365 Question Challenge - No.4: The best part of today?

The best part of today was taking down the Christmas tree and packing away all the Christmas clutter! 

There is a certain point after Christmas when all the decorations just don't look so sparkly and magical anymore. I think next year I will take them down on New Year's Eve, 

so everything is done and dusted before the new year starts.

How soon after Christmas do you pack away your decorations?

This is day 4 of the 365 Question Challenge which is inspired by this book:

Love to you!

xxx

Christmas 2012 is over now...

Oh, Christmas, you were such a joy!

The kiddies and parents at school gave me all these goodies.

My colleagues gave me these pressies:

I turned this pile of my favourite books into a bookish Christmas tree. 

Favourite decorations could be found around the house.

Christmas dinner was delish!

Mum's trifle was divine!

 We had fun in the shade.

We visited  with family.

I got more Christmas loot!

And now...onto 2013!

Happy New Year to you all!

xx

Taking Down the Christmas Tree

One of the bloggers I follow was talking about what to do with the pretty boxes from their Christmas presents, and I thought I'd show you what I do - store Christmas decorations in them!

I was lucky to get a Scarlet ghd hair straightener from Jonathon and Jack and it was in such a pretty box! One side opens out when you take off the lid, so I stored all the soft material decorations in that one.

My Mum bought me a pair of sparkly black shoes, and all my round baubles went in that box:

Jonathon and Jack also bought me a pair of shoes, and a bunch of pretty ornaments went in that box:

I received a star shaped Christmas platter from one of the children in my class, and I used that box to store small metal and wooden decorations:

Our friend Richard gave us this box of amazingly beautiful smelling aroma reeds (oh gosh, if you could just smell them!) and I put all our delicate paper decorations in that box:

My Dad and stepmum Jane gave me Heidi Klum's yummy new perfume Shine, so I put all the Christmas cards we received into that box.

You know the clear boxes that hold star bows? I filled two of those with more decorations. One has precious decorations that Jack made when he was in Pre-Primary.

And I got this box of Lindor chocolates for Christmas which is good for holding fragile and little ornaments:

So now the Christmas decorations are all packed away for another year. By the way, when they were on the tree they looked like this:

Oh, such a lovely time is Christmas!

Christmas Fun!

I have totally neglected my blog lately - sorry! There has just been too much going on, but I always knew I could catch up sometime!

Here is a pic of my Christmas tree that I decorated all in red and white this year.

There were sweet gingham decorations, adorable toadstools, shiny apples, candy canes, striped ribbons, crocheted stars, wooden reindeer, handmade baubles, and many other red and white delights!

 The wrapping paper was all red and white too, (with a bit of green, silver and gold!)

Thanks and big hugs to all those people who sent us Christmas cards. We love you!

We had an awesome Christmas, and got to spend time with many of our loved ones.

Mum slept over on Christmas Eve and we had Christmas morning with her. Then we went to Jonathon's mum's house for a beautiful big lunch.

In the afternoon, we went to my sister Kristie's house for a scrumptious dinner. Lily was as cute as ever, especially giggling madly in her new swing.

It was a HOT day of about 38 degrees celcius!

I should have taken way more photos to remember all the wonderful elements of the day, but we did manage to coordinate a group photo (lots of silliness and crazy goings on were had while trying to get this shot!)

It was a fun, and happy day! Hope your Christmas was great!

Cute, Handmade Christmas Decorations

Just wanted to share one of my new favourite shops with you - kalaedoscope.

I admire the shop owner, Megan, because I know she is currently in the midst of writing reports, and STILL managed to open her own madeit store in time for Christmas! Megan is selling her crocheted Christmas stars, that look like this:

So gorgeous!

I just received the ones I bought, and they are cuter than cute! I couldn't resist the red and white ones, because I'm working on decorating our Christmas tree all in red and white this year.

Pop over to Megan's shop if you need some new, handmade Christmas decorations.

And, by the way, if you have a shop that sells red and white decorations let me know, and I might visit you too!

Oosouji Time

To prepare for a happy and prosperous new year, the Japanese preform oosouji, by cleaning and organising their homes, to tie up the old year's loose ends and make room for the blessings of a new year. Good idea. So..... today I've been re-doing my walk-in wardrobe AGAIN (millionth time I'm sure) and I've made it the best it's been yet. No photos yet, maybe tomorrow.

And I've been putting together a Household Notebook to use in 2010. I used one this year but not very well. I've been making it more comprehensive. Download your own version of a household notebook at http://www.organizedhome.com/, and a decluttering calendar at http://www.mysimplerlife.com/, which has daily ideas for clearing out junk! I've got them both in the same file. Also I've downloaded Christmas card lists and gift list plans from http://www.organizedchristmas.com/ to use for Christmas 2010. I'm trying to be organised, I really am.

I wanted to share a pic of the great Christmas wrapping container I bought from Avon this year.

I'm not sold on the colour of it (woh!) but the different compartments were very handy for holding all the Christmas cards, labels, ribbons, paper, stamps, scissors and sticky tape that I used when wrapping pressies.

I've packed it away now, and it fits perfectly against the wall behind a suitcase in our wardrobe. I've noticed they are only in the Avon catalogues just before Christmas at $24.95. Worth every cent.

Well, Happy New Year to everyone! I hope you find your way to my blog in 2010 and get enough of a kick out of it to become a follower, and/or to add me to your blogroll.

For the month of January pop over to my other blogs Wise Owl Books and A Choc-Top and Me to check out my book and film reviews. I plan to post one every day this month, as I've been reading heaps of books and watching a lot of movies that you might want to know about!

May your new year ROCK!

Wendy xxx

Christmas Reflections

Oh, it's been a busy time in the Sice house this Christmas season, and there has been no time to blog! So, while I haven't kept you up to date on a daily basis, here is a look back on the Christmas that was...

Jack's class performed a fantastic version of "I've got a feeling" by the Blackeyed Peas, at the school's annual Night with the Stars. I wish I'd managed to video it, because it really was spectacular!

I was so proud of my Kindy class when they danced to ABC by the Jackson Five. That song can go through my head for hours if I think of it! I didn't get a video myself, but one of the parents is going to give me a copy next year.

Gorgeous things - I will miss them!

The Pre-Primary kids went to the Annual North Pole Cafe Breakfast, which is organised by the Education Assistants at our school. It is a huge affair and a pleasure to attend. I take absolutely no credit for it! The rooms looked gorgeous, and the children made their own placemats.

.

The Parsons Family sent us some lovely handmade pressies for Christmas! A pretty wall calendar for 2010, some soap, and an adorable advent calendar (which we weren't very good at following, but loved reading through!)

Jack got us up at 5am, Christmas morning. Completely expected that! There was an excited unwrapping of presents and we were all very happy with what we got. There was many a Nerf gun through the house that day, and much vibrating of neck massagers, blenders and electric toothbrushes! I got a great stack of books, and some stunning jewellery and clothes. Can't wait to wear them!
Jonathon prepared a BEAUTIFUL Christmas lunch, that we had with his mum and sister. Thanks for the yummy pavlova Lorraine!

Then we went to Kristie and Dave's house for dinner, and got to cuddle the lovely Lily. Yummy salads and trifle provided by our Mum! Thanks!

Loved this pretty arrangement at Kristie's!

We had our annual Boxing Day barbecue lunch with our friend Richard and his Mum. Thanks for the trifle Betty! (Gotta love trifle!)

And Dad and Jane are coming to visit us today, now that we've all had a chance to recover from the Christmas rush!

Thanks to everyone for all the wonderful pressies and Christmas cards! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

Chocolate Scented Perfume for Christmas

I bought some magazines today, and while flicking through them I noticed that there is a big push to buy perfumes for Christmas. Now, I love the smell of perfume like anyone else, but I suffer with hay fever, and I can sneeze, wheeze, cough and carry on like a pork chop when I'm wearing perfume, or am around people wearing perfume. So, since I went organic three years ago, I haven't really worn perfume.

But I'm here to let you know that you can now buy ORGANIC PERFUMES! They look like this:

Gorgeous packaging! And, being concentrated the bottles are so delicate and cute, and you don't need much of the perfume to smell divine! My favourite is Delicious, which is completely that, as it has chocolate, honey, vanilla, and a floral hint of jasmine. Mm..mm!

The other perfumes in the range are called Love, Wild, Free, Brave, and Calm.

Go here to try this quiz to see which perfume could be your signature scent. They are all yummy!

Then, pop over to our miessence shop for your Christmas shopping!