Getting ready for Christmas

Like some of you ,we've been busy this past week getting into the Christmas season and it's been a very exciting time for us.
You see, we only celebrate Christmas once every two years in Sydney as we spend the alternate Christmas with Ron's family who live in Victoria.
And even when we are home for Christmas we miss out on the whole build up to Christmas because we've often been visiting Ron's family / been on holidays and get back just a few days before Christmas. Our Christmas tree only comes out of storage once every two years:(

It's been different this year as we took a much shorter break to visit them as I mentioned in my last post and we are postponing our annual holiday till early next year. The last Christmas we had in Sydney Rebekah was 4 and 1/2 and a couple of years makes a big difference when you are a child doesn't it? That explains our great excitement here!

We started off early last week, collecting some pine cones and painting them in Christmas colours (don't ask me where I got this idea from:)) I must have read it somewhere because it popped into my head when we were out on a nature walk early last week!
They are pretty small pine cones but it was fun painting them with Rebekah. (sorry this picture is not great quality)






















Then we got out our box of Christmas decorations as Rebekah was eager to look at them. She couldn't wait till the weekend (when Ron promised he would set up the tree with her).














































I've even been thinking of baking some shortbread for Christmas, never done this before, so I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope they turn out ok and edible!
In India, the traditional Christmas baking was called "kul kuls"















and "rose cookies",
















both of them involving flour, sugar, eggs and lots of oil for deep frying!

I have a lot of fond memories of cooking them each Christmas with my mum.
So, you see we did have some family traditions that I'd forgotten about when I did my post on family traditions some time ago. Sorry about that!
In fact after I did that post I remembered that we did have a couple of family traditions (besides the afore mentioned one) which I will need to tell you about another time as it's a digression! I just had to get this off my chest as it had been bothering me since then, lol.

Anyway, I may even make a few rose cookies besides shortbread. I've got to nurture and cultivate Rebekah's Indian heritage (wink) :)
So, here's our Chritmas tree, unfortunately they set it up on Saturday night while I was out so I couldn't take pictures of them setting it up.





















It's a small one as we live in a small place and it's not real either! But we like it!

Rebekah has been loving seeing the Christmas tree light up every night and I've even been turning it on in the mornings as it's such a novelty at the moment:)

Where have we been?

I wish I could say I've been to London to visit the Queen (as in the nursery rhyme!) but nope, we've just been plain busy, busy with Rebekah's extra curricular activities and busy visiting relatives inter state.
Ron's dad had a BIG birthday so we went over to their town to celebrate. We squeezed our trip in between Rebekah's rehearsal and end of year concert!
Once again, my heart swelled with pride and emotion as I watched her perform on stage. (We didn't go down the path of Irish dancing but we cut out jazz and she only did ballet and tap this year)






































Was she shy? Was she nervous? Nope! She said she loved being on stage and dancing with everyone watching her! Why - because she felt 'famous'! :) My shy daughter loves being the centre of attention! Are the two compatible? I wouldn't have thought so but she has proved me wrong!
To top it off she got a trophy for being the "tap" student of the year in her class and also she got a high distinction for her tap exam she had earlier in the year. We are so proud of our little girl!


I'll be over at your place soon to catch up on all your blogs:)

Year 1 Term 3

Ok, so I know that some of you that read my blog are not homeschoolers, so if that's you and you are not interested just skip this one:)

We started this year behind the NSW schools and we have been going at a slow...pace, so this week we started term 3!

I am finding that I am becoming less and less "tied" down to the curriculum I am using, so we are changing things a little this term.
I am still using Living Books Curriculum Year 1 but am changing the schedule to use their science book at a much slower pace than is recommended.
I love this curriculum but I am finding some books are a bit too fast paced for my liking so am even considering changing things around to another curriculum next year...watch this space:)


Also, I have revamped our schedule and taken out some of the things that are not part of LBC but ones that I added (like hymn study and folksongs, not that we ever did much of it, it was just there on my schedule to remind me:)). This is to allow one day a week to be a lighter day which will also serve as a catch up for anything we've not been able to do during the week.
I want to keep this term and next term more focused on the important essentials as we try to catch up a bit. Some might argue that hymn study and folksongs are essential of course:) Anyway, here is the link to my schedule:


Year 1 term 3

By the way, the science book I mentioned above is called "Growing Strong and healthy" and is in the public domain under a slightly different name. It is an older book of course but some of the information is updated by LBC in the ecopy I got. It is a charming little book to teach younger kids about health and nutrition. It has already won Rebekah's interest:) If you are interested, check it out here.

Seven ( + seven) questions

Well it's been a hectic couple of weeks here and lest you forget me, I quickly did this post the other day for you all:)

Amanda tagged me a few weeks ago and asked me if I could answer seven questions. So, here goes it....

1. Where did you meet your husband?

At church.

2. What is one of your most favourite movies?

Sound of Music

3. If you could have any career you'd like, what would it be?
(besides wife/mum lol)

I'd love to work for my church (though I already do that part time:))

4. What character in the Bible do you really relate too the most?

David - because he was far from perfect but God called him a man after his own heart.

5. Where did you get married? ie what city/town?

Sydney, Australia

6. What makes you laugh easily?

The embarassing things I do sometimes!

7. If you could live in another country, which one would it be?

I love living in Australia!

And in case you didn't get enough of me, Val tagged me also with another seven questions:

1. If you could wear any dress from one era for one day, what would it look like?

The pretty long dresses from Jane Austen's era, not sure what that's called, lol.

2. If you could go on an all expense paid vacation for 2 weeks, where would you go?

I'd love to go to Canada.

3. If you could live in a book, which one would it be?

I'd have to say the Bible around the time of Jesus, wouldn't it be amazing to see first hand all those things He did like multiplying the loaves and fishes and raising some one from the dead!!

4. Do you play any instruments? If yes, which ones?

None, zippo, zilch!

5. Where were you married?

Sydney, Australia

6. If you could own one museum quality piece of antique furniture, what would it be?

A lounge suite / sofa set (not sure what they call that in the U.S Val)


7. Do you speak any languages besides English? If yes, which?

I can speak a little Tamil (an Indian language), though I'm very rusty for lack of practice.

Hope you enjoyed this trivia from me!
Enjoy your weekend!

p.s. edited to add: this is one embarassing thing I need to laugh at : I seemed to have posted this twice while I was "editing it":) which will explain the older post behind this one:)))

Seven questions

Well it's been a hectic couple of weeks here and lest you forget me, I quickly did this post the other day for you all:)

Amanda tagged me a few weeks ago and asked me if I could answer seven questions. So, here goes it....

1. Where did you meet your husband?

At church.

2. What is one of your most favourite movies?

Sound of Music

3. If you could have any career you'd like, what would it be?
(besides wife/mum lol)

I'd love to work for my church (though I already do that part time:))

4. What character in the Bible do you really relate too the most?

David - because he was far from perfect but God called him a man after his own heart.

5. Where did you get married? ie what city/town?

Sydney, Australia

6. What makes you laugh easily?

The embarassing things I do sometimes!

7. If you could live in another country, which one would it be?

I love living in Australia!

And in case you didn't get enough of me, Val tagged me also with another seven questions:

1. If you could wear any dress from one era for one day, what would it look like?

The pretty long dresses from Jane Austen's era, not sure what that's called, lol.

2. If you could go on an all expense paid vacation for 2 weeks, where would you go?

I'd love to go to Canada.

3. If you could live in a book, which one would it be?

I'd have to say the Bible around the time of Jesus, wouldn't it be amazing to see first hand all those things He did like multiplying the loaves and fishes and raising some one from the dead!!

4. Do you play any instruments? If yes, which ones?

None, zippo, zilch!

5. Where were you married?

Sydney, Australia

6. If you could own one museum quality piece of antique furniture, what would it be?

A lounge suite / sofa set (not sure what they call that in the U.S Val)


7. Do you speak any languages besides English? If yes, which?

I can speak a little Tamil (an Indian language), though I'm very rusty for lack of practice.

Hope you enjoyed this trivia from me!
Enjoy your weekend!