dec, 28th - our christmas table....

day 1047 /146:

although Christmas already feels like yesterday's news, i can't move on until i share some of what we ate, drank and unwrapped......

growing up in a hot climate and having some Norwegian ancestors, we have always celebrated Christmas Eve as our main event.....(it just never seemed right to cook and eat a feast in the middle of a blistering Summer's day in South Africa)......it also leaves more time for lounging around in pyjamas on Christmas Day!

dec, 28th - christmas preparations....

day 1047 / 146:

wow, another Christmas gone.....

some people get their kicks from spending time balancing their accounts every year or putting together IKEA furniture.....my sister and i get ours, from planning a holiday celebration or birthday...........the more party headgear, themes, dress-up, the better. 

this year, the theme for Christmas was yesterday, today and tomorrow (which is what we call the violet flower in South Africa). we fashioned a tree from local branches, made some stockings, headgear and crackers....and loved every second.

it always feels more special to have Christmas with family, surrounded by things that we have made together....

dec, 25th - merry christmas....

day 1045 / 144:

wishing you all a Merry Christmas from a sunny beach in Thailand. 

it is so great to be able to spend this time with my sister and her family...especially for Claya's first Christmas and now that Limi has a much better idea of what this day is all about, she is loving spending it with her cousins (ahem, yes, i am talking more about the presents, family and a bearded/belted guy rather than the nativity scene)

hope that you are all having a wonderful break with family. enjoying the cold or the hot and taking the time to regroup before we tackle 2013. it's going to be a good one!

p.s. thank you so much for all your lovely comments this year, it means alot that you take the time to leave a message and they always help inspire me to keep the blog going. x

dec, 12th - christmas tree, part II....

day 1032 / 131:

we get to have multiple christmas trees this year.....this is number two in Hong Kong. (next stop Thailand). Limi is getting lots of decorating practise in.....and of course Loving helping her cousins.

dec, 11th - conversations with a two year old....

day 1031 / 130:

Limi having a chat with A. on Skype this evening......

Limi: ' dada, if the horses have their ears flat then they're in a bad mood and you mustn't stroke them but if they have their ears forward then you can pat them'

A.: 'there looked like there were lots of happy horses?'

Limi: 'well, there were lots of horses with flat ears and we just gave them some space until they could get into a better mood'

dec, 10th - visiting the horses....

day 1030 / 129:

so, there's been plenty of talk of pets in our household recently. i'm voting for a horse, especially the roan (?), below.....Limi is voting for four red cats and four yellow cats {see day 962 / 61} and A. is voting for a potplant. 

we have always had horses in our lives and my sister's family is still heavily involved with them. although i'm crazy about horses, let's be realistic, there is just no room in the Shoebox for a horse or eight cats for that matter....so, it's always great when we're with my sister, to be able to wander the stables, take in that special hay-horse smell and stroke some gorgeous animals.....

this was Claya's first encounter and she seemed intrigued......as did the horse.

dec, 5th - flying...not quite what it used to be....

[the effects of jetlag....this is 9:30am....but don't be fooled, these two were both up at 2am and ready to play]

day 1025 / 24:

we have gone ahead to spend Christmas with family in Asia and A. will join us later. Limi and i have flown together quite a few times (it's a fact of our lives when we have family and friends spread far and wide) and she's always been a pretty good flyer (i wrote about our very first long-haul flight on day 84). this was Claya's first time. i was a bit worried that she would be the 'non-flyer' in the family but she was generally brilliant (by brilliant i mean i didn't spend the flight with a screaming baby or have to do laps of the plane....by no means am i suggesting that i was reclined, sipping a chilled glass of wine and watching a movie...).....seriously, flying is just not what it used to be.....anyway, it was made a whole lot easier by my sister flying at the same time (on a different airline) and helping us on each end....

so, a couple of things (besides what i mentioned on day 84) that i have learnt (through friends, family and my own experiences) about flying with kids under three......

* for babies, the well known fact of feeding on take take-off and landing to decompress their ears. for Limi, i make sure that she has her own bottle of water to sip as the pressure changes

* i get all our hand-luggage down and stack it to make a ledge at Limi's feet so that she has more of a bed to sleep on and it helps to stop her from rolling off the seat

* for this trip, even though Limi only watches T.V. occasionally, we introduced her to two movies (Sound of Music and Happy Feet) for weeks in advance and made sure that we had uploaded them onto the iPad. we packed some kids headphones and although she slept for most of the flight (hooray!) when she did wake up, she was happy to watch a movie that she knew so well (i knew that this would really help if i was dealing with Claya)

* i also never hesitate to ask an air-steward to watch the girls if i need to go to the bathroom or take one of them

* and finally, on this trip, we also let Limi pack her own backpack of toys and snacks to take on the plane (she used her school bag....sweet)

so, besides the airline leaving the bag containing Claya's nappies and travel cot on the tarmac in London (something about a broken carousel) and just starting to change an especially tricky nappy when we hit bad turbulence....we are here safe and sound and looking forward to a festive season with family.......

next step: how to persuade two children that it is sleep time when their bodies are saying that it's midday and time to play.....

p.s. things may be a bit quieter than usual on the blog for a few weeks.....but i'll be back in the new year with plenty of pics to share.

dec, 1st - hello deer....

day 1021 / 120:

my sister just arrived back from a trip to South Africa with a collection of these gorgeous reindeer decorations for the Christmas tree....she had them made by the local wire artists whose talent i also showed here.

starting to get very excited about a family Christmas......