Aside from that, Merry & Frodo and I went on a special park day with some home school friends, both old and new :) and had a blast.  Merry was incredibly water logged by the time we were done!  Frodo was rather shy & reserved most of the day, but given the crap treatment he's recieved from kids at school, me & the other mums were very understanding of his reticence!  We've signed on for classes starting in February with them though, so hopefully he relaxes and enjoys it :)
 The first week of holidays we went to the Ipswich Nature Centre, which is an animal park :D   The boys love it, but Merry was quite young last time we went so he really got into it this time!  The first critters we saw were some rather LARGE Goana's... they were about as long as Frodo is tall ( and he's nearing 1.5metres!).  I would have taken photos.. but Mr. Goana was feeling VERY friendly to Mrs. Goana (who didn't seem interested lol) and yeah.. that just doesn't make for blog friendly photography! Next up were the wallaby's and they were much more photogenic :)
 But when Sam stopped, the Emu stopped and stared him straight in the face!  I was pretty glad for that nice tall fence between them.

 And some cool scaly critters! This is a blue tongued lizard (left) and a frill necked lizard (right).  There were also Wombats, which I couldn't get a good pic of due to glare off the glass of their posh air conditioned sleeping dens.... and Bilby's, which are housed in a semi darkened enclosure since they are nocturnal critters.  

 Which catches us up to yesterday, Christmas Eve :)  The grandparents came out as always, for our traditional seafood feast, which was delish.  Frodo was Very pleased with himself as he got to decorate the Pavlova.
 After the boys went to bed, and the grandparents wandered off home, the stockings were .. well, not hung lol but filled at least ;)  We don't do a massive gift fest like so many do these days but the boys were thrilled with their loot.
 A couple of much anticipated wii games were received so there was a little bit of this :)
 And a lot of this (hangin out on the patio)-
 To play with this!  A totally cool little pirate ship water play table.  We don't have a big yard so no pool, and our trampoline is bundled up in the garage.. but this and a slip n slide we can accomodate!   Frodo has had a 2nd bout of tonsillitis, poor kid... and a bad reaction to some penicillin (not allergy, just puky!) he's finally on the road to recovery.
Which is a good thing because the one thing we really did splash out on (pun intended lol) was locals passes to the big 3 amusement parks until June 30, 2012... and we're making the first trip in a few days.  I was a tad worried but I think he'll be through with the first antibiotics and good to go have some fun!

Until then, I'll be spending my time relaxing on the veranda reading my fave book, The Mists of Avalon, on my new Kindle!  Merry Christmas to me :D  And a super wonderful holiday season to you and yours, whatever holiday your family celebrates at this time of year!

Ok, so my last post was just a bit BLAH.. sorry bout that.   The holidays have gone and I survived them well enough.   Christmas eve my in laws came out, and brought DH's brother and his husband (who had just arrived in from New Zealand) with them.  We had seafood and nibbles and wine ;)  Which definitely helped make the season merrier lol.   It was great to have the brothers over, and they spoil their nephews wonderfully (not with junk thank goodness!)  All boys recieved a season of a cartoon series.. we have smurfs, TNMT (original toons), and GI Joe.  The latter I'm not a huge fan of (I'd imagine most women never got into it as girls ;) , but if the boys enjoy it and they don't go all warrior on me, I'll live.   Here's a small sample of our traditional Christmas eve dinner.. prawns, oysters (for the parents), smoked salmon and lobster!  and that's before mum made her stupendous 'steamboat' with satay sauce, coconut milk and all sorts of seafood.  My terribly awesome cheese and nibbles platter was decimated before the camera was found lol.

After they left, hubby & I sat and talked for a while ...and polished off the bottle of wine ;) and then started to 'play santa'.  That's a bit of a misnomer for us, as we have really scaled Santa back to basically being the dude that brings a stocking full of cool bits & peices and candy.  All the good stuff is from US dammit... I figure why should I be the one that has to say no to things all year, and has to handle all the ups & downs of the year... and yet Santa gets to take credit for all the loot? LOL    I don't think it makes the boys miss out on anything, as each of them got  something they asked for from Santa in their stockings :)    By midnight all gifts were assembled, and the wrapped goodies were under the tree and hubby & I collapsed into bed shortly  before 1am. (here's the before, and after) 

 

At the UNGODLY (and UNGOddessly too, for that matter!) hour of 5am Sam came excitedly in "It's christmas!!!!!!"   lol    We had a lovely morning doing pressies and playing and such.  The kids were thrilled and Frodo was all about the Wii that we'd gotten as the family gift.  (he was so sure Santa would bring a Wii, that he looked at the gifts under the tree, then stepped into the lounge to see if there was one.  He saw the 2 gift bags that I'd sat on TOP of the 6ft entertainment unit, climbed up and got them... then came in and complained that he got wii controllers but NO CONSOLE!  LOL)

   (note evidence of console there LOL)

We thought he might get sulky about leaving the Wii to go over to DH's cousins for the big family DO, but he was quite excited to go!  There was, after all, going to be swimming!   (here's Merry & his dad in the pool :)

 

We planned to hang out for a couple of hours tops, since the boys were up at stupid o'clock... but we ended up being there from just before lunch till 5pm  LOL.  A great day was had by all, and way too much decadent food was eaten by all as well ;)  Mmm... pavlova! 

 

But despite the disaster that awaited us, we were very glad to get home.   I read much online about the awful holiday gifts that some MIL's give to DIL's and had to share what mine gave me.  She is the most awesome mother in law ever, without a doubt!  If you remember a few weeks ago we had a whole 24hour period where she & her sister absconded with our boys?  Well THIS was the real reason!  I couldn't get a pic without a glare (she spent big on the photos, so I'm not complaining about the lack of non glare glass!)   It's the most gorgeous b&w photo of the three hobbits (complete with bare feet).  How on earth they managed to get them all happy and cooperating I have NO idea,  but I guess that is why one pays the big bucks for the pro's! 

    Hope you all had wonderful holidays friends, and bring on 2010 because it looks to be awesome!  (post coming on that ..)

I've been having a bit of trouble getting into 'the spirit' this year.  I've tried, I really have... but I'm falling short.   I have a gorgeous tree, and have done some decorating.  The pressies are all wrapped (with care?  well they don't LOOK like I cared, but they are wrapped.  Gimped wrapping skill is genetic, my mother passed it to me)  The Christmas eve dinner is planned (seafood, I'm making a very posh pavlova, and nibbles galore) and the in law's are coming for the evening.  I've shopped for pressies and stockings and have it all ready to go.  But I just can't really seem to get excited.

I think that the proverbial ghost of christmas past is looming.  Just one year ago I was not sitting here with my family, preparing for the holidays.  Just one year ago, I was sitting in a room in Surgical Intensive Care, half way around the world.  I was staring at my first born, laying in a bed with a tracheotomy, and central line IV's  and scars all over his body.

It's pretty likely that at this exact moment a year ago, I would have been trying to comb his long hair in hopes that he could keep some of it when he woke up.. or something equally mom like.   I sat by his bed and read to him... I was reading Tolkien's Lord of the Rings at the time.  I watched Comedy central with him.  I did anything I possibly could to keep him tied to the here & now.. hoping that his mind was just giving his body time to heal from the worst before it woke up and he was hit with a pain that will never fully leave him.    His girlfriend died in the crash that nearly took his life as well.   

It was this very day, that his father & his younger brother had to leave to go back home.  The military would wait no longer unfortunately.  I don't think I have ever felt more alone than I did the evening of the 23rd sitting there. waiting.   A beautiful 'online friend' (in quotes because the online part makes no difference to me) sent a few small decorations for his room, so I put out a few candles (that obviously couldn't be lit, but still smelled of the season) and garlands on the whiteboard at the end of his bed.  Every day the nurses dutifully updated it with the date and who his carers were for the day, so that just in case he woke up, he would at least see that.  And now he would see that someone thought enough to bring  him a small peice of christmas.  

Things got much worse before they got better... On christmas he seemed to follow me with his eyes, and there seemed to be recognition.  Then a fever set in, and peritonitis.  A day or two later,  there was surgery which saved his life... again.    When I left to come home he was just waking ... and when he finally did it happened in leaps and bounds, thank Goddess.  

A year has passed, and I have seen him again healthy and whole, along with the Teen.  But for some reason it hasn't made this holiday season any easier to celebrate.  I know that he is well, and ALIVE, and that fills my heart...almost.  But I think there will always be a shadow of what was over the holiday season.   Maybe next year I can fly him here, and having the holidays together will banish the ghost... who knows?  

For now though, I have hung butterflies on my tree in memory of Susan, whom he loved dearly. And I try to put on the happy holiday face for the sake of the little ones who deserve a joyous holiday.  

For Susan, who loved the holidays...

and for Jon who loved Susan.

 

Well, almost anyway ;)  It's tomorrow here so I figured I'd send out solstice wishes tonight as I'll probably be busy cooking & baking with the boys tomorrow.  

Our plans are pretty laid back, hubby has to work as usual, but he's almost always home by about 13opm.  After he gets home we'll give the boys a gift bag with a few littles presents inside, which they will immediately want to use.  Mainly because one of the presents is a mask & snorkel set for each of them (they asked for them so they'll be thrilled), the little guy can't really handle the mechanics of those yet, so he is getting a cool whale that swims through the water instead.  They will each get a book and a couple of smaller things as well.  

In the later afternoon (translation: after we can drag the boys out of the pool!) we'll be having a bbq dinner.  It's going to be pretty simple.. steak sandwiches, corn & zucchini medly and something fruity with custard for dessert.    All in all, a fitting way to spend the longest day of the year I think!

I wanted to share a pic that I took the other night too.  We took the boys out for our annual Christmas lights drive (challenging with Frodo's carsick issue.. but he made it!) .    It just happens that we had 4 houses that entered the council's lights competition right in the next suburub!  They put on very good shows, I must say.  One even had a sign saying (in xmas lights of course) 'tune into 95.9fm'  as they were broadcasting their own brand of very australian like Christmas tunes to go with their display!  It was great.   Here's a photo of my personal favourite

 You'll have to click to enlarge it to see just how awesome it is.  Pardon the two people standing in front of the garage door lol, I didn't see them there when I took the pic as it was dark.  The pics with the flash off were much more vibrant, but also much more blurry!   

Happy Solstice (whether it be winter or summer) to those of you that celebrate it!  

So I know at least one blogger who's going to make assertions about my mental health being questionable for this... but we have put up our holiday tree!   The day before Thanksgiving I just couldnt' resist any more... that will give me 30 days of enjoyment (insanity?) before the big day arrives.  

I have a huge soft spot in my heart for my christmas tree ... it was a lifelong tradition of my mama's.  The family made a trip to the tree farm and spent ages picking the perfect tree, then step dad spent an absurd amount of time putting the lights on just so, then mama did garlands and bows before we were turned loose to hang our special ornaments on the tree.   It was always great... we often strung popcorn too, eating as much as we strung of course lol.

These days, I'm not quite so traditional ;)  But I still love my tree.  Our tree is rather unusual in that it's black.  I saw it last year and HAD to have it... and then ended up having my family emergency and was in the US the entire holiday season and never saw the tree lol.  Ah well, there were more important things to tend to!   This year I'm making up for lost time.. 

Frodo and Sam were very excited about the whole thing, as kids always are.   We have jewel toned decorations, including things like snowflakes and cut 'crystals' that the boys love.  And up high, there is a butterfly for Susan... who was my oldest sons love, and died in the accident they were in this time last year.  She had a huge love of butterfly's and had been decorating their tree at home full of them.  I saw them at the shop and had to hold back tears as I gave them to hubby to put in the trolley.  I never met her, but she was a beautiful girl and I really wanted to do something to remember her.

 We used to have a star on top of our tree, then a santa for a few years... this year I found a Faery tree topper and just fell in love with her.  She's adorable, and nigh impossible to get a decent photo of it appears *grumble*  So here is a slightly blurry one, which is the best I can do!  

 

And last but not least.. one very cozy rat!  This is 'Bitty' (his litter mate is, of course, Itty), FINALLY testing out the very comfy pocket hammock we got for the boys.  He seemed pretty comfy in there, but being summer here, he won't be getting much use out of it for several months yet.  Pardon the extraneous ratty 'raisin' or two in the pic, SOMEONE was being lazy about using the litter box that day apparently LOL.