P.S. Have a Jelly Bean

This Christmas I'm having a little trouble finding my Christmas Spirit. The whole palaver of having to buy gifts for children who really need nothing when you look at the real world is making me feel a little railroaded. Do any of us need any thing just because of a date?

 Then a couple of things happened in the last twenty four hours.

The big boys and the three grannas and I went to the Christmas concert to watch and laugh and shed a joyous tear for the seventh time. It never gets old. There is always one in tears, one with a finger in their nose, an extrovert, an introvert, a tap dancing Santa....How I love the Kindy Christmas concert. I'd forgotten.

Then I came home to some lovely surprises. These were gifts given not because there are eighteen shopping days left but because people are good and generous and sweet.

There was the give away package from beautiful Mel, of Bungalow Bliss, who lives just over the river and who I am going to meet one day to share coffee with and a playdate with the Short ones. Got that, Mel!

  

How is it that a hand addressed brown paper package in the mail can make you feel so excited? 

Is it the thrill of the unknown something inside or the fact that somebody has connected with you from far away in a very personal and tactile way. Either way it was a lot of fun to slowly open this crafty little stash of goodies.

There was also a lovely gift from Anna at Shiny Happy Art which was a belated birthday present for the birthday I didn't want to celebrate. She had collected a little trove of treasures over the last months and delivered it here one night this week with wine and good pizza and great conversation. Isn't it lovely when a friend just knows you so well and nails it! 

She threw in a delightful godmother painting for Shorty too which she adores because it is a princessy fairy and I adore because it is not pink .

Shorty loves it so much she has been carting her new friend around the house to watch Playschool and play teaparties. I wonder if she'll be okay about  me hanging the friend on the wall?

The other gifts I get a small squeeze around my heart from are the little surprises my children sometimes leave around the house for me. Lala staggered in from a break up party at eight thirty last night after a big day at the swimming carnival. As I was enjoying a few wines with some lady friends out the back I asked her to come and say good night when she was ready. She never made it back but instead I found this when I went to bed. This bribe/ gift is indeed valuable as it is her "Guess the Number of J.B.'s" prize.

Twenty four hours of goodness may have just kick started a glimmer of the Christmas spirit.

A Reindeer's Tale

Everybody loves a reindeer at Christmas, right? It seems, however, that there is more to the story of the reindeer than meets the eye.Last night Shorty emerged from the shower where she had been kept occupied as I 'modded' her cot. She appeared pleased with its transformation...
...into a mini-bed. She only fell out once last night and got straight back in but it needed a hint of festivica.
Then I remembered this reindeer pillowcase opped from Ron and Brian's a while back and as yet unused. As I proceeded to unfold it and look more closely at the images, I realised it was not the cheerful jaunt in the Black Forest it had initially appeared to be. Rather it reminded me of a Grimm's fairy tale or the Willow plate story. It's all a bit maudlin really.
The story starts happily enough with an idyllic childhood, breastfed under aqua trees with Mother and Father Reindeer.
Then somehow, tragedy struck and the young reindeer prince had his antlers lopped whilst wandering in a wintry wasteland. He cried so much that his feet soon froze solid in the salty pool of his own tears.
He slept deeply in a sugary pink coma as the antlers began to regrow at a hitherto unseen rate. He awoke to discover himself sporting new, fabulous, golden antlers and excreting huge colourful jelly beans onto the forest floor. (It's right there on the pillowcase, I tell you!)
He became a wise and noble king who married a doe of considerable gardening skills named Doe-rothy. There may also have been ruby slippers involved but that's another story.
It does not appear to have disturbed her too much yet but if she starts to refuse jelly beans, I'll let you know!