Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Christmas Day!

We had a marvellous Christmas day yesterday. It was great celebrating the special time with family and friends.

You can check out my photos of Christmas here. I will post some photos to my blog when I have some free time. Like, in 2023, according to my BIL, Russell...

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Freaking out...

Our house is on the market. It's on the web now. We have done a lot of work and we're just finishing it off before we leave. You can see it by clicking here.
We even put lawn out the back. This photo of Georgia watering the lawn could go in a time capsule. We have a permit to water the lawn, but it has been raining lately, so we are happy :)

We're leaving for Tassie in 6 days. The house is being packed up. There's a bit of mess, but it's just stuff that needs to be packed, given away or thrown out. We have 97 boxes so far - of various sizes - and there is more to do still. I have been feeling quite sick and stressed all day today. Thank God for Monte's dad and my friends Andrew, Jules and Amanda who were here today to help.

Matthew is not 100%. I am not sure what his issue is. It might be teeth, but he didn't sleep well last night and I am exhausted. Georgia senses that something is different, obviously, and has been really out of sorts. I give the children as many cuddles and attention as I can, but boxes need to be packed, and there is a lot to do, and I can't wait to have all the time in the universe to give just to them. I am looking forward to not working.

So that's us... we are hoping for a joyous Christmas, and we hope to be more relaxed. I am expecting to enjoy the day and I want to be almost low key about it all.

Merry Christmas.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Christmas Angels

First, get an angel...
Georgia is one form of the Christmas Angel: excited, happy, joyful, full of life and energy and beautiful in every way.


Matthew is another type of Christmas angel: gorgeous, happy and gets into everything. Loves exploring the world.

How to make a Christmas Angel

First, get a paper doily.
Draw a head and arms like so:
Cut a quarter off the doily as pictured, but don't throw it away!
Turn the doily to make a cone.
Cut the cutt-off in halves and attach as wings.
Voila!
We thought we'd write people's names on them and use them as table seating cards this year. These are fun and easy to make, espcially for little hands! Georgia decorates them with glitter, stickers and pens and pencils.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Christmas Wishes


Wishing you all a Happy and Safe Christmas Season!

It has been a busy and eventful year for us this year, with the sale of our first home, the purchase of our property in Tasmania, plus a few holidays in Tassie to 'test the waters.' 

Georgia continued at occasional care at the local kindy, and even started pre-entry in term four. Matthew has been at childcare, with Georgia, one day a week, but at the end of each day he is very clingy and needs lots of cuddles with mummy! 

Rebecca returned to work, teaching English at Westminster, part-time. Now she has resigned and is looking forward to spending more time with the children. Monte has been busy, running his business, plus renovating the two houses and looking after the children when Rebecca works. He makes dinner most nights!

Our plans for the Festive Season are not very festive, I'm afraid! We're busy packing and completing the final touches to our house. We will be putting it on the market in early January. After Christmas, we will pack our belongings into a shipping container, which will arrive in Tasmania a week after we arrive. We are leaving Adelaide on December 30th, arriving on the 31st, Monte's Birthday, so we can celebrate and bring in the new year on our property. If we don't open a bottle of Moet I will scream, but on 23 acres, who will hear me?

How I feel: relieved to have finished work. I have already got things more organised at home. I love teaching, but I am excited about not 'having' to work if I don't want to! I am really sad to be leaving my family and friends here in Adelaide. I will really miss Amanda especially, as we see eachother a few times a week, and we watch 'Greys Anatomy' together, and I will miss that. I will miss being able to just 'pop in' to see our parents too. But I am really excited about having people to stay, as spending some quality time with people will surely beat a few short visits here and there. 

I am exhausted; packing things, organising things and thinking about it all is tiring. thankfully, the children are being wonderful. They play beautifully together and are mostly well behaved. At the end of the day, Georgia sometimes gets ratty, but is easily distracted with 'schoolwork' that I give her, or crafts (she always wants to make stuff). Matthew is learning to throw tantrums, but as long as I let his head land on the ground softly, I just walk away. He'll grow out of it. 

Our house is a mess and I am anxious to tidy it and get some photos taken for our real estate agent. We are giving away a lot of things. We are hoping all our stuff fits in the shipping container (it will).

For now, Merry Christmas to you. I think this Christmas will see mixed emotions in this Goulding Family!

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

It has begun!

The Christmas Season, of course!
Georgia awaits patiently for the big day, eager to "spend time with my family because I love them," and to see the 'surprise' that Father Christmas might bring! She dances and sings for the Christmas tree. She even hugs it. She tells stories with the ornaments. She is loving making cards and decorations for her family and friends. She reminds me of the joy I had (and have) when it's Christmas.
After dinner each night, we cross off the current day on our calendar in an effort to count down the days until Christmas, and, more importantly, the day we leave for Tasmania (December 30th)!
In our house, we traditionally decorate the Christmas tree on the first weekend of December. It so happened that that weekend fell on the first two days of December this year! Here, Georgia and Matthew decorate excitedly. Matthew enjoyed his first experience of tree decorating and was very helpful (no, really), and Georgia loved making up stories for each ornament! Yes, their t-shirts match. I can't help myself.


Matthew decorates (and undecorates) the tree. No matter what he does, we find him adorable!


Georgia poses near the tree, next to her favourite ornament, a pink ballerina that Auntie Sophie gave her for Christmas last year.
Uncle Fran, Dad and Monte decorate the big Christmas tree outside Nanny and Gramps' house. Georgia was fascinated when the lights went on. She stood and stared for a while, then danced and sang for the tree. Gorgeous!
Nanny reads a few Christmas stories to Georgia.
A hot and curly-haired Matthew eats his dinner. And the mozzies ate him, but he doesn't complain.
Finally, a view I will miss. This is of the tree above my parents' deck. I like to sit on the deck and look at this tree, which occasionally houses a koala. But, I am thinking that soon, I will create my own view from a deck. And that is very exciting.
I can't wait to have my own Christmas, with food from my own property. I hope to one day do my own ham! I want to make salads and lush vegie dishes from the food from my own vegie garden. I want to bake and cook in my big country kitchen, and decorate the Christmas tree in a sun-filled lounge.
For now, I will continue to pack boxes, wrap gifts, sort papers and clothes and try to relax, for I have just 26 days left in Adelaide and I want to survive them!