10 ways to be a Bad Mummy at Christmas

Off we went to Coolangatta for the Christmas period. Because we are idiots for thinking that driving for 2 days there and then back, with 2 small boys would resemble something like relaxing. It's not. But you knew that.

Once ensconced in a holiday apartment, my sister Emma, her husband Brett and her boys Marley and Jordi came to visit. I was telling her that I was a bad mummy. She asked for examples. I gave her some. She suggested I had enough material for a blog post. Nice. I also told my Mum that Emma thought I would have enough material for a bad mummy blog post. She agreed. Next year Christmas will be with friends. Just saying.

Here we go:
1. I decided not to put up the Christmas tree at home because:

• We weren’t going to be at home for Christmas
• I couldn’t be bothered schlepping the massive box containing the Christmas tree, as well as all the other random boxes of decorations down 3 flights of stairs
• I couldn’t face untangling the 3 sets of Christmas lights. I have done enough problem solving for the year
• Charlie is at that “into everything” stage and I couldn’t face him destroying the tree at every opportunity
• I couldn’t face then packing up the tree sometime in March to do it all over again 9 months later

All this by itself wasn’t too bad until Aiden told me one day, walking up to day-care that they had a tree and pointed out we didn’t have one at home. Bad mummy.

2. On the subject of day-care, they had a Christmas party. They always have a Christmas party. Last year I went, taking along Charlie who was maybe 6 weeks old. Hell on earth people. All the day-care kids plus a good portion of their parents plus sugary food does not a good afternoon make. Luckily this year (here comes the bad mummy bit) I was going to be in Melbourne for work! “Arran, could you go?” Arran forgot and got some grief from the Childcare Director when he went to pick up the boys that afternoon. Apparently Charlie had a good time. He got a tattoo that took 6 days to get off. Aiden was scared of the jumping castle.

3. I didn’t get any specific presents for Charlie from Santa. The second child is tricky, specially cause he is a boy. We have bought heaps of things for Aiden so Charlie doesn’t really need anything. He steals everything from Aiden! I did want to get him something anyway, but what? I forgot about it. Christmas eve rolled around before I remembered I had got him nothing. I re-labeled some of Aiden's train presents for Charlie. 

Beautiful Charlie

4. Since going on holidays I have forgotten to brush Aiden's teeth. We were 4 nights into our trip away before I remembered, even though I had bought him a new Diego toothbrush. And after that I didn't remember until we go home yesterday. Seriously. Bad Mummy. Though maybe the Daddy could have remembered?

5. There was no Santa photo because I couldn’t face standing in line with lots of screaming kids and because work was stupid busy and I was pooped. One of my friends asked if I had taken the boys to see Santa, and before I could even draw my guilty breath to answer, she said "Oh that's right, you aren't that kind of mummy".

6. Aiden wanted a fire truck from Santa, and I forgot. It was even written up on a board at daycare presumably for mummy's like me.  Luckily Aunty Laura and Aunty Luella got him a little one. It's probably not the kind he would have asked Santa for, if I had taken Aiden to see him.

7. I was going to buy a cheap Christmas tree from a $2 shop when we got to Coolangatta but couldn't be bothered. Emma helped me buy some decorations and we got fancy with the plastic plant in the holiday unit. It doesn't even remotely look like a Christmas tree. Have you seen anything sadder?

See! Charlie about to destroy the tree!

8. Aiden loves being with his cousins Marley and Jordi. It would be great if they could be together more often, but I like living in Sydney. Marley and Jordi are in Brisbane. Selfish mummy.

The Cousins - Aiden, Marley, Charlie and Jordi

9. I hate the piles of coloured plastic shit toys all over my house. There seems to be at least double the amount since Christmas. Even though we have a relatively large house there is nowhere near enough storage. There could never be enough storage. There is going to be a cull. Very. Soon.

10. Forgot to get Arran a wedding anniversary present. Or even a card. This is really in the bad wife category but I have presently run out of bad mummy stories. Hard to believe I know.

Does anyone else have any bad mummy/daddy/aunty/uncle/grandparent stories? Would make me feel better!

Christmas Lunch - BBQ at the Beach

This year we stayed in Sydney for Christmas. We usually travel to Brisbane to be with our family but this year, with the arrival of Charlie we decided to stay put. We were invited to friends, Simon and Julie’s for Christmas lunch, an invitation that no sound person would decline. I have written about Simon and Julie’s cooking prowess before. You can read about them in this post.

Simon and Julie had been planning and thinking about Christmas lunch for about 3 months. They often trial meals before they cook them for guests and spend much time sourcing the best ingredients. This year they settled on the theme “BBQ at the Beach”, maybe because we are holidaying together soon at Mollymook. The menu was traditional at heart with twists of an Aussie seafood Christmas. Julie's brother helped out with the cooking and we ended up eating ourselves into a stupor on the delicious fare.

Lunch under construction on a wave-board

Roast pork sandcastle, surrounded by oyster rocks

Turkey breast roasted with prosciutto on a bed of 'sand' cous-cous.

Luscious and tender. 'Seaweed' spinach rounded out the meat platter 

Confit turkey leg and fresh tiger prawns

Black pudding 'rocks' and marine garnishes round out the presentation

My favourite shot.

Mirror, mirror on the wall

So there has been a "flurry" of activity in the house over the past couple of weeks. Well flurry is probably a stretch but I wanted to somehow work the word “flurry” in! I finally got around to doing some more things I have been wanting to do for ages. Arran was house-bound due to getting sick towards the end of last week and the appalling Sydney weather, so we got to work!

We purchased a mirror for our lounge room about 12 months ago, on a trip down the South Coast of NSW, and we have just managed to hang it. Yes we are slack. 

We often drive through a pretty little place called Milton and for some reason we actually stopped and had a look in some of the shops. We had been thinking that a mirror would work over the fireplace beside our Datner Dining table. I had in mind a large traditional mirror that would fit with the Victorian features of the room, but Arran fell in love with this one in a home-wares and furniture store in one of Milton's side streets. And I must admit it looks pretty cool. It does seem to work with the more contemporary furniture we like and is a great contrast to the navy blue walls.

Love the reflection of the ceiling rose and chandelier

It took a long time to hang because, firstly it took a number of months to have it delivered. The owners of the store, by coincidence, live in Glebe and offered to deliver it. Unfortunately they kept forgetting! Secondly, once we had it in the house, it took ages for us to buy strong enough picture hanging hooks that could take the 30kg or so, and that would hold in the old soft brickwork. I think we were also a little chicken to take on hanging such a heavy piece. Anyway, we purchased some hooks a month ago and put the mirror up on Sunday. Yah!

We hung a second mirror on Sunday. Our current house in Bridge Rd has a funny little downstairs toilet. I think the previous owners converted the pantry into a toilet so you didn’t have to climb lots of stairs, which is very handy.  Its off the kitchen and I have always thought that it needed a mirror over the basin. I saw a round one in last week’s Target catalogue on special for $59 and I thought it would be perfect . It was purchased on Thursday and hung on Sunday.

Nice, hey?

As we had the drill, drill bits, measuring tape and picture hooks out, this artwork finally found pride of place in our kitchen, hanging above the wine fridges the previous owners kindly left for us. They look great.

I had a visitor here from Milwaukee on Wednesday night for dinner who threatened to steal it and wanted to know what it was. It’s a cool story. Each piece is a ‘die’ from an old shipbuilding workshop that existed in the backyard of a Balmain house. They were used to make parts for ships and boats. A collegue I completed my Masters with purchased the house while we were studying and was cleaning out the large workshop/small factory. I was looking for original artwork for our Glebe St house and she offered that I could take anything I wanted.  I like these because they are unique and abstract and represent the working history of the area, much of which has been turned into very expensive housing. I like the contrast between the industrial and dirty and the clean creamy modern walls. The top piece has the name of the shipbuilder in the metal. H G Wise. 

What else? I have been changing my mind every week (Arran would say every day) on what to do with a large expanse of wall that runs from our kitchen to the back door. We currently have a bright orange Delta King Furniture lounge up against it and I have been oscilating between putting wallpaper up or paint. I know I want to hang bright artwork and photos on this wall and want an interesting backdrop. The latest issue of Belle Australia Magazine (Dec 11/Jan 12) features an amazingly colourful Miami holiday house. I absolutely love it! One of the walls featured in the photographs is a purplely-blue which is a great contrast to orange, turquoise, green and yellow design elements of the room. Check it out!

I'm thinking of using this photo as an inspiration for my room. I have tried to match the colour on this wall with Dulux colours but can’t quite find the right one. 

Have also tried Porters Paints. I think the one on the left is quite close and I’m loving the turquoise. What do you think?

And finally Christmas has struck. Our Christmas tree is up and looks pretty nice and I even have a wreath on the front door. Its nice that it hasn't been stolen. Yet. We even have some solar powered twinkle lights in a tree in the back yard.