Last night we made a buche de noel.  Younger daughter was doing a talk on Christmas in

France

for a school project.  One of her classmates is moving back to Russia next week (new baby on the way that parents want to be born in Russia prompting complaints of why I hadn’t moved back to England to birth her, never mind that she still has British citizenship, in fact had a passport at 2 weeks with cute photo of baby held at arms length but my hands still visible as I supported her head…) and the teacher had decided they would have this fun activity before Olga left the country.  Anyway, part of the research was around food so we made a Christmas log for her to take in. Not terribly Martha Stewart-ish (if it was, I would have crafted chocolate leaves and meringue mushrooms for the woodland scene) but yummy just the same. In the middle of me trying to approximate bark with chocolate ganache, younger daughter managed to pull the bowl of icing off the counter and chocolate icing went everywhere including my hair.  The bowl hit the floor with a resounding crash and a piece of glass cut my toe.  Bugger, why did I wash the kitchen floor on the weekend? Order was restored and all was well for the delivery at school this morning.

Last week my daughter led the assembly at school.  She set up an altar at home yesterday and tried to get older daughter to say prayers with her to no avail.  A lot of candle wax seemed to be distributed everywhere.

They spent the weekend with their father.  I stayed over in Bondi and walked the beach a couple of times but our plan to look at sculpture by the sea on Sunday was scuppered by the crowds.  I don’t get any pleasure out of that slow shuffle.  In fact, it made me way too irritatable and tired so we skipped that.  We went back to my house and my friend helped me assemble an Ikea bedside table for older daughter and I did my filing.  It made me feel good to have order restored on my desk.  My colleague at work had procured me a 15” flat screen monitor to use at home which is a great improvement but I realize I need to get a bigger desk to deal with all the printers and scanners, etc.

I still can’t find the cable to connect my camera so no

India

pictures as yet. 

Comments

[ab]

I hope plans are in place for younger daughter and I to attend Midnight Mass.

[anyresemblance]

dear ab, i knew i could rely on you to ensure we observe the correct rituals. when are you going to email me your itinerary?

[amieo]

hey.
Christmas is coming to early our house as well since I was in the city of lights last year and missed my friends and family. We hung garlands and a wreath over the weekend and I was determined to get a tree but the type I like we either have to cut ourselves from posted property or wait until later in the season when we may find someone who has cedar trees on their lot.

Re: your cable - if you have an all in one printer they often have slots on them for taking memory cards. Its a great option for downloading photos since it doesn't require the use of your camera, only the cable that connects the printer to your computer.

I can't imagine christmas on the beach...do you miss the weather from your native land this time of year? (ok, ok, I know - but if you could have it for a week instead of 3 monthes would it be great?