What’s Hot Christmas week

This is a bit late today as I have spent the morning searching high and low for the cable to transfer photos from my camera to the computer. I finally found it in amongst all the christmas chaos.

The how:
To play along, it’s as easy as writing up your own hot/not list on your blog and then linking back to me here at loobylu.com and then adding your url to the widget below.

Hot

Solstice is hot: – We had lots of guests last night and our Midsummer feast this year consisted of roast chicken and vegetables, pavlova, Paul’s Christmas pud and chocolates. We drank pimms and lemonade, sparkling champagne and sparkling red. After dinner the children made fairy rings and then Phil took them out way past their bedtime to see the christmas lights in the streets nearby (which apparently was the “most awesome thing ever”) followed by a new Tove Jansson book read by Nan for bedtime stories. Everything was a little bit sparkly last night.

Pavlova cooking: – Something that went just right. My first trial pav was you classic pav laden with cream and berries. It was so good. For Solstice I tried Jamie O’s version with some lime juice and coconut stirred through the mixture. I found it just a little too sweet but still successful.

I made a scrap fabric wreath! Inspired completely by Nan and her easy to follow instructions.

Paper snowflakes: – I can’t stop making them. There is that wonderful moment of surprise when you unfold the snowflake and discover what the delicate cuts have made. I use this image as inspiration (via @Maggie) and here are some instructions.

Aunty Cookie’s kind loan of her wizz bang badge making machine: – Don’t slow down near me or I might whip you up and turn you into a badge. It’s too much fun.

Christmas carols on my ipod: – Our little music box in the kitchen is blasting out the christmasy tunes – we have Charlie Brown’s Christmas, Sufjan Stephens, Vintage carols with the likes of Bing Cosby and Doris Day, Christmas in Sweden (from Anna’s kind gift over at Dos Family)

Alma: – (above) the beautiful (but creepy) animated short is available to watch online for a short time this Christmas. It is so hot. She is an exquisite character.

This set of stacking drawers.

Not

Food fail: – Tears and a bashed head while meringue cooking. Failed dips (too much garlic in the beetroot, too much smoke in the baba ghanouj) and a slightly dried out solstice chicken. Argh. never mind. It’s the company & conversation that counts.

Last Monday: –  Monday was a bad day. I don’t need to go into it really, but it consisted of tired, tantruming children, tired parents, awkward (awful) social moments and failed culinary plans.

I didn’t take a single photo of our Solstice party! So not hot. I guess we were living in the moment.

So how about you?

Midsummer Magic

I have had a couple of incidents this weekend which make me wonder if there isn’t a mischievous Midsummer Puk in our midsts but mostly it’s been fun and frolicky with some perfect weather to accompany it.

Solstice Goodness:

1. Fairy rings for fairy chocolates. The girls constructed these (above) late last night, as you know Summer Solstice is when the fairies come out, and sure enough there were squeals of delight when gold covered chocolate coins were discovered (way too early) this morning. They managed this despite some discussion as to whether they would come out to play Midsummer Eve or Midsummer Night.

2. Dress-up (fairy wings encouraged) Solstice dinner with roast goodness, chocolate desert and plenty of ice-cream but best of all, a new growly baby guest in a sling at our table.

3. After dinner I walked Kim and Georgina to their car and exclaimed that it really did feel a bit magic-y out. We stood saying our goodbyes and two great owls flew out from the tree across the road – great silent forms in the twinkling dark. Owls here in Melbourne! I know they are around but I have never actually seen one. One perched on the electricity wires under a street light and I couldn’t have wished for a better Midsummer sighting.

4. Christina and Paul’s Christmas get together – macaron mania, beautiful decorations, gorgeous people, new acquaintances with cute patchwork bags, pretty dolls, fancy tattoos…

5. Christmas lunch #1 at Mum and Dad’s. Phil was given a remote control helicopter from my Uncle which is tiny and delicate and hovers like a dragon fly (unless it’s caught in a evaporative cooling airstream and then it’s “duck for cover!”).

6. Happy girls – it has taken a few days to adjust to holidays and rest off that end of term tiredness but I think we are almost there.

7. Happy me – all feels good in the world.

NEXT!

Pip revolutionized my life today by introducing me to the Next button in Google Reader… read her instructions and enjoy! I was totally overwhelmed by all the blogs I subscribe to in my reader, and will often just return to my 10 – 15 oldest and dearest because looking at everything is just too much. But now I have started a-fresh. I haven’t gone the whole hog and deleted everything like Pip has done, but I have marked everything as “read”, and will enjoy hitting “next” from now on to flick through the most recent updates from all of my 236 favourite blogs (I can’t bear to delete a single one!). I have found so much inspiration in just one day using this new method. I am hoping this sense of being all sorted will last.

I have started thinking about decorating for Christmas (this year I am thinking of embracing the Southern Hemisphere Summer a bit more and decorate with a kind of Midsummer-fairy-woodland theme… though I may run out of energy, as is my way, and just cut out a million paper snowflakes again. They do look pretty). There is lots to be found to start me thinking and scribbling lists. Top to bottom: Mouse House and Family from Pottery Barn Kids, vintage wall art on etsy (sadly sold!) via How About Orange, a super cute mushroom ornament found on Sew, Mama, Sew, Heidi’s gorgeous card houses (she has the link to the templates on the bhg site) and lastly (and so cool) is a detail from Michelle’s beautiful Solstice calendar. Such an inspiration!