Sunday, November 23, 2008

Flowers grow but they need rain

It's been raining for 2 days

It's been a wet, blustery, cold weekend here in Upper Downer. It's been so cold I had to find my winter woolies, and the heater has been in use since yesterday morning.

Today is the day the Canadians arrive. Eh. Can't wait! We were going to have a barbie tonight, but we all agreed on the phone last night that it might be a tad, eh, frigid. So something hot, meaty and baked is on the menu for tonight. Sharing fresh cherries for dessert from a bowl on the table might just be replaced by something hot, fruity and baked. With icecream. Mmm. And cinnamon.

Christmas planning is in partial-swing here at Casa QM. For the first year ever, we are spending the Christmas holiday, just the two of us, here in Canberra. I suspect the thought of travelling so far in either direction to our respective families was starting to wear thin. 14 years of thin. It's a lovely time of the year to be in Canberra, so we are making the most of it. And not having to drive either 700 km in one direction or 1400 km in the other direction is rather lovely and is making Christmas very stress free. We have no idea if we will even feel like having a special Christmas lunch, but there will be midnight service on Christmas Eve for both of us, and a box each of Koko Black chocolates to savour in front of the Boxing Day Test.

So, back to the Christmas planning. We only have a few people to buy presents for, but I am so totally over the shopping malls. I'm sick and tired of the commercialism and the excess and the tinny Christmas music. I love Christmas carols - so why do the malls have to make them sound crap? This year I've taken the handmade pledge. I am also resolving to be a Christmas gift locavore, so there will be numerous bottles of local wine gifted. And there may be a
goat or a duck or sewing lessons gifted on behalf of the recipients.

I headed off through the rain to the Handmade Market yesterday. It was wonderful and very inspiring, if not so packed you couldn't move easily from one table to the next (and I was a cranky pants yesterday, so was guilty of telling three girls who decided to stop for a length chat right in front of a very popular stall to move it along and stop blocking the way.) But the good news is I bought a few gifts, including a
Florence Broadhurst canvas as a gift to ourselves for the spare room.

Spare bedroom

PS. In case you're wondering, work on updating the
shop came to a halt due to mechanical failure (i.e. me). There may be an update later this week, but if you were wanting to busy something your best bet would be to put the shop in your blog reader and it will tell you when the shop has been updated.

13 comments:

  1. Isn't it just freezing! Nice canvas - very nice in fact. Well done on deciding to be home for Christmas - such a holiday of obligation... Oh, and the link to your shop doesn't work.

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  2. Your relaxed christmas sounds absolutely perfect. One thing I'm looking forward to is not having to worry about visiting a whole other family for christmas and just hanging out with mine instead.
    Your spare room is so pretty and I love the canvas you found at the market.

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  3. What a pretty, fresh spare room... the canvas makes it work so well. Aren't those Florence Broadhurst patterns divine?

    I'm all for a quiet Christmas, and am cheerfully refusing invitations, guarding my quiet at home like a dog with a bone. rrrrr. mine.
    -laughs

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  4. Definitely NOT barbecue weather at all today! It's positively awful out today.

    I was planning on going to the handmade market but resisted - the bank balance really couldn't take any purchases - glad to hear that it was a success though and that canvas is lovely.

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  5. My (soon to be) brother in law is Canadian, so I had a bit of a giggle at the "Eh" in your post....
    .
    Just to continue to the theme, you could also say.. Let's go eeot and abeeet (out and about) - hmm, that one doesn't translate as well in text.
    .
    Canadians are ace.. they're the closest to Aussies in terms of culture. I love them !!

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  6. Good call on Christmas - I wish we could do a non-family Christmas - oh well. Am sure you will have a lovely day.

    Love the canvas - very nice present to yourself!

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  7. we were at the coast this weekend - so much rain! lucky we were in a great house with an open fire -I saw snow on the news tonight! it must have been frigid here. The only bad things was missing the handmade market.

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  8. those oxfam unwrapped pressies are a great idea, i gave some last year and it made me feel good, tho i dont think the recipients were quite as chuffed. which was the whole point really. i wish i could ignore xmas altogether really, but it gets me every year. ghastly.

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  9. Yay for staying home on Christmas. For crying out loud, shouldn't everyone get a chance to enjoy this holiday the way in which they see fit? (Says the woman who has decreed the 24th and 25th a no-extended-family zone of peace!)

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  10. You're not wrong about the mayhem of the Handmade Market. I could only handle 10 minutes in there before having to leave because of the crowds. I suspect I missed out on the food section of the market, but those crowds were just way too much for me.

    Your Christmas sounds like it's going to be terribly relaxing!

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  11. Dotter has a Canadian friend at school, and she's picked up the 'eh' habit, and uses it all the time now, LOL ;)

    Love the canvas, so pretty - what a luxury having a spare bedroom, too!

    And yay for a less stressful Christmas :) We've started having ours on New Year's Eve instead, and it is SO much better!

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  12. I hardly ever say "eh" anymore LOL
    Your Christmas plans sound perfect!

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