Happy New Year 2011.....

When the clock strikes twelve on December 31st, and people all over the world cheer and wish each other a very Happy New Year, what will you wish for? New Year's Eve is not a big deal for some people, they go to bed as usual and enjoy a public holiday on January 1st. For others, the New Year signifies the commencement of a new beginning; a fresh start. Which ever you view New Year's Eve, I hope that you enjoy whatever you do.

I received the following in an email from a good friend and wanted to share it with you...

May you get a clean bill of health from your dentist, your cardiologist, your gastro-enterologist, your urologist, your proctologist, your podiatrist, your psychiatrist, your plumber and your boss.
May your hair, your teeth, your face-lift, your abs and your stocks not fall; and may your blood pressure, your triglycerides, your cholesterol, your white blood count and your mortgage interest not rise.
May New Year's Eve find you seated around the table, together with your beloved family and cherished friends. May you find the food better, the environment quieter, the cost much cheaper, and the pleasure more fulfilling than anything else you might ordinarily do that night.
May what you see in the mirror delight you, and what others see in you delight them. May someone love you enough to forgive your faults, be blind to your blemishes, and tell the world about your virtues.
May the telemarketers wait to make their sales calls until you finish dinner, may the commercials on TV not be louder than the program you have been watching, and may your budget always balance - and include generous amounts for charity.
May you remember to say "I love you" at least once a day to your spouse, your child, your parent, your siblings; but not to your secretary, your nurse, your masseuse, your hairdresser or your chat friend.

And may we live in a world at peace and with the awareness of love in every sunset, every flower's unfolding petals, every baby's smile, every lover's kiss, and every wonderful, astonishing, miraculous beat of our hearts.

May we all be grateful for what we have and not for what we wish that we had.

Happy New Year everyone from J and I . Stay safe and stay healthy!

Merry Christmas.......

From our home to your home.... may you all have a safe and wonderful Christmas time.
As I was sitting in the quiet of Christmas morning, the words from this Christmas hymn kept playing over and over


Tell me the story of Jesus,
Write on my heart every word.
Tell me the story most precious,
Sweetest that ever was heard.
Tell how the angels in chorus,
Sang as they welcomed His birth.
“Glory to God in the highest!
Peace and good tidings to earth.”
Refrain
Tell me the story of Jesus,
Write on my heart every word.
Tell me the story most precious,
Sweetest that ever was heard.

I think that we learnt this as children at school and performed it at the Christmas pagant. I remember dressing as an angel and standing with the class choir singing. Perhaps it was year 2 and we rehearsed it over and over again.

I sat remembering this yesterday (Christmas morning) and all of a sudden it was that time, family were slowly waking and making noises! J was in the shower and my job was to get everyone up to open pressies and share a Merry Christmas breakky ! I love getting ready to celebrate christmas as a family, exchanging gifts, the smell of fresh coffee and the sounds of excited voices, regardless of how old they may be. Outside the sun was shining, a glorous day was install for Sydney and I had already received the gift of quiet, uninterrupted time to "just be" before anyone else was up.
I hope that everyone had a lovely day, I know that in our home everyone was asleep before 9pm and we all had a smile on our dial.
Have a wonderful and safe Boxing Day to all!

Merry Christmas to my family........

Merry Christmas everyone!
Today is Christmas Day 2010 and I wanted to take a few minutes to record what a lovely day we have all had together. I truely felt the Christmas spirit amongst us and I left with a feeling of looking forward to the next time when the cousins, aunties, uncles, second cousins, etc. come together. There were no presents or Kris Kringles, just a pot luck feast that we all enjoyed immensely. Grandy came and there was a surprize visit from his 86 year old brother, his sister-in-law and cousin Christine. It was a wonderful day full of news, laughing and Christmas joy. The years pass by so quickly that this is exactly how a Christmas Day should be spent.
Ms K, you bring so much beauty and laughter to the world that people love to be around you. When you were in year 6 your teacher told Dad and I that you were born with the special gift of empathy; an ability to have genuine compassion towards others; a gift that one is born with and can not be taught to people who do not have it. Since you have left school we have seen so many examples of your empathy but none more than when others who have come to know you tell Dad and I what a truely beautiful human being you have grown into. Not just a physical beauty but a beauty through consciousness. I can only look at you and smile when they say this because I have watched your deep understanding of people, your sympathy and compassion grow and develop over the years. I consider it an honour and a joy to have watched from the sidelines and a pleasure to be your mum. Merry Christmas Kimmy x
Alex...what a lovely young man you have grown into. Your work ethic is one that Dad and are proud of and your gentle kindness to others makes you a very special person indeed. My heart has broken each time yours has broken and Dad and I are so proud of the way you pick yourself up and move on in life. We love to see you laugh and your friends are lovely people too. We hope that you find fulfillment from your work one day and that the people around you appreciate what a unique individual you are. Merry Christmas Al x
Merry Christmas to my family xxx 2010

The lull before a storm......

There is currently an amazing storm slowly coming in from the south. The heavens look as though they are going to open any second and there is an eerie glow about the trees. The birds have vacated the area and the wind is picking up at an incredible pace. I do love a good storm, all that power and forceful energy chasing through the sky. I enjoy sitting watching from my window, safe but close enough to experience the action. If you stand still in bare feet on the floor boards you can feel the vibration of the clouds clashing with each other. You can hear the wind change direction and whistle down through the trees, wrustling the leaves and making the big gums creak and grown. There is nothing more refreshing after a hot day than to open all of the windows and feel the cool air surging through the house from one side to the other. I suspect that Christmas Day is going to be wet if this is anything to go by.

Christmas Poetry.......

Christmas Love

At Christmastime I think of all the gifts
That bring me great delight and sweet surprise,
But nothing in this world can bring such joy
As you do, when you look into my eyes.

And when I contemplate what Christmas means,
The caring and the giving--I confess,
You've given me the things I want the most:
Your love, your touch, your kiss, your warm caress.

The Christmas tree reminds me, with its lights
That just the thought of you sets me aglow;
You light me up from deep within my heart,
Because we cherish each other so.

With you it's Christmas all the time, John.
I treasure every hour and every minute.
Your love is all I'll ever want because,
My life is so fulfilling with you in it.

By Joanna Fuchs

Christmas Reflections......

Christmas Magic

Are we too grownup to feel a thrill
As we light the Christmas tree?
Are we immune to cookies,
Christmas cards and Christmas glee?

Are we too adult to "Ooh" and "Aah"
At the Christmas candle's glow?
Are we blasé about our gifts;
Do we shun the mistletoe?

Are we too mature for carols,
For merry or for jolly?
Do the decorations leave us cold,
The ornaments and holly?

Fat chance! We'll never grow too old
To love the Christmas magic.
A year without a Christmas
Would be boring, even tragic

So bring it on! The candy canes,
The feasting and good cheer;
O Christmas, lovely Christmas,
You're the highlight of the year!

By Joanna Fuchs

Christmas verses.....

Over the years I have found some wonderful poems about giving at Christmas which reflected the values that J and I respected when it came to Christmas shopping. Anyway, whilst clearing out some files I found them. They are primarily about making Christmas something more than just an obligation to get together, being stressed or spending beyond one's means, and even the value of giving something meaningful no matter how small it may be. I hope that you enjoy them.

What shall we give the children ?

Christmas is almost here.
Toys and games and playthings,
As we do every year ?
Yes, for the magic of toyland
Is part of the Yuletide lore
To gladden the hearts of childhood,
But I shall give something more.
I shall give them patience,
A more sympathetic ear,
A little more time for laughter,
Or tenderly dry a tear.
I shall take time to teach them
The joy of doing some task,
I'll try to find more time to answer
More of the questions they ask.
Time to read books together,
And take long walks in the sun,
Time for a bedtime story,
After the day is done,
I shall give these to my children,
Weaving a closer tie,
Knitting our lives together
With gifts that money can't buy.

~Source unknown~

Tis the season to be jolly..........

All of the Christmas shopping is finished and all I have to do now is to prepare Christmas Eve dinner. Each year our immediate family have dinner together at home. Dad and I cook it with all the trimmings and we settle down with "Carols By Candlelight at the Myer Music Bowl" playing in the background. There is just the the four of us, although over this past few years that four increased to five or six. If it is a hot evening we will set the table down near the pool under the shade of the trees. How lucky are we Aussies to be able to enjoy a meal out doors. Some friends in Texas has just had their snow commence and now have a fire burning 24/7. The very first snow measured 5 inches and they said that it was so beautiful that they went hiking to take photos of the prarie lands. How wonderful. However, several days later the snow was so heavy that the roads required clearing in order to allow people nto travel to work.
On Monday evening Ms. K and I took her Grandmother for a drive to see some of the homes whose front yards were adorned with Christmas lights. There are so many people who go to so much trouble to bring a little Christmas cheer to the rest of the community by designing and setting up rope lights, LED lights, net lights and loads of inflatables and ornaments in the windows which include nativity scenes, reindeers, elves, santas and slieghs, all amongst flashing Christmas lights. There is usually music playing and it is all worth a visit to just see the looks on the faces of the visitors. In a country where it is usually quite hot at this time of year the decorated yards truely bring a sense of spirit to the season. We loved every minute of the outting and arrived home smiling. Merry Christmas everyone!

Sad Christmas

Each year on the first Wednesday of December a tiny little church at Cherrybrook put on a church service for those who have lost a child or may have a child missing.
My dear friend Meryn told me about this service the same year that our Ben died. J and I went along with a heavy heart and to our surprize we met many many others there. Some were elderly parents whose adult children had been killed, some were very young couples whose baby had died and others like J and I had lost a son or daughter in the years in between. The one thing that we all had in common was that we had lost a child and were grieving and trying to find a way to get through Christmas.
This past service for 2010 was like each one that we had attended before. A minister said some prayers, a guest speaker told of his or her own experience in loosing a child and how they had gotten through it and then everyone was invited to place flowers on the alter in memory of their child. It is always heart wrenching yet each year I go and think of Ben, wish him a Merry Christmas and tell myself that this year will be even better than the last. It is a beautiful service in all, especially with the amount of hard work put into both the service and the super afterwards, the work all organised and undertaken by the fe local perishioners who live near by. Over the years I have come to meet a lot of people there whose children have died at all different ages and from many different causes, some that I even met through the Muscular Dystrophy Association and others whom I met when I worked at the Children's Hospital. I feel as though I now go to say Merry Christmas not only to our Ben but to those who feel like there is no future now that their child is deceased. I have come to understand how important it is over time to know that you are not alone in your grief. It is so important to reach out to people with not just understanding, but with hope that life is not always going to seem so painful. It is a pain that we all share just as we share with each other our love for our children. This gets me through Christmas...the idea that I may be helping someone.
I often wonder about the many others out there that struggle to get through Christmas. Maybe we should aim to spare a smile or an ear to someone soon. I read this poem on a friend's web page.........


This Christmas season let us try
To do some golden deeds,
To carry someone’s burden,
To help someone in need.
There are always those who need us
As we journey on life’s way,
And the friends we win by helping
Make us richer every day.
So when you see a saddened face
As Christmas time draws near,
Do your best to lift the load
And spread a word of cheer.

From "Getting Ready for Christmas"
Author Emma Lapp

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..........

Christmas is but a week away and our extended family get-together is this Sunday. Time to pull out the green table cloths, the gold reindeer table pieces, the red serviettes, etc. Miss K and I love to decorate the table when ever we are hosting a big shin-dig for Christmas. AJ is going to set up a small bar out on the verandah and fill the eskies with ice and all sorts of drinkable goodies and the eatible goodies should fill the kitchen table to just about over flowing. I have prepared all of the jellies and custards for the trifles and they simply need to be assembled on Saturday night ready for Sunday. The tiramisu will also be arranged on Saturday evening ready for Sunday lunch. Just about everything else can be done on Sunday morning. One of the summer fruits that J and I enjoy is a mango. I never knew what a mango was until I started dating J. One Sunday we went for a drive to buy fruit and veges for my mother and he purchased a mango to share with me. When he realized that I had never eaten a mango J went to great lengths to cut it up for me to try. Wow! Talk about fruit of the gods, it was wonderful and I licked my fingers clean of the beautiful juice. It certainly was a wonderful experience and ever since then I have loved them. The big Bowen mangos from Far North Queensland are lovely but if ever you get the opportunity to sample the red mangos from PNG then make sure that you try them, they are lovely too.
Anyway I digress, each Christmas Day I cut up a platter of mangos and watermelon for all to enjoy and this Sunday will be no different. Our tree is sparkling and ready to greet the guests and I have dusted off some wonderful Christmas music to get everyone into the mood. One just has to love Christmas! I hope that the lead up to Christmas is a time of relaxation and peace for everyone.

My immediate family is off to view the many wonderifully decorated homes around the Hills area on Monday night. Then off to celebrate Christmas lunch with some girlfriends on Tuesday. Wednesday evening we are going to kick back and relax and make sure that J begins his holidays by putting his feet up and chilling out. We intend to spoil him with a BBQ and some delicious wine for the evening. Our aim (as usual) is not to get caught up in the commercialism of the season but rather to take pleasure in having time to enjoy each other's company, laugh and make the most of our time together. Merry Christmas everyone!

Carols In The Caves.............

Each year I love to attend "Carols By Candlelight" somewhere. I always find such a sense of Christmas spirit there. At present the shops are full of people pushing and shoving to get their presents. I sometimes wonder if they ever really come to feel any Christmas spirit at all through commercialism. However, sitting back listening to the beautiful voices of those who sing Christmas carols; well one can certainly feel it there.
Last year we drove into the Domain in Sydney and sang merrily along with 10,000 other people.

The pine forrests

This year J and I drove up to Jenolan Caves up in the Blue Mountains. The drive there is lovely as it weaves up through the enormous pine forrests and the mountainsides of the Blue Mountains. At this time of year the wild flowers are still in full bloom and daisies bloomed along the roadside for many kms. As we entered Jenolan Caves I was in awe of the beauty.

The Carols were held under the Grand Arch which was a wonderful experience in itself.

The Grand Arch is very impressive as a cave ruin, big enough to host orchestra concerts and the road leads through this cavern up to Caves House which is where we stayed that night.

This year Peter Overton and Jessica Rowe hosted them and although I did not take many photos the memories will be etched in our hearts forever.

What a wonderful evening. The entertainers were all local people who were truely gifted singers and they literally scaled the heights to sing on rocky ledges, among the stalagnites and stalitites.

Natural mountain water gushing alonside the roads

Coloured lights reflected gently on the walls of the caves and the acoustics were amazing. I marveled at the numbers of grandparents attending with their grandchildren and loving every moment of it. Afterwards there was a party up at Caves House and the celebrations continued on until the wee hours of the morning.

J and I left at about 8:30am. As we drove out we passed Peter Overton and his 18 month old daughter, going for a walk to say good bye to pepole. He is such a lovely man, stopped and asked whether we enjoyed the night and how far we had to go home. Buses had arrived to begin taking people home to all parts of the state.
If ever you get the chance to go to "Carols In The Caves" I would highly recommend it because all proceeds go to the Oncology Unit at the Children's Hospital at Westmead.