December 26, 2011

Finn's First Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone. I hope you are having a nice day with family and friends. Christmas is family time for us. We usually spend our Christmas with only our immediate family. This year is no different. Thank goodness our family is growing. This year we have an additional member Finn, our grandson. It's Finn's first Christmas with us this year. 

We don't have our son's family with us every Christmas. We have to share them with DIL's family every other Christmas. How lucky we are to have Finn spending his first Christmas with us! 


Here he is Finn, our gorgeous grandson. Finn is a pleasant little boy. He enjoys everything that happens around him. He sits and watches all the activities his sister Bella creates. Finn started to make interesting noises so  it won't be long before he talks. 


DGD Bella is almost three. Bella also spent her first Christmas with us, you can read about it here. This Christmas Bella totally captured the spirit of Christmas and enjoys it fully. She even got her Christmas stocking when she woke up this morning. It was an exciting event for her. She also had her Christmas photo taken with Santa this year. It was a pleasant first time experience for her and she said she likes Santa!


Bella and her Yaya (moi) on Christmas Eve. We have lot of cuddles throughout the day. I really enjoy having them visiting. They will be here until the New Year. What a joy!


My free range and organic turkey and roast vegetables turned out better than I thought. I made a non- stress Christmas dinner. It was one of those "thank you Coles, thank you Woolworth and thank you Aldi " sort of dinners, but everything turned out perfectly. What else can you wish for, for Christmas in summer!



My daughter-in-law Bron and her new pair of Singer scissors. You can guess who gave it to her! She said it was too good to cut anything with them! I know she will make good use of them. Bron is a quite an artsy lady! 


Little gifts can keep children entertained for hours. A good lesson for parents is not to overload children with expensive toys that only get used for just a few minutes and then discarded. We gave both of our grandchildren their first set of DUPLO each. Bella played with them all day today including an old fashioned paper whistle she loved. 


We managed to get a family photo together using the timer on the camera. It took us a few tries but in the end we got a good one. Finn was wondering what it was all about. All the above photos were taken by DS Mark who is a bit of a professional photographer. 


No Australian Christmas dinner is complete without a pavlova. A Pavlova is an Australian national desert. When we lived overseas I used to make the base myself, but here in Australia you can pick them up at a supermarket and that is what I did. DIL did the topping decoration. It was very delicious with roasted almonds and home-grown raspberries.


This is a traditional family salad. Uncle Joe's salad. The recipe  was so old that it was still written in Thai. My English wasn't good enough at the time so it was easier to write it down in Thai. The salad has 1 large grated carrot, 1 grated apple, 2 diced tomatoes, 3 leaves of finely chopped lettuce and 1 chopped banana. The dressing consisted of the juice of one orange and half a lemon. Salt and pepper to taste. It's a refreshing summer salad. 


My Christmas dinner was so simple and stress free that I had time to bundle up a batch of eco-dyeing the night before on Christmas Eve. The second bundle from left is a linen skirt. I will blog about them when I open them. 

Please share your Christmas day with us. I hope to have time to visit everyone's blog in the next few days. Enjoy the rest of your holiday. All the very best for New Year...



Enjoy
Nat

25 comments:

deanna7trees said...

just love seeing you with your gorgeous family. thanks for sharing and enjoy the week.

Els said...

Ha! Thát is a wonderful Christmas dinner with homemade linnen rolls !!!!
Hope you have a wonderful warm Christmas with your loved-ones and all the best for a creative New Year!
(love the decorations in the Christmas tree and I would loooove to taste that "pavlova": the photo works a bit like that "pavlov-dog" for me !!)

ria vogelzang said...

Dear Nat, it's so great to see you and your family on the pictures! Just love to see Bella and Fin.
Gorgeous grandchildren!!!
Enjoy your family these Christmasdays and the week up to the New Year! It's a special thankful feeling to be your friend! ;)
Love, Ria.

Sujata Shah said...

Dear Nat,
Thanks for sharing your wonderful family holiday with us! I can tell you are the absolute proud grandma one can have! They are so adorable!
I am sure your DIL is going to get a great us out of her gift!
Have a great time with everyone in the family!
Love-

Lis Harwood said...

How wonderful to be able to share your Christmas and Finn's first ever Christmas. I love the picture of you and Bella together. Happy Christmas to the whole of Nat's family from Lis xx

Anonymous said...

Merry Christmas to you and your family Natima, it looks like you all had a wonderful day, I love your table presentation, did you dye the table cloth, I can't quite see your centre piece is it a floral decoration.
Finn and Bella are both so adorable.

Love Lynda xxx

Nancy said...

Looks like a wonderful time with family and delicious food! Enjoy the rest of your time together and Happy New Year.

Penny said...

Lovely to enjoy the first Christmas, but even more fun with the third i think.

Queen Of The Armchair aka Dzintra Stitcheries said...

Good Morning Nat on this Boxing Day...and hi to all your beautiful family...How lovely that Finn is spending his first Christmas with you...A nice stressless dinner too...I like that...Have a wonderful time with them all...Hope your gift arrives this year...love Dzintra xoxo

Jacky said...

Nat, what a lovely post. How lucky to have Finn for his first Christmas...very special.
Looks like you all had a wonderful day, the pressies, the beautifully laid table and that yummy food.
We had Lee, Rob and Hugh out for the day, so just the six of us (spoke to Matt over in the USA...missed him). So special that time together at Christmas and especially for you with the little ones to share it with.
Have jotted down the recipe for Uncle Joes salad, will make that up this summer and think of my friend Nat.
Love and Joy to you and your family.
Jacky xox

Anonymous said...

Merry Christmas Natima and family. Thank you for sharing your very beautiful family.

kaiteM said...

happy christmas to Finn and al your family, a delightful day for you .

blandina said...

It seems that I am the last one here, visiting your blog is always a joyful moment.
The children are gorgeous, I like your picture with Bella.
Thank you for this post, I enjoyed every descriprion and every photo.

Nedra said...

Looks like you had a wonderful Christmas Nat! Being with family is what it's all about. You have such beautiful grandchildren! Of course, sharing good food is a plus, too. It's nice to see how the holiday's are celebrated in your part of the world.

Bryan's Japanese Textiles said...

Nat..the food looks great and hubby and kids and parents look so happy.
Best for the New Year!

Love Bryan

Cheryl Razmus said...

Well, I think everyone has said it all already, but I enjoyed every second of my visit to your holiday! So colorful, loving and full of fun (and tasty things.)

Queen of the Tea Cosies said...

Just lovely to get a peak at your family.
Look at you. You should be very proud.
Merry merry Christmas my lovely boggy friend.
Loani

Kim said...

Lucky lucky you to have the grandchildren for the holidays.
Enjoy!
Have a blessed 2012 Nat!

Anonymous said...

oh, what beautiful children and so wonderful to enjoy them at this special time. absolutely love the table cloth. think I gained weight just looking at the pavlova. wishing you all that love and happiness throughout the coming year. Hugs, Jean

Dot said...

Hi there Nat
Sounds like you had a perfect Christmasfday with your family. Lots of lovely photo's and lovely food too. Think I might make that salad for a family bbq I am going to tomorrow with my family. Have a great new year!
Dot x

Moon Goddess said...

Your Grand babies are darling! I really enjoyed catching up on your blog. Loved all your Christmas decorations and your dying results. You have inspired me! Love and Hugs, Cynthia

Peggy said...

Nat, what a great time your family had! I loved this post and seeing your family and those sweet grandbabies. The dinner looked beautiful, the salad sounds so good, I'm going to copy it down -- my daughter's boyfriend's family is from Thailand, they are Chinese but cook and eat Thai. I don't know if I'm saying that right. Chinese with a Thai influence? You even had time to make dye bundles! Can't wait to see the skirt, I have a hard time dyeing linen. Happy New Year, dear Nat. xo

Terry said...

What could be bettter than a busy day with family. Especially grandchildren. Yours are just as georgeous as mine. It was so busy I only took a couple of photos and then it was all go!!

rosie said...

Hi Nat,
I have had the best time browsing your blog.. Your photo of little Finn drew me in, he is so like our little grandson Max.. I am entranced by all your dyeing.. Happy Christmas and a happy New Year to you..

sheila at shecological said...

What a delicious looking dinner and a beautiful family! I can see a little bit of Auntie Kit in Bella.

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