What We Ate For Christmas Lunch

Hello!! Long time no see. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.

I've had an unintentional weeks break from blogging, taking the time to enjoy Christmas festivities with my family. We had a mammoth few days of celebrations on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my immediate family and then Boxing Day with the extended family. 

Having two homes (Australia and UK) is mostly a wonderful thing. Theres two lots of warm welcoming homes, two lots of families, two lots of traditions, two lots of cultures, opposite seasons meaning at any one time I can escape winter and welcome summer, double the love for Baby Girl. It also means that while I am enjoying one home, part of my heart will always be missing my other home. It was strange to be Skyping my UK family on Christmas Day rather than the other way around and I did miss them. 

There's many similarities on Christmas Day between both of my families and they're the things that matter the most. A day full of love, laughter, sibling banter, competitive game playing and really good food! 

The big differences are: The weather, Christmas in the UK is cosy inside with fires raging, whereas in Australia meals are outside soaking up the suns rays. Common after lunch activities in Australia include swimming if you're lucky enough to have a backyard pool or other backyard sports like cricket, AFL or soccer (the Aussie name for football). Those little family traditions that subtly get embedded over the years becoming just something that everybody knows as the norm during the festive period. Christmas Eve in Australia is one big sleepover with all the siblings camping over at mum's house even though all of us have flown the nest. This means Christmas day starts as soon as we wake up often resulting in the champagne being popped before midday. In the UK we always enjoy some hot mulled wine before lunch. There is also a lot more grazing throughout the day in Australia leading up to and after Christmas lunch. Christmas lunch is very different between both countries. This is very much a cultural thing. In the UK we enjoy a traditional roast of turkey and all the trimmings whereas in Australia we enjoy a buffet of different selections which to hubbies surprise includes salads. He was flabbergasted that we would serve salad on Christmas Day.

I am going to keep the finer details of how we spent our very special Christmas Day in my memory bank but I thought I would share the details of our delicious Christmas lunch with you. I am salivating just looking at these photos again! Most of this creation was by the best chef in the world - my mum. She did have a little bit of help from her apprentices, my sister in law and I.

4

Sunday Mini Styles #32

I realise I'm a day late with this post and it's Monday, but this is the first chance I've had to sit down at my laptop and I didn't want to leave it a whole week before I post these outfit shots. So I just had to share as soon as I had the chance.

2

A Peek Into My Home: Nursery Tour

The next room in my home feature that I want to share with you is Baby Girl's nursery! I just love her little part of the house. It was so nice to create a room completely from scratch and after adding to it bit by bit, it finally matches my vision.

I started thinking about Baby Girl's nursery when I was about 6 months pregnant and we were getting ready to renovate our house. I decided I wanted to go with a vintage and a touch of animals theme. J was worried that it would look to adult when I told him how I was thinking of decorating it but I think the end result is actually a really good balance.

There had previously been a fireplace in the room that was really lovely but taking up a whole wall which we needed for furniture so I decided to get it taken out and boarded up and have that wall as a feature with vintage style purple wallpaper. I decided I would lay down floorboards like the rest of the house and have the rest of the walls pained white. I also chose a gorgeous small chandelier for the room.

10

Sunday Mini Styles #31

I am writing this post sitting on my mum's deck in Melbourne having just taken some outfit pictures of Baby Girl. It's a hot day today and the summer clothes are out, the breeze is fresh and my hubby J is out on a boat in the bay with my brothers fishing.

I never put our summer clothes away when winter hit as I was putting them away for this trip. The next few Sunday posts will most definitely be summer fashion and may incorporate some Australian labels when I get around to doing some shopping.

12

Home Sweet Home

I am here, and it is so wonderful. I am typing this sitting in my mother's kitchen in the leafy suburbs of Ferntree Gully in Melbourne, Australia.

Even though she has just recently brought this house and this is the first time I have visited here, it still feels like home. After all, home is so much more than a physical property.

47

A Busy Mama's Skincare Routine - Clarins & Liz Earle

Sometimes I look at new mummies and I'm shocked at just how well they keep it together. Pristine clothes with no wrinkles. Beautiful skin finished off with immaculate make up. Hair, in a style not just a mum bun.

I felt very inferior for the first 6 months of Baby Girl's life because I there were just not enough hours in the day for me to maintain myself. To be perfectly honest I felt like a hot mess.

19

A Gorgeous Gift Idea For A Baby Girl's First Christmas

I wanted to share a special little idea I had for my daughters first Christmas last year. Her very first Christmas.

I've always loved Christmas day. To me, it's all about family. Getting to spend my first Christmas last year with my very own daughter for the first time was like nothing I could even put into words. It was literally like all my Christmases had come at once.

Baby Girl was four months old on her first Christmas day.

11

DIY: Cake In A Mug Christmas Gift (Double Chocolate Cake)

I really love the gift of giving. 

Time, advice, support, physical presents, coffee, wine...... ;)

I am in my element at Christmas and I much prefer the process of giving my gifts over receiving them. In my older age I am really do put a lot of thought into my gifting and I'm also a big fan of DIY. If you're a regular reader of my blog you've probably already had some insight into this. A few months I posted a recipe/ tutorial for cookie in a jar which really does make a wonderful gift. You may also know that I am the proud owner of Little Bump Shop, an online gift store for pregnant/ new mummies and I hand make everything I sell myself.

This Christmas I wanted to do something really special for Baby Girl's nursery teachers. She's come so far since she's been going there and I really can see the special bond she has formed with them just by watching them interact.

I have personally been a fan of mug cakes lately. What's not to love about them? They are quick, easy and come in single portions meaning you don't have to feel extra guilty or tempted by any left overs. LIGHTBULB MOMENT! Cake in a mug Christmas gift! Your recipient will get to enjoy a delicious portion of cake and then get to keep enjoying the mug for years to come. Who doesn't love a pretty mug? I got creating and I'm so happy with the finished product that I just had to share with you all. 

26