I'm easy. Oh yeah, maybe some chocolate.

Writing letters to Santa by candlelight

Dear Santa, I hope you have had a wonderful year.  I have bveen having a wonderful holiday and seems like only yesterday I was writing my last letter.  This year sure has gone fast! This year I would like for Christmas: Some surprises, something mini or a charm, an ipod nano (maybe) well, I'm not really sure what I want, anything really, mostly just surprises and anything you think of.  I'm easy.  Oh yeah, maybe some chocolate.  Well merry Christmas and I hope again you have had a wonderfull year.  Love from Nina

Dear Santa I hope youa re having a wonderful Christmas and I wood like to ash you how is Melbourne going and I wood like to have these things for christmas a charm bracelet and a picter of your family and some surprises.  Some candy to put in my candy bag a glow in the dark jumper that I can were to bed and maybe some more surprises. Love from Grace

Dear Santa, How are you? Did you have a nice year in the north pole? For Christmas I would like: Surprises, etch sketch/mini etch sketch (I don't care which) well crackle nail polish or glow in the dark or both: All I really want is surprises other than the nail polish and the etcha sketch.  Love Ruby

Sanders Theater, Harvard

End of the Revels - singing the Sussex Carol

I thought I'd put aside old traditions, at least temporarily, and embrace new ones. We went to the Christmas Revels yesterday on the recommendation of a woman from my knitting class. It was sweet and fun but I suspect much sweeter and more fun if you've gone every year for the past twenty or so, and like singing the chorus to Lord of the Dance repeatedly. Don't get me wrong, I love a group sing but I think I'm more of a Termanativity kind of girl when it comes to Christmas shows. 

On our return the girls realised they hadn't written their letters to Santa yet, and felt this must be remedied immediately. Fortunately 'a surprise' featured quite highly on all their lists. Lil did a few lists too, but it all ended in tears with her adamant claims that she is not a good drawer and that the list was not up to scratch. Is this the lot of the youngest child? To have siblings with whom to compare and find oneself wanting? It's true that at 4 she shows no particular skill as an artist but she doesn't strike me as being especially worse than her peers. Mind you, I don't think she has ever considered the other kids at kinder to be her 'peers', telling me once that kinder was boring because there was 'nothing cool' to do there. And once, when were dancing around the kitchen, she looked at me assessingly and then broke it to me: 'you ackly not really cool Mum'.

In any event Christmas letters were written and I had to capture them, even though they're nearly impossible to make out.  This one was one of Lil's rejects:

Today we went ice skating at our local rink.  $8 for our whole family to hire skates and use the rink.  We'll be making it a regular activity, even though each time we skate we seem to get blisters on different bits of our feet.  The sun came out briefly, and even though the snow has mostly melted except for dirty piles on the sides of the road, it's feeling pretty Christmassy.  We made lamingtons for our landlord and after I baked the sponge I put it outside to cool down quickly.  Five minutes later I caught a squirrel just about to help himself.  Cheeky bugger, I saved the cake in the nick of time.

As I write this, the girls are stringing popcorn and cranberries to hang on the tree.  Back home it's already Christmas.