#53 Host a family Christmas

GB and I hosted our first Christmas Eve family dinner and Christmas Day lunch. My family were pikey pikers and did their own thing in NSW and missed out! :)

Christmas Eve was just the three of us: GB, myself and Mrs K. This is the night we open presents and gorge ourselves on seaford.

Before

After

Christmas Day was another statement on indulgence and traditionalism. In attendance: Mrs K, GB, myself and the Sultana's GB's Grandmother and Great Aunt. It was a lovely and relaxed day (for me anyway - Mrs K did all the cooking and cleaning for me)

Christmas 2009

GB and I hosted our first Christmas Eve family dinner and our first Christmas lunch. My family were pikey pikers and did their own thing in NSW and missed out! :)

Chritmas Eve was just the three of us: GB, myself and Mrs K. This is the night we open presents and gorge ourselves on seaford.

Before:


Yes the platter you see on this table is for 3 people!


After:


Christmas Day was another statement on indulgence and traditionalism. In attendance: Mrs K, GB, myself and the Sultanas GB's Grandmother and Great Aunt. It was a lovely and relaxed day (for me anyway - Mrs K did all the cooking and cleaning)


I wish I had taken the time to get a better photo of the tree at night. It really does look magical and a perfect way to end the day with just me awake, the tree sparkling and a sense that it was a fantastic finish to what was a crap year and that 2010 is going to be so much better.



Merry Christmas to all!

Tis the season

GB and I made the trip down to Moorooduc to the Christmas tree farm to get our tree the Saturday just gone. This year we had to squash the tree into my Sonata! It was strange just being the two of us this year and we ended up getting a pre-cut tree. No hours spent in the field debating over which tree is the most excessive etc
I love it! I like how during the day it is all gold and red balls and bows and then of a night time the lights deep in the tree turn it into magic!

The Boulevard

So, as has been our tradition for the last 4 years, we go Christmas light looking the week before Christmas. This year due to our change in location, we were close to The Boulevard at Ivanhoe. This is reknowned for the majority of the street going to effort with their decorations. I have never experienced anything like it. The street was made into a one way so cars could do a lap and pedestrians could utilise the other side of the road. There were masses of people and kids and prams and dogs. The houses varied from the nicely lighted to the over the top. GB and I had a good time but I don't think we will go again next year. Excuse the crappy iPhone photos :)

New Location for Adventures and Mishaps

After a long and tedious couple of months of house hunting, GB and I found a cute little Californian Bungalow on the border of Kew and Hawthorn. It is smaller and lots older than our previous abode, but it has felt like home since the day we moved in. Both GB and I are loving the location. Both our commutes have been shortened and are less expensive.

We walk to the shops or to breakfast on the weekends, which is lots of fun. Also in walking distance there is a whiskey and cigar bar that plays Jazz on Thursdays, 3 pubs and a gazillion restuarants. Woohooo! We don't live in the suburbs anymore!

#63 Send Christmas cards to everyone I know.

I changed this one to everyone I like. Just because it was easier and my lack of self confidence wouldn't allow me to send it to people I barely know or know through other people. etc etc.

Anyhoo it took some time, but less than I imagined and it cost a fair bit, more than I imagined :)

#78 Pack my own lunch 3 days a week for 1 month

This one turned out to be so easy...when I finally found the motivation to do it. I ended up doing Dr Joshi's 21 day detox and that pretty much forced me to have to pack my own lunches. And since then I have found it easier to take my lunches in or do a supermarket shop at lunch times etc.

Halloween 2009

GB and I have been meaning to have a Halloween party for a couple of years. This is as close to it we have come. If we had more attendance it would have been a party. As it turns out it was more a gathering for a movie night. But GB and I made sure we had lots of fun doing it! Stay tuned cause next year is going to be big :)

#100 Plant a tree at Hungry Head

I have been a little slack on the updating. In August 2009 the family gathers at a place called Hungry Head. The initial reasoning for the family get together was in memory of my father Leonard Anthony Giovanni Raffaele. Over the years the numbers of dwindle and the meaning behind the gathering is changing as we are healing from the initial grief and loss and now see the holiday as a chance to catch up with family that we don't often see.
This year we decided to plant a tree in honor of dad. We chose a native so it would blend in with the beautiful surrounds and hopefully take off and become a strong part of the environment.

Alice Cooper at the Palais

Friday 28 August was spent in St Kilda. Drinks at the Espy to meet GB before heading off to see the showman Mr Alice Cooper. It was a fantastically fun show. They killed him on stage over and over.....was it 7 times?.......and yet HE LIVED! He lived to throw bunches of necklaces and money out into the crowd. He lived to kill his daughter (evil nurse). He lived to don a silver top hat and tails. He lived to sing Schools Out for the encore. Fun fun fun.