Season's Greetings To All

Wishing all of you a very Happy Christmas.  May your Christmas season be filled with the joy and laughter.

I'm taking a little break to spend time with family over this time, but I will return in the New Year.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like A Tropical Christmas.

The sun is starting to swelter.  The days are sultry.  The temps outside have climbed to very, very uncomfortable.  The humidity levels have risen to stifling.  The cicadas have started singing.  The Poincianas are blooming.  It must be nearly Christmas time here in the tropics.  Hot, steamy and sticky is the way we like our Christmases!!  That's the weather, not the food.

Anyway, the school year is over and I'm on holidays.  Yahoo!  I've been busy adding some Christmassy touches to the place.

The tree is up and covered in ornaments collected over many years.

The verandah has a few Christmassy touches here and there.

There are many, many little gifts, given to me by students over many years, all scattered about the house.  Of course, I did receive bucket loads of chocolates, smelly soaps or lotions, and coffee/tea cups over the many years of my teaching career.

I've been very appreciative of all the presents presented by happy-faced students over the years, but I have to admit that the gifts that were not chocolate, not smelly and not made of china have become very precious to me.  Even though they're not the most sophisticated or classy looking things, they can be brought out every year and add that special touch of Christmas joy.

What does your place look like this Christmas?  Do you have special things that bring back lovely memories?  


Note:  After I had published this post, Google Auto-Awesomed one of my collages  (not sure that's a word, but what-the-hey!)  I love what 'they' did with my collage.     Here's the link.

Christmas Wishes from Downunder

I'm still away from my home and my garden, and apparently my poor garden is suffering without me!  It's been hot, humid and horrible in the north-east corner where my garden is located and the place is dry and parched.  The rains should arrive soon ... fingers crossed!  I'm afraid my darling other half doesn't have green fingers and is finding it difficult keeping the potted plants going. 

Anyway, I just wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas.  I hope you have a lovely festive season wherever you may be in the world.

Toasty Warm Christmas Greetings from Hot, Hot Downunder.

Wishing all my blog readers a very Merry Christmas and a fantastic Festive Season. Downunder it's the usual horrid hot Summer weather with a hearty dash of horrendous humidity ... Ho, Ho, Ho!

We occasionally head into the city to take an early evening walk along the Strand, which is a very lengthy boulevard right beside the ocean, but even then it's no cooler than our spot out here in the foothills.

I occasionally suffer the torments of the kitchen to do some baking for Christmas.  One of my favourite Christmas treats are the moorish Bailey's Irish Cream Balls ... which are my alternative to Rum Balls, as I really don't enjoy the taste of rum.

Unfortunately the Summer conditions prevent me from spending a great deal of time out in the garden ... it will remain relatively unloved for a little bit longer yet!  Luckily the plants seem to be still thriving and there's still lots of great colour in quite a few corners of the garden.

Of course, as we count down to Christmas, we're getting more and more excited about visiting our eldest son and our grandchildren.  Whilst we'll miss spending Christmas Day with them, we're on the plane the very next morning and heading off for a visit ... can't wait!

That's an old Christmas photo of our dear little ones ... but they're still just as adorable!

Instead of finishing off the post just yet, I thought I'd add two little extras today.

First ...  I'm not sure where I saw this (wish I could take the credit but I can't), and I think it's just spot on!

You know it's an Australian Summer when....

1.  The best parking space is determined by shade instead of distance.

2.  Hot water comes out of both taps.

3.  You learn that a seat belt buckle makes a pretty good branding iron.

4.  The temperature drops below 35deg C and you feel a little chilly.

5.  You discover that it only takes two fingers to steer your car.

6.  You discover that you can get sunburnt through your car window.

7.  You develop a fear of metal car door handles.

8.  You break into a sweat the instant you awake.

9.  You're still soaking wet after you've dried off from your shower.

10.You catch a cold from having the aircon full blast while you sleep during the night.

Now ...  for a bit of fun.  Please go to the sidebar, turn off the Playlist ... and then sing-a-long with this beloved Aussie Christmas ballad.



For other fabulous Mosaic Monday posts, go and take a look at Mary's blog  Little Red House