Christmas Is… Over For Another Year

 

Christmas Is… Food Overload!

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Is… Time With Family

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Is… Present Time!

 

 

 

 

Christmas Is… 5am Starts

 

 

Christmas Is... The Secret Present Stash

Wordless Wednesday– Cousins Just Hanging Out

 

Linking up with My Little Drummer Boys for Wordless Wednesday

Christmas: Festive Fatigue

It’s only 5 more sleeps till the fat man in the red suit shimmy’s his way down the chimney and I am starting to get very excited. I love just about everything about Christmas, putting up the tree, choosing the perfect present for everyone, baking the little gift packs, sitting around in our pj’s opening our presents before breakfast and of course sitting down together for the big lunchtime feast!

The problem is that real life is interfering with my preparations. Mr Bond working away, then coming back early, then thinking he had to go back all this week, then not needing to has made time management tricky. Food poisoning, houseguests, postal delays, teething and unpredictable weather patterns are all working against me and I have been wiped out with a case of Festive Fatigue.

In theory, I should be organised, I should be able to get ALL the things on my list done, and look like this while I’m doing it.

Image Credit

But this is not the 50s, I do not own pearl earrings and would not be caught dead in a red check apron.

So right now I actually look like this.

Constantly.

Happiness Is… A Little Helper In The Kitchen

 

 

 

Christmas: Baked Gifts

About 6 years ago when Clever Baker Friend and I worked together we thought it would be a great idea to make some baked Christmas gifts to give to the people we worked with. At the time we had about 6 people to hand our treats out to and since then it has become a tradition. At its peak we made 35 packs for people but fortunately we have down sized a little since then. Something that hasn’t changed in that time is the joy we get from giving these boxes of hand made goodies to our friends and family. They seem to enjoy them too because each year we get asked if we will be making them again – we couldn’t stop now even if we wanted to!

Originally we would spend 1 or 2 whole days together baking and packaging while we listened to Christmas Carols, but with 3 children under 4 between us we find it easier to divide up the cooking and packaging to do it at home. Not nearly as fun, but far more practical than trying to coordinate it around naps, feeds and other activities. The packaging changes each year depending on the best bargain available this year, we opted for white cupcake boxes with simple baking paper so the food is the star. Our core menu consists of:

• Coconut Ice
• Turkish Delight White Christmas
• Curried Fruit and Nut Mix
• Panforte

Wordless Wednesday… First Babycino

 

 

 

 

Linking up with Trish at My Little Drummer Boys for Wordless Wednesday

 

Happiness Is... The Christmas Tree

The Summer of…Me!

Gemma at My Big Nutshell is one clever lady, she has decided to reclaim her right to her own summertime fun this year and even better she is encouraging others to share their plans for staking a bit of ‘self’ in the blur of Christmas celebrations and kids activities that we face when the weather warms up. I am especially excited about the idea as this summer will be the last months of my 20s so I feel it is an important reminder for me to not lose sight of myself and what I love just because I am also a mother and a wife.

Pre-baby summers

 

5 Years Of Walking On Sunshine

Today Mr Bond and I are celebrating our 5th wedding Anniversary. Of all the songs I painstakingly choose to be played at our wedding, the only one I really remember is entering the Marquee to “Walking on Sunshine” and it still beings a smile to my face when I hear it. This year we will be celebrating long distance as he still has a couple more weeks before his job up north is completed which is not ideal but given the choice between him being home for our Anniversary and being home for Christmas with his family, it’s a no brainer. We have planned to go out to dinner on the weekend though and it will be great to go out and have a meal together all by ourselves for a change! I don’t talk a whole lot about Mr Bond specifically on this blog but I thought today was as good an excuse as any to share some of our wedding photos and maybe say a few nice things about him.

Right in this moment he was telling me my dress was ‘awesome’