Op Shop Santa and Quilts revealed.

Before Christmas I told the story of how Santa was going to get all my children's gifts from the Op Shop this year. Now that Christmas is all over and done with I can show you what he found.

Vintage Board games some older than the other. They had all the pieces in them even the Chinese Checkers had all the glass marbles of each colour.

This was the most amazing find, I couldn't believe it when I opened the case.

Everything, including the dice was still in here. Nicky was so excited when she opened it Christmas morning.

A cook book each.

And something for the kitchen. David made icy poles as soon as he got up. Beau thought his food thermos would be very handy for work in the winter, Ben wondered just what he could cut up with the rolling chef and Nicky loved the Sushi maker. Op shop Santa was a huge success and they all said that their Santa sack was the best one they had ever had and could I do it again next year. 

It was lovely to see them sitting around playing a board game Christmas morning instead of on the computer or their phones. 

I can also show you the quilts I made for the two boys for Christmas. This one is Beau's. I got a text this morning with a photo of his quilt on his bed. 

 And this one is Ben's. I went looking for it Christmas night to show my Sister-in-law and he already had it on his bed. Something tells me that they both like them.
We had a lovely day together and the weather was kind and didn't get too hot.
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas day and that your New Year will be a Safe and Happy one.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!

JaM Time out from Christmas

JaM-A place to gather for just a moment once a week to share what we've been up to.

In the midst of Christmas preparations I took a little time out and painted the pine dresser in the dining room 

It was a very drab brown and I had painted most of it before I realised that I should have taken a before photo.

I am really happy with the way it looks now and it was nice to step away from all that Christmas madness for a few hours.

Visit Jody HERE to join in or see what everyone else has been up to

Op Shop Santa

Not many sleeps now until the Jolly Fat man in Red comes to visit us in the middle of the night. Those of you who visit here at The Backshed know that my children are grown up and have all moved on to start their adult lives. In our house the main present is under the tree from us and  there are just little bits and pieces they find in the pillow slip at the end of their bed every Christmas morning from Santa..  I decided this year that enough was enough, too much money was being spent at Christmas and Santa was retiring in our house. Well, the children were not very happy with this proclamation at all
I decided that if Santa was still going to be a visitor here then he was going to find all his presents at the Op Shop.

It was so much fun hunting around the local op shop for presents for Santa to bring. I managed to get fun things and practical things for all four of my apparently not so grown up adult children and it came to the grand total of  $16.00. They are going to get more than Santa usually brings and some are much more expensive items than they would get any other year.
So this begins a new tradition in our house and I got a lot more enjoyment fossicking in the op shop than I would get wandering in the shops trying and generally not succeeding to find inexpensive gifts.
I wasn't going to make a pecan candy cake either but apparently that is also a tradition that I am not allowed to discard. Before you think I am totally ruled by my children's wishes (which I probably am) I have to tell you that this year there will be no Roast turkey lunch with the baked vegies. Cold meats and some different salads are the go this year but there will still be cheesecakes and fruit salad for dessert. So if money is a little tight this Christmas, don't disregard the hidden treasure you can find in the Op shop down the road.
(There will be photos AFTER Christmas so I don't ruin the surprise)

NBA Christmas Carol: Dribbling the Bells

Anyone who has someone in their family who follows NBA will probably have seen this. If you haven't seen it.....Enjoy!

It's the little things

In an earlier post I told you about how I am Skyping with my Scottish penfriend of many years. We were chatting the other day and I mentioned that I was going to make some Anzac biscuits for a friend for Christmas because they were his favourites. Well she had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. I have just sent her the recipe and the history of the Anzac biscuit. Even though we speak the same language and share a very similar background there are somethings that are unique to our countries. Just simple everyday things that we take for granted.
I sit here in the Summer talking to her sitting there in the Winter. It is 30 odd degrees here so not yet as hot as it will get and 4 degrees there and nowhere near as cold as it will get. She can't imagine a day over about 25 degrees as that is about as hot as her summer gets. I am sure that as we continue to meet each other in the virtual world there will be many more little things in our lives that are very, very different.

JaM-Climbing Mountains

Once again I am joining Jody with JaM

Sometimes when I have a huge To Do list I have problems getting any of it done because one of the things on the list is like a mountain that I can't climb. Once I get that one thing done the rest will all fall in to place. The mountain for me was the last Assessment tasks for the Unit I was doing for my Tafe course. It wasn't that I couldn't do them, it was because I was totally sick of the subject. I had done two units in Cert III and then had to do two more in Cert IV -Team Leaders and building teams. Last week I sat myself down, gave myself a stern talking to and booked in to do the Assessments in the Virtual Classroom.  Half an hour with my Trainer-Deb it was done and she was most impressed with my work and my thorough knowledge of the subject. After four Units I should know all about it or there is something seriously wrong with me!!!! 

So now that is done everything else is getting down very quickly. I am on top of all the Christmas preparations and only have a little baking to do.

The quilts are almost done, just the binding to sew on one and labels. 

The pool is cleaned and the parts for the filter are on their way, the gardens are tidy and the house is nearly clean. Lots of other little jobs have been done. There was absolutely no reason why all of this couldn't have been done ages ago except that one little thing was somehow roadblocking me from moving forward. 

I have to learn to tackle that mountain instead of standing at the bottom looking up.

Christmas is coming!

The tree is up in the lounge room.

Santas are bundled into a basket.

Christmas is scattered through the Violets.

The Prim tree has been tidied up.

Vintage camels wander across the top of a cupboard.

Christmas has arrived at my house!

JaM-Getting organised

The countdown to Christmas is on and even though I have a whole year to prepare for it I always seem to leave everything to the last minute. Why am I still quilting two Queen size quilts just weeks before the day?  Everywhere I look there is something that probably could do with a clean, some paint, weeding or sorting through. Gifts to be bought, gifts to be made, really what have I been doing all year?
I go through this every Christmas and vow that next year I will be more organised so that I can cruise into Christmas day with absolutely no pressure.

There is also the Christmas trees and decorations to spread around the house. It is something that I usually manage to do a few days before Christmas and the last couple of years I have had one of the boys girlfriends to help. Flying solo this year and I have been challenged by my very dear friend  Chris to get it all done this week.

Well I did manage to get a couple of boxes out of the cupboard last night so it is a start.

And this one stays decorated, I just have to fluff it up a little.

Today is a quilting day as the temperature has dropped from the mid to high 30's we have been enduring. As I sit here it has just reached 11 degrees, almost light the fire weather. It snowed last night at Falls Creek.

So a good day to sit under a quilt and quietly stitch . 

I am going to ignore that cupboard that I really think needs a coat of paint to sass it up (I have only had it 20 years so a little bit longer won't hurt) And I just won't open the cupboards that need a good sorting and tidying. I did get the weeding done, an afternoon on the internet sorted all of my Christmas shopping, I have booked in to do my latest assessment in the Virtual Classroom on Friday and I may get up to the sewing room on the weekend. Somewhere in there I will put the Christmas trees up, pull out the rest of the decorations and throw place them around the house.

 Do you think that if I don't look out the windows I can avoid cleaning them?????

Join in JaM this week or visit those that do, here at Jody's