At the Beach

Image Coastal Living

I'm looking forward to a wonderful 3 weeks of Summer rest & relaxation, so I'll see you all again on January 19th.

Merry Christmas!

Image Sandra Kaminski

My warmest wishes to you all for a Happy & Blessed Christmas.

Your visits, comments & friendships continue to enrich my life each day - thank you all so much.

Thanks Mike!

James Denton

This is without doubt my happiest post of the Christmas Season, as yesterday the new hot water service was installed! 8 weeks without any hot water in the kitchen & laundry has really stretched my patience, but this morning I went out the back door & never has a hideously ugly grey metal cylinder looked so beautiful!

Although having to write a cheque out for $5,261.00 to the Plumber did cause my heart to fibrillate somewhat! If we sit down & complete 50 pages of a complicated application form, in about 8 weeks we will get a $1,000 back from our wonderful Government for our trouble, as we installed a Heat Pump System (under sufferance!). MOTH always fondly refers to himself as an unashamed Environmental Vandal, but on this occasion he had to defer to the Green Movement, with much coughing & spluttering on his part!

There seemed to be a cast of thousands here for most of the day, but sadly none of the plumbers vaguely resembled the gorgeous Mike Delfino the Wisteria Lane Plumber! As expected, MOTH did put a dampener on my happiness by informing me that considering the amount of money to fly out of our hands & into the Swiss bank account of our Plumber, this is my Christmas present & I should be happy about it!

Far Away Places

Exotic Marrakesh ( Bruce Ballard)

Transport in Morocco (Britannica)

Moorish Moroccan Food (Compass Odyssey)


Simply Senegal (BBC News)


Senegalese Transport (Rockhurst)


Sharing in Senegal (Living Routes)

Our intrepid traveller

Son # 2 is leaving today for 6 weeks pack-backing in Morocco & Senegal. He'll be away for Christmas & his 29th birthday, but every December, as soon as he's finished work for the year, he grabs his pack & camera & looks for somewhere off the beaten track to wander around in. We've just had to accept this is his way & that's it!! However, there are always 2 things uppermost in his mind wherever he goes, the local transport & the greatest love of his life, food. And being a concerned Mum, I always like to do a little research prior to him leaving to reassure myself, that yes, he won't go hungry!

Christmas Lunch Squared

Life's Moments

House to Home

Toast & Tables

Tara Dennis

Country Living

Good Housekeeping

Retreat Home

Martha Stewart

Homes & Gardens

Smith & Hawken

This is where Son #4 will be spending his Christmas Day this year.

Sadly Son #4 will be away working remotely on Christmas Day this year, so we are having a special Christmas lunch for him on Sunday, as he's home at the moment on his 6 day break. I'll have to turn around & repeat the whole exercise again on Christmas Day, but hey that's what Mums are for! We will really miss him, but he loves his job, so we need to make sure his family Christmas is wonderful, albeit on a different day.

As of today I'm officially on holidays, & am not due to return to work until January 20th - happy, happy days! However, I do have a couple of urgent things to complete, so I'll be hard at it until mid-afternoon & then that's it!! I do need to start the serious task of wrapping gifts ready for Sunday, so here's some ideas that caught my eye. A very happy weekend to you all, I'm sure most of you will be very busy, but please find time to relax for a few precious moments.

Oh no, MOTH's been Christmas Shopping!

I'm so glad my dear sister-in-law Jennie doesn't read my blog, 'cos I've got some bad news for her! Her much loved older brother MOTH panicked this morning about not having bought her Chrissie present yet & reluctantly went shopping. Now as you all know by now, MOTH has a terrible habit of taking short-cuts in just about all aspects of his life & today was no exception. No, he didn't make an effort & head off to the Mall or some swanky gift store in the City, he stepped out of the shower & with just a towel & his credit card between him & the screen, sat down at the computer & shopped online. And much to my horror, the store he chose was the Melbourne Football Club Shop!

Now his side of the family have been staunch Melbourne supporters for 25 generations (or thereabouts) & his sister is a paid-up Member, but what I saw next shocked me to the core. He purchased the piece of nightwear in the above picture for his only sister, stating quite excitedly that "This is the best present I've ever got her!"

So on Christmas morning, my stylish, elegant, sophisticated Size 8 sister-in-law is going to open her pressie & find the tackiest navy & red, over-sized 100% polyester dressing gown in the whole wide world staring up at her! And the icing on the cake will be the Club logo emblazoned all over the back ! It's just as well that she'll be 700kms. away in Melbourne or I have a feeling that MOTH may well find himself with the offending article firmly wrapped around his neck & being pulled increasingly tighter by his beloved sister!

It's Time.

Image West Elm

Dear Santa

I promised to be very good this year & I really have been (apart from the time when I yelled at that Call Centre person in a far away place when they cancelled my Visa Card by mistake & I got stuck in Singapore & couldn't pay my hotel bill, the Limo. driver wouldn't wait while I desperately tried to sort it out & I got to the Airport with 1 second to spare to catch my plane home). I'm sure you understand that when I threatened to track down the said Call Centre employee to the ends of the earth & ensure that the curse I placed on each & every member of his family for time immemorial stood, I was very upset. Other than that small glitch everything else has been fine. Is it OK to start my list?

From Millie.

You Are So Beautiful!

etsy.com Lille Barn

Well that day is over - thank goodness! How lovely it was to get home from work very late & find MOTH with a drink ready & dinner almost on the table, 2 of my gorgeous sons arriving in quick succession & then your lovely messages - thank's everyone for your comments of encouragement - how lucky I am!

And I think I was led to this beautiful image for a reason, as I started to hear the words from Mary's Boy Child echo in my head. Especially the verse:

" By and by, they find a little nook in a stable all forlorn, and in a manger cold and dark Mary's little Boy was born".

Has put the day totally in perspective.

Frayed around the Edges

Excuse me while I have a Millie moment! I have the day from 'you-know-where' today. The Big Boss is coming down from Sydney & my beautifully planned day of client appointments with him turned totally pear-shaped late yesterday afternoon with last minute cancellations & much reshuffling. I'll be taking him to lunch & stretching it out big time. Plus yesterday I had a day of chasing my tail around going nowhere fast, doing everything for everyone else - grrrr!

So I feel like the little girl in the picture - very tired & emotional & quite frankly, over it. Deep breaths Millie, deep breaths!

Beach Baby

Images Beachmour

This is my last week of work for the year - hurray! And I've got the sun & sand of the beach uppermost in my mind. We are still experiencing a late burst of very chilly weather & rain here in the Adelaide Hills, with 42mm. of very welcome rain since last Thursday & the garden is fresh & alive after its much-needed drink.

Our country lane Christmas party on Saturday night was fantastic - our neighbours Phil & Bridget have set the bar very high for next year. Interestingly, just as we arrived at 7p.m. the entire village experienced a power failure, so there was a big flurry of everyone dashing home for candles. We spent the whole night partying by candlelight & although it was somewhat challenging, everyone agreed it was the best party for years!

Instead of the music being provided electronically, someone sat down at Bridget's piano & managed to play Christmas carols by candelight. All the younger kids were immediately drawn to the music & the sight of their beautiful little faces lit by the soft candle glow singing Away in a Manger at top note, certainly caused a few sniffles amongst those of us looking on. When the power finally spluttered back on at 10.30p.m., there was a resounding chorus of "Oh, no!", which was pretty amazing!! A decision was made & all the lights except the Christmas Tree twinklies were turned off & we continued on with the candles - a truly wonderful night.

Here's a stunning beach house rental to drool over - Beachmour is on Dalmeny Beach near Narooma on the New South Wales south coast, 4 1/2 hours from Sydney. How does flat-screen TV's in all the bedrooms, iPod docking stations, king-size beds with Egytpian cotton linen, current selection of glossy magazines, Aveda bath products, day beds, indoor & outdoor fireplaces, yoga mats & even a dog bed sound for starters? Very Millie style I say!

More Tinsel Untangling

Graham and Greene

Boxwood

Joanna Wood

V.V. Rouleaux

Really Linda Barker

Pottery Barn


Oliver and Grace

V.V. Rouleaux


Really Linda Barker


Mullen Fitzmaurice


Coffee & Cream


Cox & Cox

V.V. Rouleaux


Angel Linens

Cape Henley

The White Company

Christmas Magazine

Jolie

The White Company

Pottery Barn

Bob By Post

Dee Puddy

Paloma's Nest

Scattycat

The White Company

Berryred

Morello Living

Pottery Barn

Just a little more decorating this weekend & I'll be done. Our Christmas Lilies are not quite ready to pick so I'll have to go & give them a hurry up. I've normally picked armfuls by this time in December, but as previously mentioned, they've had a very rough year, so their growing cycle is a little confused.

This morning I woke to the loveliest sound of rain on the roof. After our driest November on record, gosh do we ever need some precipitation. Our neighbours Phil & Bridget are hosting the annual Christmas Party for our little country lane tomorrow night. It's always a great night, even though there's only a few houses & families we are a pretty rowdy bunch when we get together. And the big bonus is of course, we can stumble home under our own steam, albeit in the pitch black as we don't have street lights or footpaths.

Last year MOTH stopped abruptly half way home & just stood in the middle of the lane holding me tight. He then made a very romantic little speech about the night sky looking like a piece of black velvet that someone had tipped a bag full of diamonds over. Just as I was getting quite emotional, he then dropped me back to earth with a thud by his next statement "Oh & that reminds me love, have we got any Mylanta, I've got the worst case of heartburn!". The happiest of weekends to you all & here's some more little Christmas cuties I couldn't resist posting!