Christmas Traditions

Posted on | December 13, 2011 | 10 Comments

It’s the last week of school for M this week and we both can’t wait! Activities are winding down too with gymnastics being the only thing still going until next week. Presents have been trickling in too and hopefully by early next week we’ll all be ready for Christmas and Santa.

Did I tell you that Christmas is my favourite holiday? I love Christmas for all sorts of different things but while it might sound very materialistic, the best part of Christmas day for me has always been the glow on M’s face on Christmas morning. There’s something very magical that warms one’s heart when a child who believes sees what Santa had brought her. I think it’s that special feeling that makes parents work extra hard to be Santa’s best helper. We don’t want our children to loose that magic and we don’t want that magic to leave us too.

I didn’t grow up with the Christmas that I try to have with hubby and the girls, the girls mostly since hubby’s at work through most of it. When I was still in Indonesia my paternal grandmother would celebrate Santa Clause day around December 5th. She’d take us to see Santa and I remember being terrified because Zwarte Piet might take me away (I am not sure why I thought I was naughty). We’d then stop at a Dutch pastry shop and we could get whatever we wanted. After we came home, she’d serve Spekulaas and other goodies. Then come Christmas eve and we’d go to midnight mass and that’s pretty much it. There’s no waking up to presents. That was my Catholic Dutch-Indonesian Christmas.

Then we moved to America and while I did have a Christmas tree, received Christmas presents for a couple of years from Santa (even though they were never what I asked for), the tooth fairy came and I think we went to a friend to do some Easter egg hunting, we never did anything at home as a family because my parents were (still are) Muslims. And to be fair, none of the western traditions were done in Indonesia. There’s no Easter egg hunt on Easter Sunday or a huge increase in spending before Christmas, just Mass. The one big thing that Indonesians did when I was there was Valentine’s day.

Before I go on, if you’re a tad bit confused, I grew up in a multi-religion family, Christian/Catholic + a smidge of Confucius (ancestral respect and that there’s a chance of an before/after life) from my dad’s side and Muslim from my mom’s. My parents gave their children free reign on who/what we want to follow since they don’t believe in forcing a belief onto another person, even if it’s their child. I was introduced to the Muslim religion but just never had the interest and I grew up mostly with my dad’s family and always attending Catholic school.

Because I grew up with so little holiday tradition, I told myself after I got pregnant that our family will have some sort of a tradition and if I only have the energy to do one, Christmas is it. I chose Christmas because of all the holidays it was the one that was somewhat celebrated when I was little sans the magical feeling. I think I chose Christmas because I selfishly want to experience the feeling that I never got when I was a child via my children (or M back then).

But I suck at keeping the tradition flowing.

Prime example: The Advent Calendar. It was a lot easier when it was just M. I’d stick a piece of chocolate on each date and M (who doesn’t like sweets) would move the star one date at a time and get the right amount, ONE, of candy. With Jovie, I have to fill the calendar one day at a time. Jovie LOVES sweets and if I put 24×2 chocolates on the first of December all 48 pieces would be gone that day. So to not torture my last born, I put two pieces of chocolate inside the right date and Jovie survives. There is one slight problem. This mama is forgetful and so there had been many times where I had to run downstairs after the kids were awake. Actually, after day three M would ask if mama elf went and filled the calendar each and every morning and 80% of the time I’ve had to run downstairs and refill.

Another example: Christmas cards. I think I might just win that world cup for the biggest Christmas card mailing looser. It’s not that I don’t have any or that they’re not filled out. They just never leave my desk to get posted.

Despite my inability to be on top of things we have Christmas traditions and I think, for now at least, it’s all that matters!

A summary of our Christmas tradition: We do the advent calendar. We stay home on Christmas day. We each buy and/or make a Christmas tree decoration. We bake. We eat ham. We erect the now (sometimes crooked) 13 yrs old tree. We use blinking white lights on the tree.

I want to do the Elf on Shelf but for now he’ll just be Elf on Tree. Elf on Shelf would end up like the Advent calendar if I try!

I am hoping to see a gigantic ‘OH’ from Jovie on Christmas morning. She’s a more animated little being and I can’t wait to see which expression she’ll use. Jovie wants two big things, Peppa Pig and a kitchen. She loves to cook and M’s old kitchen fell apart earlier in the year. Jovie still cooks but her stove top is currently the couch.

I wish you all a great weekend and I hope you find Christmas fun and magical too!

Our Tree

Posted on | December 9, 2011 | 1 Comment

This is the view from my room. It’s my $20 Sears tree that I bought after Christmas in 1997 with decorations that I’ve collected since 1995. I have debated about getting a real tree, and I do this almost every year, but I decided to erect this one again for the sheer fact that it’s still a great tree, I’ve own it for ages and I am just too cheap to spend money on something I already have – even if it’s fake.

My friend argued that there’s nothing like the smell of a real (environmentally friendly) tree and I told her that if I get the right (Yankee Candle) spray I can get a similar effect. HA!!

I think I might just keep this tree for at least another seven years. It’s been in service for the last 13 that if it goes to 20 years I can say my tree cost me $1/year.

Have a great Friday all and until tomorrow!!

Royal Ballet Exam

Posted on | December 8, 2011 | 1 Comment

Last week I posted a ballet bun that I did. Today I have for you the bun that her teacher did for the Royal Ballet exam that M participated in last Saturday. While lovely, M said she loves my bun the best still. Awwww… {::SMILES}.

I think (without looking at her dance on Saturday) Emma did well in her exam. How well I don’t know but based on her smiles when she came out of the room and what I’ve seen in the last few weeks, M will either pass or get a merit. Anything more will be a bonus. As long as she passes I’ll be happy!!

I haven’t shared a lot of Jovie lately and so here she is:

She was showing me how cute she was. Like her Halloween bag? My friend, a talented artist, made that for all the kids who came to her party a few months ago. She hand-sewed everything. The ‘bat’ was made out of felt, fabric, and thread. Super duper cute! I’ll have to take a proper photo of it one day! Jovie LOVES this bag though. Jovie loves candies and it’s no surprise that she’s still stuck on Halloween. Every day she wants to trick-or-treat!!

Here they are, coloring on a playmat that they got from ‘Santa’ at M’s school’s Christmas Bazaar.

Until next time and if you like my little Christmas tag, do create one too and submit it to Waltzingmouse’s sketch challenge! It’s this week’s sketch!!!

It’s a Monday

Posted on | December 5, 2011 | 3 Comments

And I decided to start taking photographs again. I haven’t picked up my camera, other than project photography, since we came back from Wales. I kind of lost my motivation. But, enough of that! So to start out again I took the camera everywhere with me today.

The first photo I took was the above. It was night time when I took it the first time and it just wasn’t that great. It’s my card for WPlus9 group release project and quite happy with how it turned out.

Breakfast: EEEEK!!

I found a bag of spicy Cheetos. I have no idea where it came from or if it’s for anybody (sometimes hubby buys American goods for our British friends) but at a bit after 10 a.m. the whole bag was empty.

If you’re curious what are all the crap there, let me see… Biscuits, M’s maths workbooks (she doesn’t get homework from school so every Sunday she does a few pages from three different books), and some little toys from the advent calendar (will share this later).

I needed to go to the bank but couldn’t leave the house because I misplaced my keys. After a bit of searching, voila. You do this too?

Our bank is right next door to an art store. I always have to stop by even if I don’t buy anything, like today, and Jovie always has a fun time admiring.

She wanted this but I said no and somehow she got it. Wait for Santa, sweet angel!

I have this bad habit of eating out on errands. I could eat at home but I tend to skip in hopes to grab something while I’m out and about. Today I decided to try this new place called the Pantry. I just had tea and soup and the pea + ham soup was pretty tasty. The other dishes looked good too so will need to come again and try more.

I finally got a scale. My fat pants weren’t doing it anymore. Aahhhh… I need to loose 4kg/9lbs! I guess I need to quit being lazy and do something about this… NOTE: Remove 1kg for camera weight {::SMILES}.

Happy Monday!

Love You More

Posted on | December 4, 2011 | 5 Comments

I was a bit giddy when I saw one of the stamps in the new Love You More set that is being released tomorrow by WPlus9!

Back in the days, before I knew such a quote existed, I used to say to hubby, then boyfriend, “I love you more today than I did yesterday”. Fast forward to 2011 and now and then we’d say it still. So, when I saw the stamp I knew who I wanted to give the first creation to. I did show it to hubby before I photographed it and he went “awwww”.

Love it, Dawn! I now have a stamp with my favorite quote on it!!

This is a short and sweet post. Do though visit the other DTs to see what they created today!