Winter Santa - Day 3

This beautiful Santa is probably my favorite. I bought him about 4 years ago and every December when I get him out of his box he brings a smile to my face. Even though I love Christmas and all the lead up I am doing it a bit tough this year. My Dear Old Dad is really not doing well, his body is just slowing right down. In my heart I want him to be around for a long time but in my head I am not sure he will even be here at Christmas. He is aware of the fact that he does not have that long with us and we have had some good small talks, so that is a good thing. I feel each night when we say goodnight he is almost saying goodbye to me. I am so proud of the parents I was born to - and I thank them for their love and support and making me the person I am.

Move over Buddhas - Day 2

Move over Buddhas - Santa has arrived!! During the year my Buddhas have all the room they need, they can spread out all over my shelves. But when December arrives they all have to get a bit cosier to make room for my Santas. My collection of Santas started when I lived in New York and I usually buy a new addition (or 2) each year during the Boxing Day sales.

My Journey - Day 1

Today we welcome in Summer 2009 and the beginning of my Christmas/New Year Journey. We have started of Summer with a lovely day with a temp of 24c - very enjoyable. My journey starts today with getting all the boxes with my Christmas decorations down from on top of cupboards - lots of dust - cough cough!! Every year my collections get more and more, I wonder if I will have to buy another box in January. I am a bit of a collector, so I love to collect Santas. This photo is of my newest inclusion - two little Santas on a see saw. OK now where do I put all this stuff???

Christmas 2009

I may have already mentioned it, but this won't be the first time I have repeated myself. I really love Christmas. I always have - I remember when I was a child I would work my way through the month of December preparing for the big day. On Christmas morning I would wake up at 3.00am and try to convince Mum and Dad that it was time to get up. Being an only child it was usually a pretty quiet little family day. As our Christmas is in the middle of our Summer it is usually really really hot and the kitchen is literally like being in an oven. Isn't it funny how even though we live in a relatively warm climate we still have the roast meals and plum pudding for lunch. There are a lot of people that now go with the seafood lunch, which I think I would love, but I have spoilt my family with the traditional day and now I can't change - I would have a revolt on my hands. I also really love New Year, it's a new beginning. I feel on NY Eve we can contemplate all the events - good and bad - that took place in the past year and then at midnight we are cleansed and almost reborn for the coming new year. With these feelings in mind that I have in December I thought I would keep (try anyway) to keep a photo journal of my journey through my festive preparation, Christmas and then my rebirthing time at New Year. I would love to get your feelings of the festive season during the month as well.

Creatures of habit?

Why are some of us "Creatures Of Habit" and why are some of us not? I'm am definitely NOT a creature of habit - never have been. All my life I have gone out of my way to do something different from those all around me. When I was a teenager I would take great pains not to dress or act the same way as my peers. Not sure why I am like this but I am. Sometimes I wonder if it has to do with me growing up with an unusual - individual name. Maybe I have always wanted to be that unusual / individual person

Are you a creature or habit or not - I'd love to know.

Arias

I am having a lazy night in front of the TV tonight. I'm watching the "Arias", which for the non Aussies out there, that is the Australian equivalent of the Grammys I guess. I listen to quite a lot of music and up until tonight I thought I wasn't to far in the past - but oh boy am I wrong. I haven't heard of most of these bands and artists. I am really feeling ancient at this very point in time. Oh hang on "AC DC" just won 2 awards - I know them!!. Oh my goodness "Robbie Williams" just sang. I didn't really like his song, but call me crazy but I think there is something sexy about that man. The show was also started of with a song from Keith Urban - I must say he is pretty cute as well. OK I am now starting to sound like a dirty old woman and I still don't know most of these people singing, so I might just tape the rest of the show and climb into my bed. I must say I really am happy that I like the music that I like. Oh hang on Powderfinger have have just come on stage - I do really like them a lot. OK until tomorrow - I will say goodnight and wish all my American friends a happy Thanksgiving. Sorry to all my Canadian friends I didn't realize your Thanksgiving was a different date, so my apologies and hope you all had a great October 12th. Isn't it weird how the same special day can be held on different dates all over the world. But that is another post I guess.

Quotes

I just love quotes, every time I see one that hits a cord with me I write it in my little "Quote Book". I started my little book about 20 years ago, so I have quite a collection. I just thought I would share one with you.

"You can not prevent the birds of sorrow from flying over your head,

but you can prevent them from building a nest in your hair - Chinese Proverb"

My Little Adventures.

Once again I had a mental blank today about what to blog about. That was until I read today's post from "Blossom Flower Girl" at "Melbourne Daily Photo". One of the delights the city of Melbourne has is some amazing interesting little streets, laneways and arcades. It's not just the people, but also the shops, the graffiti and the overall feeling you get when exploring. It's been a while since I have headed off into the city and just explored all the little bits and pieces you can discover. In the late 1980's I lived in New York for just over 3 years. I lived about 40mins out of Manhattan in Larchmont (Westchester County) and every Tuesday was my adventure day. I would head into Manhattan and just walk up and down the streets. It was amazing all the sights, sounds and experiences I had the pleasure of welcoming into my world. That is a part of my past life I really miss - just getting out there and wandering around and soaking in everything I can. Maybe that is something for me to get back into - even at a small scale at the moment as I can't really head off for hours at a time.

Beautiful Rain

It's hard to believe that only last week Melbourne was having a heatwave run of mid 30c. Now we are having major rain and it's almost cold enough to turn the heating on. But as we are in a drought it is mighty nice having this rain.

Great Saturday

I have had such a great Saturday. Melissa came along to the Christmas Market with me and overall we both had a pretty successful day. The beginning of the day looked as though we could have a major storm, but mother nature decided to hold the rain off and by the end of the day we had quite a warm humid day. The market was at one of the local primary schools and the colour, bouncing castles, sausages in bread, scones with jam & cream, face painting, spray on tattoos, kids and some great stalls made the whole experience very enjoyable. I am home now sitting in my living room enjoying having Shane (partner) home. He has been in Tasmania the past two weeks visiting his family. Dad is OK, he has been asleep most of the day. At least he is warm, fed and comfortable.