'Twas the Month Before Christmas

The Christmas spirit galloped full pelt into my head on Saturday. I have no idea where it came from. I have 5273 ideas running round in my head (all of which require significant effort on my part) and it's time to start pulling my finger out and getting some of them started. Because this year Christmas is here. At my house. All day. 

We're doing an "open house/roll up when you like" deal so I sort of have to keep the food flowing all day and into the evening. Oh who am I kidding? My sister is coming, so by 4.00pm the cocktails will be flowing like the Murray River and I won't care what people are eating.  Maccas is open Christmas day isn't it? Maybe I can just get a load of Happy Meals and blitz them in the microwave when people look hungry. Regardless of my brilliant Maccas plan I've been collecting ideas for Plan B over the past few weeks for yummy (easy) eats I can serve that wont entail me being chained in servitude to the kitchen all day. I think I finally have that part nailed, at least in theory. My "all day food" menu is written up and includes things I haven't cooked before so I've been using Mr. P as a guinea pig to try them out. He has a cast iron stomach thankfully.

Spinach and Persian Feta Tartlets . These looked and sounded better than they tasted. If I'm going to make these I need to find a way to zing them up a little. Personally I prefer to eat the feta right out of the can , guiltily standing in front of the fridge forking it into my mouth while hoping Mr. P doesn't walk in and bust me but my inner spidey sense tells me that's probably not the way to go with guests. 

Ham, Cheese and egg cups. A great breakfast idea to feed a lot of people but I really should have covered them with alfoil after 10 minutes of cooking like the recipe said so the rolls didn't get as hard as rocks. And I would have done that if I had any alfoil but we've been alfoil-less here now for a month.

Ginger Molasses Cookies. They taste like Christmas in every bite. Seriously. I'm thinking maybe I could dip one side in chocolate to make them even more delicious but they are the bomb. Definitely making these for Christmas day.

Last week I was in Spotlight (the Australian version of Joann or Hobby Lobby )  and I saw some Christmas napkin rings.  Since I have never owned napkin rings before because I have never owned actual napkins, I decided to get some for my Christmas table. I grabbed 4 packs and sauntered up to the counter to ask the price where I was duly informed that they were $17.00. Per pack ! I'm one wild and crazy girl but even I'm not insane enough to pay $68.00 bucks for 16 metal Made in China napkin rings that probably cost them 2 bucks to make. So I set out to make my own and saw an idea on Pinterest using old spoons and forks which I thought was quirky enough and cute enough for my Christmas table.

Take that Spotlight! It cost me $3.36 to buy the cutlery and an hour of my father in laws time and muscle to bend them into napkin ring shapes. I love that they're all slightly different and think they're going to look fabulous on my food laden table.

Speaking of my Christmas table, I'm planning to have a new one by then. The dogs like to take tap dancing lessons on our current outdoor table when we aren't at home, so I've been plotting how to foil their dance -fests. 

This table is about 14 years old. It's moved from my parents house to my house and has seen many meals and crafts and quilts being basted on it. Consequently  it's looking pretty trashed. My inspired idea for a replacement involves a bar height table with a twist that I am going to make myself. Stay tuned. Whenever I touch power tools (or knives) it's odds on that someone is going to get hurt.

It's nice to be starting Christmas projects. Let's see if I'm still saying that 6 weeks from now !

I'm off to see what you've all been up to since I haven't been anywhere this week except the Bloggers Quilt Festival posts.  

The Aftermath of Christmas.

Pigs of the world can breathe a collective sigh of relief. I swear I don't want to see a slice of ham again until at least April. 


Christmas is done for another year. For the Pyjama family it was a day where we ran around like hairy goats trying to see everyone to keep them happy and then it was done in the blink of an eye. I think next year I might just hibernate out at home like a bear. However, Little P (who has that curious supermodel quality of being able to knock out an engaging smile the second I say"Cheese") had a bunch of fun on the actual day despite telling Father Christmas the week before he didn't "think much of Christmas ". 

The big hit of the day was the almost life sized fire truck we bought him. Too bad it didn't come with some hunky firemen for his Bella. 

My family continue to give me gag gifts.These will join Planet Cake on my recipe book holder so it looks like I can bake worth a damn. Perhaps one day in a moment of madness I will attempt to bake a recipe from one of these books.

My love of gorgeous hair was satisfied. My old GHD died several months ago and I couldn't justify the 300 buck price tag when I had another functional hair straightener worth $220. I know I sound vacuous and like a complete airhead. For all of you muttering "A hair straightener is just a hair straightener" that's simply not true and you obviously haven't experienced the sheer bliss of a GHD. I didn't just do a happy dance people, I practically danced a whole musical. 

Mr. P almost did a wee when he got a Wii. He refused to believe it was an actual Wii until he'd opened the box and pulled everything out because Im the type of person that would cruelly stoop so low as to put a Christmas dustpan in a Wii box. The Wii was an investment in ensuring many happy hours of uninterrupted sewing for me .Worth every cent. 

Christmas night was very relaxed and full of stupidity as evidenced by these photos of my sister doing a  Popeye impersonation.

(SOP,  if you're gonna post incriminating pictures of me on Facebook you better know I'm going to get payback) 

We move on to Mother of Pyjamas doing jelly shots.

And deciding she didn't think they were all that. 

but later actually believing she could sing like Barbra Streisand (so the jelly shot had it's desired effect) 

My parents dancing after a few beverages. It was just like Dancing with the Stars but without the costumes. Or the official judges. Or the class. 

And I laughed. A lot. 

 

Boxing Day included moving slowly, a three hour nanna nap and letting my liver process several different kinds of alcohol. Thank you liver- you did an awesome job and I am eternally grateful. 

We hosted a recovery dinner on Boxing Day. Thanks to Kirsten's recipes I had plenty to feed everyone.

Mini chicken salad croissants 

These are spinach-less because my sister spat on all the spinach the night before being a cartoon character. 

And a galette which is honestly the most idiot proof dessert I have ever made.  

The day after the day after Christmas I woke with a burning desire to start my annual house clean out. That's where I pull everything from every cupboard in my whole house room by room and get rid of things that haven't seen the light of day since the last clean out. I started with my sewing room which used to look like this.

And now thanks to Ikea..looks like this

Wednesday night I tried to kill myself by eating a chocolate ball that had ground up almonds in it. I survived due to quick thinking and an epi-pen. 

I hit the post Christmas sales and bought new bed linen. I cant help myself. That makes 7 quilt sets of bed linen I own ....

Mr. P looked very dubious about all that pink but tough cookies. 

And this appeals to my minimalist nature. 

I have spent the last three days entertaining Little P and having him "help "me. This is him pulling every pin out of every pincushion I own and putting them in a basket. The basket was subsequently emptied on the floor and then he got tired of  "helping". 

I have listened to twinkle twinkle little star about 2385 times and have sung "galumph went the little green frog" (minus the sadistic verses ) at least 93 times. And I'm still trying to get the black sparkly nail polish off my cream ottoman but that's another story. 

Enjoy your New Years Celebrations! I'm off to check out what you've all been up to while I've been held hostage by a 2 year old with a pin fetish.  

PS. My Mum is so gonna kill me for those photos....

Merry Christmas

Some of you may have been wondering if I'd been kidnapped by Santa's elves and made to work in a North Pole sweatshop for the last two weeks but the reality is that work and home life in the lead up to the holidays has been kicking my sorry butt. I'm tough- I survived and as of yesterday I'm officially on almost 7 weeks holidays. That means I'm planning to annoy you all far more regularly since I'm officially a lady of leisure. Last time I was this leisurely was in 1995 when I had a 4 year old.

As I write this post it's Christmas Eve morning here. My presents are all wrapped and under the tree. The house is decorated.

My fridge and pantry are  full of good things to eat , all the grocery shopping having been done yesterday. It was a complete zoo. The shops are shut for three days here from tonight and it's like bread and milk have become the most precious commodities on earth.

I need to bake my ham today and prepare a chicken salad for my chicken croissants tomorrow night. (Thanks for the recipe and inspiration Kirsten!) 

Two remaining jobs include cleaning the house and picking up Miss P who is staying the night. We're going to do a Webber chicken for dinner and then take Little P for a walk round the neighbourhood to see the Christmas lights after dinner. Then it's home again where he can open one present which will coincidentally happen to be a picture book edition of "The Night Before Christmas" and we'll read that and then cross our fingers that he'll go to sleep before we do. Little P went into a big boy bed 10 days ago and has been coming out of bed 1275 times and falling asleep at 11pm every night since.  He told Miss P at 4.30am the other morning he was coming in to my room to play with me. I think we need to work on getting him to tell time and to clue up to the fact that anyone who wakes me at any time is really taking a risk of having their head bitten clean off. 

So, I went out and bought Little P this bedtime buddy yesterday and also on the agenda for today is to make up a photo story about the big bear that stayed in bed when it was dark outside. And then he can take the bear to bed with him at night. Wanna bet the bear starts coming out of bed 1275 times a night as well? 

I have aback up plan. If the non aversive bear idea doesn't work I'm going to super glue Little P into bed.

In my absence, I've finished a double sided baby quilt,(one side was for a boy the other for a girl because we don't know what my friend is having) 9 bibs, the Dresden cushion , and a pincushion for my mother in law. I've ignored my Christmas bunting and my Christmas quilt. Now I have a jump on my 2012 Christmas projects.

Somewhere in amongst all that crazy Miss P and I decided it would be an awesome idea to make a gingerbread house. I have discovered gingerbread house making is not among my many talents. I'm hoping this note in my 2012 diary will remind me of the agony of 2011 and save me hours of angst.

I'm still scraping icing off my bench tops. That stuff sets like concrete. And the result of all this labour? The sorriest looking gingerbread house you've ever seen...

I'm going to stick to cooking hunks of meat in future. I rarely bugger that up. Fiddly and I are not friends. 

And so, on this day before Christmas, from all of the Pyjamas clan to all of you and your families I wish you a very Merry Christmas full of wonderful food, laughter and the creation of some very special memories. 

With love, 

The Amazing-ness of Perception

All in all , it's been a good week. An exceptionally good week. You may recall me saying Mr. P had some temporary work a few weeks back. That ended nearly two weeks ago. They called him last week to offer him a full time  job and he starts tomorrow. Yay! It's something completely different to what he's been doing for the last 25 years , so he's about to experience a steep learning curve career wise. It's a challenge,  but one he's looking forward to.   I am looking forward to being able to buy fabric again with impunity.

I've been thinking about perception today. Sufficed to say a quilting process was not going well, but instead of getting annoyed with myself , I just shifted my perception of the quilt from  " Yuk "  to  "Indy and Lola are about to have the coolest dog blanket ever ". I'm over stressing out about being perfect all the time.  So I finished the quilt, washed it in really hot water and chucked it in the dryer  to antique it up and voila. It actually doesn't look too bad now it's shrunken and deliberately puckered!

I didn't pick the cherries last Sunday because Mr. P told me he found two dead starlings under the tree and the cockatoos haven't been round (maybe they're all dead too ) so I started wondering if those cherries are poisoned. My Dad ate 5 cherries and didn't die but this is the dude that ate mouldy lamingtons and survived. I'm giving it a miss. Just in case.    

I morphed into Betty Crocker over the weekend. I made my own bread from scratch yesterday. (Thank you for the recipe Little Miss Sunshine ) This bread is seriously good even if my yeast was somewhat doubtful. New yeast is on the shopping list. This recipe is definitely a keeper.

Last year at Christmas I decided at the last minute to make something with chocolate in it and raced down to the shops to get some baking chocolate only to be confronted by empty shelves and only el cheapo chocolate left. This year I got prepared for those last minute baking urges.

And then I made smartie bark ...

And peppermint crisp shavings to go into hot chocolate and coffee...

And then today I decided to make truffles. White chocolate with apricot and dark chocolate with vanilla. Seriously good. I had these for dinner. Really.

I'm ready for Christmas. I need to  do my final grocery shop at the last minute so my rocket doesn't wilt and my feta doesn't dry out.  The ham is in the fridge and ready to be eaten (if I can resist until next Saturday morning - we always do ham and eggs for Christmas breakfast).  I'm working this week so I'm hoping to relax and enjoy the lead up to the big day since Christmas Day for us will be spent elsewhere. We're having everyone here Christmas Eve but I'm keeping that simple with BBQ snags, baked chicken pieces, crusty bread and salads. If you're in the vicinity feel free to drop in.

I'm not sure when I'll be back here again this week, so just in case I'm not- Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, or have a good week. I hope you all have a wonderful time with family and friends and  relax and enjoy the season. Best wishes to you and your loved ones from the whole Pyjama Clan.  

Bah Humbug!

It is tradition that the first Saturday in December is Christmas Decorating Day. Christmas exploded with a vengeance at Maison Pyjamas today.

I love my house. It's small. It's cozy and it has a definite quirky feel. There are lots of "me " touches here. When the first Saturday in December arrives I feel equal parts of excitement and anxiety. Excitement because I get to see all the Christmas decorating booty  I haven't seen for 11 months.  Anxiety- because I will confess, I dont like clutter. And frankly all that green and gold and red throws the neutral feel I worked hard to create completely off. But I know it's only for a few weeks and so I live with it.

For a while it looked like Christmas had barfed all over my kitchen table.

This is what will greet you at my front door. Welcome. Come inside out of the blazing sun.

Except on days when I'm feeling anti-social. Then you can stay outside in the 9th circle of hell. Everyone has those days right?

Normal people have wreaths on their front doors. Not much here is ever normal.

Santa has already parked his boots in my entry foyer. I think he's planning to use my guest room. I guess it's not manners to tell Santa to bugger off.

My hall table- Martha I am not.

If you say Ho three times quickly it's swear word status is completely negated.

I finally found a use for that fish bowl I bought eons ago. I still cant recall why I bought it. Im not planning to get any fish.

 Earlier today you would have happened on one naked tree

and one fascinated cat...

Christmas stockings are hung on my unfinished dresser....

And, I'm ready to write Christmas lists.

And I wanted to share with you my first ever quilting and binding project. I made this years ago and it wasn't until I dragged it out of the box today that I realised how truly bad it is. It's heartening to know I've made progress in the time since then. The table runner is back in the box . I can do better.

And I present to you the 2010 Pyjamas Christmas Tree, which took all flipping afternoon to decorate.

This decorating frenzy is brought to you by the peer pressure of having American blog buddies who go all out at Christmas. Yes I caved in. I'm pathetic. I can pack all this stuff away the day after Christmas right?

P.S. You will be glad to know Santa came early this year and brought me new underpants...finally. Now I can have a medical emergency and not have to worry about cute young male doctors asking to see my butt.  I had so much stinking fun getting rid of the manky old stuff Im thinking of going bra shopping next.

What? It's not OK to flash your undies in public?