Yesterday morning I went for an 8.65km run around Newtown and Sydney Uni. It was perfect weather – cool and drizzly. The rest of the day was a flurry of cleaning and tidying. Our friends Steve and Kate (the ones who got married at the Jenolan Caves) are visiting from London and we were hosting them for the night. Kate’s allergic to cats, so I made a valiant effort to at least reduce the number of cat fur tumbleweeds floating along the floor. (She took drugs; it ended up being okay.) The Snook made us a beautiful dinner: slow-roasted beef rib roast (from Neil Perry’s recipe), perfect french fries, and a salad of baby spinach, bleu cheese, and nashi pear. We also had loads of cheese and wine and Christmas pudding (not to mention hunks of torn-off gingerbread house). We played Rock Band way into the night.

This morning we all awoke to the smell of freshly-baked bread from the bread machine (again, courtesy of the Snook). After Steve and Kate left, I went to Newtown to meet up for an impromptu knitting lunch with Fiona, JP, Ailsa, and Kylie. Great conversation and company! When I got home, the Snook and I ducked over to Broadway to pick up a Christmas pressie for ourselves: a little green ice cream maker. (The drum is currently in the freezer. Tomorrow we’ll try out some of Alton’s Banana Ice Cream.) For dinner we just nibbled on leftovers, mostly cheese and crackers. Is there anything better than camembert and quince paste on a cracker? There is not. I have also made massive progress on the crocheted cotton baby blanket, and I’m now adding a scalloped edging. I think I’m getting the hang of this crochet thing!

Day 3 of Christmas Vacation
Yeah, I had two whole days of productivity before the Slack Fairy landed. After some fun phone calls to the fam this morning, I spent the whole day crocheting and watching videos. I finished all the squares for Olivia’s blanket and I’ve started joining them together. Yay for slack. 🙂

The Snook and I went for a 6.44km run around Newtown and Sydney Uni this morning. The Snook baked a bread, which made for a lovely lunch. I worked on the crochet granny square blanket I’m making for my new niece Olivia. I wove in all the ends on the 7 existing squares and then crocheted 3 more. (I’m aiming for 12 in total.) The Snook and I finished decorating our gingerbread house. Dinner was pork fillet with mustard sauce, roast beetroot, and mashed potatoes. *yawn* Good day!

Merry Christmas!
How’s this for a holiday tableau?

Our tree is a native hoop pine that Ma and Pa Snook gave us this year. We decorated it with tinsel, glass balls, and yarn bows. The gingerbread house was bought at IKEA and assembled and decorated by us today with Chocolate Buttons, Allens Freckles, sour fruit tape, Smarties (the Australian kind), and Cadbury Snow Bites. Putting it together was fun!