Christmas 2008

Lara standing still for a minute for me to take a picture.


A game of twister before the feast started.
Rach won most games - long legs are a great advantage.


Christmas was a two stage feast this year.
This was first course - Prawns, ham, ocean trout and potato salad.
Second course almost didn't happen due to a technical oven fault.


Water was freezing.
Some went in for a splash, but came out blue-lipped and trembling.


Our second Christmas feast at S&M's place.
There were heaps of tasty food, the Gammon was delicious!


The cute couple relaxed at the pool comtemplating about next year.


My first attempt of Christmas puddings (before cooking).

Beef bolognese

With work being very busy before Christmas and trying to get ready for the festive season, I had absolutely no motivation to cook. Wanted to use up some old frozen meat, I made a few batches of Bolognese sauce using beef mince. The good thing about beef bolognese is that it taste nice as left-overs and it's very versatile. Besides serving it with pasta, I made "Nachos" one night and "Lasagna" two days later.





Afternoons or early evenings were cool in the last few days, so we ate on the veranda most nights. Light meals such as nachos and lasagna seemed very fitting for fine afternnons like these.

2nd Saturday before Christmas

We spent a very unproductive Saturday buying Christmas presents. We only managed to buy a couple of presents in 5-6 hours! We told ourselves not to leave Christams shopping until the last minute every year. But it feels like you blink you eyes in the middle of November and next thing you know, it's the week before Christmas! If it were not for the lovely evening we spent with some friends and their kids in Bicentennial Park Pymble for "Carols in the park", we would have felt like we wasted the weekend.

Sitting on a picnic blanket listening to carols and surrended by strangers holding candles somehow felt very festive. The grass was still a little wet from rain the night before. It was breezy but quite warm. It would be good if there was more singing but I guess the choir also needed rest. The kiddies were tired by 9pm and it was great to be able to get home under 10 minutes.


Lara enjoyed patting sheeps, chicks and rabbits at the little farm they setup for the event.


Another Jakaranda branch in the front garden fell off while we were shopping on Saturday.

Count to ten

I didn't press the record button fast enough and missed "one" in this recording.

To buy or not to buy?

We didn't think we would be renting for too long after we sold our house. Three months would be enough we thought, but we had to sign a minimum 6-month lease. Since then, the extent of the global credit crisis became known. Suddenly we find ourselves unsure about what to do. Two houses we liked were sold this week, but we can't make up our mind whether to buy or not.

Will Australia go into a ression like some economists predict? Will house price keep going down? Are our jobs secure enough to service the loan? On the other hand, maybe house prices will be steady? Won't it be better to use the money we pay as rent to pay for a house anyway? Is it wise to do nothing and wait for somthing that might not happen at all?

We don't have a crystal ball and we can't predict the future. I guess all we can do now is to enjoy where we are and be patient. What will be will be.

New fairy dress

Lara tried a tutu on when we were at a friend's last week and she was very upset when it was time to take it off. I didn't realise she would be so interested in dress-ups already. Grandma bought this fairy dress as soon as I mentioned it.


(Lara wants to wear her dress all the time!)


(Lara checks out a video clip Grandma took of her dancing around in the fairy dress)

Fallen tree branch

A huge tree branch snapped after the rain last week and it's now half-hanging in the backyard. Getting the owner to fix it proves to be difficult as the actual tree is located next door. It was unclear as to whose responsibility it is to remove falling branches and keep them trimmed.

After many phone calls and emails to the property manager and next-door neighbour, the real estate agent will finally send someone around to have a look. Here is it still dangling a week later.