be thwarted in my attempts to have a Christmas tree, I hacked a branch off the acalypha hedge that served as our front fence and put it in one of the old metal buckets that were kept in the laundry. Memory fades but I reckon the tree decorations would have been paper chains. 

The other photos in the collage are the artificial trees I bought over the years in my adulthood. 

Day 11

Driving through a number of suburbs one morning recently I realised it was the last day of the school year before the long Christmas holidays. That made me think of the staff breakfasts that we used to have on those days...arriving early at school about 7am, all staff ( teaching, ancillary,  admin, grounds, cleaners,) would sit down for breakfast ( and Christmas food treats) until 9. So the day 11 photo is of my last staff breakfast before I retired.

Day 12

DD1 and DD2 are holding the Christmas cakes that my friend helped them ice and decorate. They did a great job and had lots of fun. I'd say this photo dates back to the late 1980s.

Day 13

These were photos taken last Saturday night when DH and I went out with my brother and sister in law  to the Carols Night of the Underground Opera Company. http://www.undergroundopera.com.au/our-concerts/opera-in-the-reservoir/

The venue is the old reservoir in Spring Hill. It was built in the 1800s and was the original water storage supply for Brisbane of that time. It was decommissioned in the 1960s and sat derelict until it was eventually restored and opened to the public for various 'cultural occasions'. The building is 6 metres underground and the beautiful brick arches allow for wonderful acoustics. It's really fascinating to be sitting on what would have been the bottom of a giant 'water tank'. 

Day 14

And it was time to post another photo from the family archives...this time, from DH's family. Christmas 1981 at his parents' house...

All those children in the photos are in their 40s now. My sister in law Sonja is the lady with the pink top and DH's mum is in the lower left photo. Such memories; the little house is gone now, replaced by two large homes of two storeys. 

So only 11 more days of photos to go for 2016! 

Is this the end of an era???

I'm referring to the tradition of sending Christmas cards. My mum lived a long way from her family so sending Christmas cards was quite a tradition in my childhood. Even if my mother didn't communicate with her friends and family from the southern states during the rest of the year, she always sent Xmas cards and a letter! 

My parents didn't 'display' the cards like many of their friends who would drape cards over venetian blind slats, stand cards on sideboards or string cards up on cords tied from one corner of a room to another. There even seemed to be some sort of 'competition' of who had received the most cards!!! My friend's grandma always seem to 'win' the 'most cards comp'...which always impressed me as a child. 

Even my local pharmacy has some cards from customers hanging up near the registers...

When I married, my first husband and I compiled our own Xmas card list but it was me who wrote out all the cards and envelopes. When I met DH, we combined our lists but we would each write out our own. DH would put up a cord in our lounge room and we would use little pegs to put the cards on display. In the 13 years we've been together, the number of cards we've received each year, has noticeably decreased. Consequently the number of cards that we send has also decreased. People's habits/traditions have changed...often for economic reasons as well as time constraints. It takes time to write out the cards and address the envelopes and then after Christmas, the cards usually get discarded. 

In light of the rather large increase in postage to take effect on January 4, 2016. I have decided that for us, the 'era' of sending cards will end this year. There will be some exceptions...some elderly friends and relatives who don't have computers, let alone Internet connection, will still get 'snail mail' cards from us. So what will the 'new era' entail?

For quite a few years I have subscribed to the Jacquie Lawson site and for a yearly sub, I am able to send any number of eCards to friends and family...and I do. I recently renewed, but took a 2 year subscription this time for $20, which is great value because I really do send LOTS of cards per year. The company has kept up with the times and I can send cards to not only people's email addresses, but also to friends' Facebook pages or Messenger private messages. This is really handy if I'm not sure if their email address is still current. 

In the last few days, DH has written out cards for his list and  I have written out and posted 17 cards via 'snail mail'. I have also sent 50 eCards and have lots more to send. The animated cards are always so much fun...one friend wrote back to say it (the card I sent) made her wish 'she was a child again!'. 

Now here is one of my 'blasts from the past'...

I have kept a lot of my mum's 'recipe clippings'; she was always cutting out recipes from newspapers and magazines and possibly never making the recipes but that's beside the point! Lol. And I don't know why I kept them either??? Any way amongst the clippings were some Christmas cards and that's what I'm going to share with you...

Some of you may remember when stamps cost 20 and 21 cents??? 

The cards...

The messages...

The card at the top was from my mum's friend Edna who lived in Lake Charm in Victoria. Edna and my mum met and became friends when they were in the army during WW2. Every year, until my mum's death in 2001, they sent Xmas cards to each other. Reading Edna's letter, and seeing certain events mentioned, I can say that her card was for Christmas 1979! A while ago now and that explains the 20 cents postage!!

Some more decorating...'old friends'

In a previous post I mentioned that I have sorted through all the boxes of stored Christmas decorations and have found decorations that I'd completely forgotten about, just like this one... 

I don't know for sure which DD made this but it would have been in her primary school years; possibly at After School Care. My daughters both attended ASC because I was the coordinator of the centre at their school. The paddlepop sticks have been glued to a piece of card and then the message written on with crayon pens. What a treasure and I had forgotten all about it!

Now the next 'forgotten' decoration also has a bit of a story attached to it. It is worked on plastic canvas and the lady who made it, is now no longer with us...she passed away about 5 years ago.

 Audrey was a retired kindergarten teacher who was really 'into craft'. When some funds were needed in our parish, she stitched these wall hangings to sell to raise funds. I bought 4 and gave 3 away as gifts...leaving this one for our family Christmases. I had also forgotten about it and it just sat in one of the boxes in the cupboard. It's brought back lots of happy memories.

A close-up of the stitching

Now the next item has been out on display at Christmas, the last 2 years after I found it all wrapped up in tissue paper at the bottom of a box of decorations.  And it has a bit of a story attached to it as well :-)

Quite a few years ago I saw the plate in a magazine ad and 'just had to have it', but it was being sold through the 'Bradford Exchange' which is similar to the Franklin Mint. These companies sell 'collectibles' but once you buy something, they pester you for ever with mail outs and offers. I ended up buying the plate as I thought that it was so cute and my DDs and I are all cat lovers. There are some real personalities amongst those cats, including some herald angels! These companies sell far too many of each item for them to be valuable, but I didn't buy it as an investment, so that's alright :-)  .

  

The royal wedding...

I love weddings ...the dresses, the flowers, the music, the liturgy and of course the receptions. Unfortunately I was not invited to Prince William and Kate's wedding today but with the whole thing televised DH and I could still be part of the celebrations! (Well to be perfectly honest DH would have preferred his normal Friday night football especially as his beloved Broncos were playing! lol)
So earlier today, I used the little ladder to access a high shelf in our wardrobe to get down my 'tiara'; it's actually the band I wore in my hair for our wedding) Then later I made some dainty little sandwiches; 2 types, chicken and cucumber. (very English) Last year DH won a bottle of Moet champagne which was brought out for these royal nuptials. I also prepared a meal that could be cooked later in the evening after the 'kiss on the balcony'.

Next step was to clear the coffee table in the loungeroom and to put a starched, embroidered cloth on it. Then out came some 'special' glasses with handpainted flowers which were a wedding present. Just about ready by now as we planned to start viewing at about 5.30. So DH put on his 'tuxedo' T shirt and I put on the outfit I wore to DD1's wedding.

I loved the bride's dress; it was gorgeous! Kate was certainly a beautiful bride and William and Harry looked so impressive in their uniforms.I thought that the service was very moving, the music and the choral singing magnificent! And the crowds! These were huge and when the crowd moved behind the line of police and walked towards the palace...well that was just amazing!
DH called me a 'closet Royalist' but I'm not! I just love a wedding! Our children would probably think we are crazy...but we sure had fun!