a nomad's christmas

What's that you hear? Deafening silence? Sorry about that...been a bit busy! You know how it is - getting married, having a mini-honeymoon, packing up a life, sorting through a life of where it is to be stored (note: all over the countryside?!) and somewhere in there shoving my face full of turkey, ham and pudding. Ah the joys...

We spent Christmas at home in Gippsland - our last hurrah before heading off into the sunset on our around Australia honeymoon adventure. Christmas Eve was spent at my Dad's new house having a pool party with all five of my nieces, my two sisters, my brother-in-law, my brother and my sister-in-law. Oysters and champagne were called for, as well as copious amounts of prawns, crayfish fresh from Flinders Island my Dad flew down to get a few days before and loads of watersliding antics. All followed by traditional Christmas Eve mass at our local parish where we all grew up, and my niece is now going to school.

 

Christmas morning at my Mum's was met with squeals of delight when Scarlett and Ava found Santa's beer had been half drunk (who choose the dodgy beer?!) and the carrots nibbled by the reindeer, leaving a big mess on Grandi's box hedge!

Cousins arrived from next door to more squeals. So much squealing with five little girls! Santa was generous, as was Mum/Grandi with the traditional Christmas lunch spread. Roast turkey, roast chicken, a leg of baked ham and a buffet roast turkey. Followed by plum pudding with the most brandy-infused sauce we've ever had - woooo!

 

In the afternoon we headed down to Mr M's family by the sea to spend our first Christmas in the new and improved 'Shirwell' - a home that has been in his family for generations and has just undergone a serious renovation and extension. Floors had just been sanded and there isn't any furniture in yet but we enjoyed a (somewhat soggy) Christmas dinner on the new deck.

We set up our camper (our new home!) next door at Mr M's mum's cousin's house (confused yet?!), the beautifully restored 'Charnwood' - quite possibly the oldest house in Inverloch. This is our happy place. Mr M's parents are building a new house just in front of 'Shirwell' which will be our new family home. All this will happen this year whilst we're gallavanting about the country, which makes Mr M a tad sad that he'll be missing out on the action. But we're so looking forward to returning and having so many more beautiful meals with beautiful people on the deck at 'Shirwell' and the new house. 

I know most of you are all busting to see wedding photos, hear about our movements, how we left Brindabella, where we are now, what our plans are...but that will have to wait for another day. Right now I just wanted to share some love from the past week :)

We're off to Mildura to ring in the new year with friends and waterski to our hearts content. Until then...

Images by Emma Steendam for Cinderella at Brindabella

christmas blessings

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Hug your little ones closer, eat far too much pudding, believe in the magic of Christmas.

Most importantly, remember the reason for the season. Give. Laugh. Love. Count your blessings.

xxx

christmas dresses 2011

As I slowly but surely pack away all our worldly belongings, (moving day has been finalised the week after the wedding - eeeek!) I am coming to terms with the fact that for the next year I will be living out of a bag. Or a camper. Whatever. Point is that we are trying to narrow down exactly what it is we will take on our big trip. Nitty gritty's like which shoes, books, electronic chargers, first aid supplies, and clothes. Clothes. Hmmm...can I do the next 12 months with 3 pairs of jeans, 2 jumpers, 5 tops, 3 shorts and 2 skirts? Because that's basically all I'm taking. Because that's basically all we can fit. Hmph.

So as I start to think and look towards Christmas day I'm getting a bit sad that I won't have a pretty dress with me as usual to wear on the jolly holiday. We are planning on coming home for Christmas from where we will be in December (Boort in north west Victoria), but by then all our clothes will be in storage. No matter, here are some that I would like to be wearing, a little bit of sparkle or a little bit of Mrs Clause...

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

Do you wear something special on Christmas day? Or do you go more for board shorts and thongs and a hit of cricket on the beach? I like to wear something special as I think it's a special day!

it's beginning to look a lot like...

...Christmas!!!

As you may or may not know, I am a lover of all things Christmas. Give me some baubles, some ribbon to wrap up gifts and some carols to sway along to and I am one happy little elf.

This year I am putting my graphic design and photography skills to the test forefront with a series of custom Christmas cards available to order with your own images and supplied as a digital file. This way you can print as many as you like as a 6 x 4 inch (standard size) photo and send them all off with sprinklings of merriment and good cheer to your loved ones this Chrissy! A custom digital Christmas card to do with as you please (print it, email it, homing pigeon?) will set you back $26.00.

If you don't have any recent photos you think perfectly fitting for Christmas cards, that's ok too. I am offering a Christmas special portraiture shoot fee of $240, which includes a CD chock-a-block full of high resolution images and your personalised custom Christmas card to boot. (Usually my portraiture sitting fee with a full CD is $300). 

You can head over to my photography website or my facebook page to find out more.

So what are you waiting for - which one's your favourite? I'd love to hear...

christmas part deux

The fantastic thing about our Christmas day every year is the beautiful contrast between our families. We have a full-blown traditional lunch with my family and finish the day with a seafood vegetarian feast by the sea with extreme amounts of blue cheese and red wine in one of the original homesteads in Inverloch, the beautiful 'Shirwell'. I love it.

Mr M's brother and his girlfriend created the happiest Christmas tree I have ever seen on the front verandah of Shirwell with some gumtree branches, orange and yellow nasturtiums, purple flowering chives and daisy chains. Very much summed up the vibe of Christmas at the beach.

Christmas dinner was a feast of whole snapper, barbequed prawns with chilli and lime and an array of vegetarian delights. Guitars and singing on the front verandah followed by a bit of yoga and tai chi on the lawn is always welcome with Mr M's family. So very chilled out. Lots of incense wafting through the kitchen, Bollywood tunes in the background and political banter over the dinner table.

Mr M and I went for a long(ish) walk on the beach Boxing Day morning with Tessa and Mr M's sister's new dog Gracie. We do a round-robin type of Kris Kringle game where everybody contributes three gifts of $10 or lesser value. This year I cleaned up with this cool shopping bag from India care of Matt's aunty and uncle who frequent there, as well as some Margaret River lime and vanilla marmalade and a mint bush.

I hope your Christmas was sprinkled with as much love, good cheer, yummy food and relaxation as mine!

christmas part une

A very happy new year to all! I hope your Christmas was a lovely one spent with lots of family or friends and that the jolly man in red was kind to you. Our Christmas was spent between my family here in Thorpdale, Mr M's family down at their beach shack and then up to our friends in the Mallee busy harvesting their wheat crop. What a contrast, from rolling green hills to blustery beaches of the southern ocean to hot and dusty open plains.

Christmas at my mum's is always full of lots of traditional fare: my nieces Santa sacks by the chimney with Santa's snowy footprints, champagne breakfasts, a multitude of roast meats (turkey, chicken, pork and a leg of baked ham anyone?) followed by the gingerbread house and yummy pudding with loads of brandy cream. Mr M and I woke at 5am in order to be showered, dressed, packed to go on to the beach shack after lunch and at my mum's house before my nieces woke at 7am to find Santa had been! Such fun with the girls at the ages they are (Scarlett is four and Ava is two).

My mum is the master of Christmas day food, and seems to do it so effortlessly. Years of experience I guess. Admiration plus from me (the best pork crackling helps too!) Mr M was very helpful as you can see helping Ava (aka Dorothy the dinosaur) opening her presents. She is quite obsessed with all things farming so thinks her new farmer uncle is quite the treat. I made the place settings for our Christmas table spread from kraft paper and my stamp set left over from our engagement invitations.

My very clever mum made our centrepiece for the table with traditional holly and conifer branches entertwined with Christmas lillies, some natives and golden baubles. My favourite part of my mum's Christmas decorations, the Nativity, sits proudly on a table in the corner of the dining room, a reminder of the true meaning of Christmas. My niece Scarlett (along with Tessa) found Santa's snowy remnants at the base of the chimney on the hedge! Along with the reindeers leftover carrots.

A very jolly and merry Christmas I'd have to say, stay tuned for the second round of Christmas with Mr M's family...

Ho ho ho!

christmas blessings

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Thank-you for stopping by Little Miss Emma and now Cinderella at Brindabella in 2010, I have loved your comments, kind words and feedback on all my little projects, random thoughts, photos, our big move, our new house, our new life here at Brindabella and our engagement and wedding plans. I will hopefully pop my head in next week to share some leftover festive cheer, but in the meantime may your Christmas be merry and bright and filled with love, laughter, goodwill and pudding!

Love Emma, Mr M, Tessa and the working hounds at Brindabella xxx

what to wear, what to wear

Last year I mused on the possibilities of what to wear on Christmas day, a pretty festive frock would surely fit the bill. But this year it is blisteringly cold in my part of the world, we even had a fire last night, in December! There was snow on the mountains yesterday so who knows, we might even have a white Christmas somewhere in a Victorian summer?? Hmmm perhaps not.

I'd love to think that I could get around in a Dior-new-look and heels number, cheers with some eggnog and sing fa-la-la-la all 1950's housewife on you but the reality is Christmas day is spent in the chaos of ripped wrapping paper, assembling new toys for my nieces, a hit and giggle with champagne in hand on Mum's tennis court and then dinner on the beach with Mr M's family. So casual jeans and shirt it is! This would be what I would want to wear to ring in the arrival of the jolly fat man in the red suit...

The perfect amount of casual comfort, natural thongs, bag and belt, some Christmas sparkle and warm cardigan to snuggle on Christmas evening walk on the beach. What will you be wearing this Saturday 25th?

Jeans: Levis

Cardigan: Anthropologie

Shirt: Modcloth

Bag and shoes: Country Road

Belt: Just Jeans

Earrings and headband: Forever21

a very brindabella christmas

To say that I was excited to finally have a Christmas tree in our home was an understatement. If you can remember in previous years I have had to make do with a few spraypainted gumtree branches in a vase for a Christmas tree of sorts, mainly due to a severe lack of space in the cottage where we used to live. But this year? Oh no this year we live in a full-blown, proper, adult size house!

I wanted our Christmas decorations to be homely and feel like they suited us, so burlap was definitely on the cards (come on, we're potato farmers!) as well as lots of natural linens to go with our new curtains and couches in the lounge, kraft paper and bakers twine for the gift wrapping and a few pops of traditional red.

The stockings are made from burlap with a little linen tag which reads 'love' and are stamped in red with our initials: Emma, Matt and of course Tessa! The bunting banner is made from natural and red linen with a cream crocheted edge and reads 'peace'. I re-purposed our traditional wreath (which you may remember from last years Christmas at the cottage) to hang above our highly attractive old oil heater which I affectionately call 'The Vulcan'. This blast from the past heater is hopefully going to be ripped out and we want to re-instate an open fire if possible. We will have to get the chimney checked, but fingers crossed by next Christmas we will have a much prettier scene once we come up with a solution for those hideous bricks and tiles in front.

Our Christmas tree I decided to put in the corner of the dining room, so we can see it from the couch at night with the twinkling lights on. I was a bit worried that it might dry out and die quickly from being in this room with the giant windows but with the crazy wintery weather we've been having this has hardly been a problem!

The tree itself we bought off the local soccer club which sell them as a fundraiser each year. Can't wait to get some new curtains for this room and give it a lick of paint!

The decorations were all mostly Etsy sourced - natural twine and red crochet stars which I would have loved to make myself (note to self: learn to crochet in 2011), I am in love with the burlap, white and linen ragged balls and there are also some clay tags in there somewhere reading 'ho ho ho' and 'sleigh bells'. The white baubles I bought locally and the very crooked angel is an Etsy find, which I love as it is made out of a corn husk. Clever and agricultural! Perfect for us. Now if only it would sit straight on the tree...



My three French hens were also vintage Etsy finds (and are actually quails but hey), after Christmas they are going to either stay on the mantle or fly away over to the built-in bookshelf on the opposite lounge room wall. I painted the backing board of a wooden picture frame that we already had with chalkboard paint, in the process covering my engagement ring with black goo! Add some candles, some whtie peonies in one of Mr M's Dad's old milk bottles and there is our very first Christmas here at Brindabella.

Merry Christmas!

christmas cards 2010

Cards from Notes by Red Letter

This year I ordered cards from Etsy. Well I did last year as well...but the year before that I took a super dorky photo of me, Mr M, a very small baby Tessa, Lily, Buddy and a puppy Pippa on the motorbike at Ythanbrae. That card I am pretty sure is still stuck up on the filing cabinet at the Yea post-office!

Next year I am very much looking forward to having the same surname as each other so we can stop being like Madonna with only first names! Although I'm fairly certain we won't be doing Christmas cards next year with the wedding preparations...

Do you do Christmas cards? Do you receive Christmas cards? And if you do, do you feel obliged to send one back? That was Mr M's thinking, I disagreed. And how many times do you think I ruined the back of an envelope writing "Ythanbrae" Murrindindi instead of "Brindabella" Thorpdale?!! Gaaah!

a very crafty christmas

Doesn't Christmas time make you want to make a million things all at once? Well maybe not, but I seem to go into crafty overdrive once December hits, probably because of all the amazing DIY tutorials floating around in blogland. So this year I decided to do a round-up of my favourites...

Scallop edge felt Christmas trees - I love these, they look super easy to make and I love the fun colours for a bright Christmas table setting. All I need is some scallop scissors...

Baby sock advent calendar - why didn't I think of doing that?! Very cute way to count down to Santa's arrival, who doesn't like mini-socks?

Felt 3D ornaments - also looks really easy to make for a wow-factor to trim your tree.

Lumps of coal gift boxes - these are so fun, I'd love to get a lump of coal with some diamonds inside! How ironic is that? Mr M's family is Dutch and are forever going on about how Sintaklass is coming and Black Peter might give you coal! Love it.

Fabric bird ornament kit - you can buy this whole kit from The Red Thread for only $12 to make these cute tweety birds to zoom around your tree.

And my favourite Christmas craft tutorial would have to be Belinda's book page cone wreath she created over at The Happy Home. Just the right amound of tradition, whimsy and sparkle!

Merry Craftmas everyone.