Christmas CountDownUnder

'Tis the season to be jolly!  And to prepare for the Big Day.  Actually, Christmas is really all about celebrating family for us.  And a time for making and creating.  We have always told our children that we prefer home-made gifts.  We've suggested not to waste their money on store-bought gifts for us but rather to make them and so thus began our family tradition.  The really great spin-off is that they are more excited about others opening their gifts they have made, than wanting to tear open gifts for themselves.  Part of the joy is in the giving, rather than the receiving.

A few years back, a German friend sent us a gorgeous reusable hessian stocking Advent Calender.  Each year, I place little gifts/chocolates inside and the children have taken it in turns to open one each day.  This year I made up some little gifts for our daughter, as our son has flow the coup and lives in his own apartment in the city he studies in.  Our daughter delights in this little daily ritual............. this could possibly be the last time I do it before I become Le Grande Grandmother!!

"Organic" Christmas Stocking Advent Calender

Fun filling the little hessian sacks with notes and a gift

I've been enjoying making little things - decorations to keep and some to give away as gifts.  Last weekend, Mike took me to see the ballet, Giselle, after whom I was named!  I think my parents had visions of me becoming Le Grande Ballerina.  They sent me to ballet lessons early on and when that looked like a waste of my point and flex abilities, I joined Modern dance classes and then Jazz dance classes right through till my first year at Teachers' College.  Then I met Mike and all dance was with him!  So although my ballet career never really took off, I loved the poise, grace and rhythm they instilled.  Well, this was to be my first Big Ballet Experience.  I'd seen it on TV but never in Real Life before, so we booked into a hotel and set off to the Big City of Auckland for an adventure.  I realise how pleased I am to live in a little village, where they are no winding underground parking places; we ended up parking on level 3, underground!!!  I had a brief and horrid vision of being trapped underground in the all-too-likely event of an earthquake or cave-in!  Then we had to queue for what seemed like an eternally long time, to pay for our parking even before we even had seen our show!!

So what did I think of the ballet?  I enjoyed it.  Truly.  A once-off, been-there-done-that experience which I shall not need to repeat in a hurry, ever.  The lead ballet guy, whom Wikipedia tells me is a ballerino, wore the tightest of leggings, skin-tone, no imagination necessary - bordering soft porn!  The cast strut around the stage in a jumble of incoherence in the first scene, miming their parts - could have done with a lot more actual dance.  I guess it was the modern interpretation.  And then the second scene was lovely, with the ethereal Wilis dancing around in their diaphanous dresses - visual delight.  Truly stunning!   But by the time the curtain came down, I was ready for bed!!  

So yes, one definitely does have to see the ballet after whom one is named, just once in a lifetime.  An expensive affair, taking into account travel and accommodation.

My jute string decorations

While in the Big Smoke, I picked up another idea which I thought I could replicate for my son's Christmas stocking - funky little cardboard car fresheners.  So I came home and made a pair to hang on his rear-view mirror.  They are on double thick cardboard and one can sprinkle a few drops of essential oil on, rather than the artificial perfumes the "real" store ones had.  We did spend some money on a new shiatsu back massager (alas and alack, my old patched, re-patched and quadruple re-patched massager is overdue for retirement) so that is our Christmas present to ourselves.  But we couldn't wait till Christmas, so both decided to use it straight away!!  Mmmn, back in business for our morning massage and coffee!

Funky little car fresheners

Jute and hemp string birds with shell beaks, feather bottoms and seed eyes
Totally compostable.

The pathway to the wash line was looking a little jungle-esque, so I got into it this weekend, pulled up 3 barrow-loads of wildflowers, most of them forget-me-nots!  Remind me why I planted them in the first place??

Wildflower jungle

I also learned a really neat little tip from our Herb Society ladies.  They taught me to sink a little plant pot next to our tomato seedlings, so that you can water them and the water goes down into the roots where it is most needed, rather than running off away from the plant!  Have just done a whole bed-full of tomatoes with their own little resevoirs.  I put a few sheep pellets in them too, so when I water them, the goodness goes straight to the root zone!  Wish I'd known this little trick a long, long time ago!!  Oh, well, you learn something new every day!

Another exciting little break-through, is that Mike bought me a solar shed light (half price at only $15!) and I was soo excited!  I'm such a cheap wife!  A diamond ring would not have elicited such joy!  Strung it up straight away and have had the joy of using it (our shed has no power) tonight!  Yeeha!  Powered by the sun!  It is so exciting to be able to harness the power of the sun to create energy!!   Now the family are worried I may never leave the shed to return home!

Neat little shed light with drawstring switch.

My shed solar-powered radio

CD-sized solar panel attached to side of shed

On the garden front, we have been harvesting our beautiful strawberries every second day - enough for a bowlful each.  Picking heaps of chamomile flowers for teas, leeks, parsley, lettuces, oranges, grapefruits, black currents, rhubarb, and the beginnings of zuchini harvests.  The apples, prunes, plums and peaches are all looking good, with little green developing fruits.  The nectarines look like they are fattening and colouring but we could lose those to brown rot (too much rain).

A lovely American Helpxchange lady arrived yesterday to help out for a week or so.  Always nice to have company and help!  Double blessing.  So today we did some weeding, planting and made a bed base for her mattress out of discarded wooden pallets.  She reports that it is just what she needed to raise her off the floor!  A bed for not more than the cost of a few screws to hold it all together.  Mike will collect some more, so I can make another platform to extend the single bed option into a double, if need be.  What a thrill to be able to make something functional for nothing and save them from landfill or fireplace.   Can't wait for School holidays ................ I already have a list half a page long, of projects I would like to achieve.  Bring it on, only a week and a half to go!  This is how I recharge - making stuff.