Farmboy Is "In A Relationship". Or So I Have Been Told.

Farmboy had a new haircut yesterday. He has asked me to blog about it because he thinks it is super cool. (And obviously it is!).  The hairdresser put product in it and everything.

Look.  Cool rock star spikes.

Uber Funky Farmboy Hair

With A More Sensible Back

In an earlier post I mentioned how Farmboy is a ladies man.  He proudly told The Farmer and myself the other day that he was "in a relationship".  After a quick double take and trying desperately to look serious, The Farmer asked him what that meant.  He looked at The Farmer like he was really stupid and said "It means I have a girlfriend."

Now Farmboy is six.  And the "girlfriend" is six. So we think it is unlikely to be a long term relationship....

I hope everyone has a great Saturday.

Also - Manana Mama (who has a fantastic blog)  gave me a lovely award.  I promise I will get onto it soon.  Thank you Manana Mama.

The Dreaded School Lunch Box aka Farmgirl Gets Hands On

I tried hard to channel Nigella this week and did some baking for Farmboy's school lunches.  Filling lunch boxes seems to make me slightly neurotic.  I get performance anxiety about making Farmboy's lunch healthy and unprocessed enough to get past the lunch box police. So many foods are banned and I am constantly worried I will accidentally have a brain freeze and put in chocolate biscuits or something...  I would then be forever branded as the mother that put junk food in her son's lunch box.

Farmgirl helped me with the baking this week.  Baking is something we often do together.  I have used her expertise to help illustrate recipes before (click here if you want to see her polished technique).  She particularly loves helping me ice things.  Sometimes she gets a bit carried away though.

Farmgirl Hands

I think this may be getting a bit too hands on...

Am I the only Mum who hates packing lunches??   Any tips on healthy lunch box snacks would also be very welcome!

Farmboy Hits Year 1. In The Path Of A Storm.

Farmboy had his first ever day of Year 1 today.  He was very excited until we were half way into town when he suddenly said.

"I feel a bit scared.  And a bit sick"

I tried to be as reassuring as I possibly could.  Farmboy is at a smallish country primary school and so his Year 1 class is largely made up of the same kids he went to Pre Primary with.  I pointed this out and told him it was "just like Pre Primary but with your own desk".  This seemed to settle him.

When we arrived his teacher (who is fantastic - another upside of a country school is knowing all the teachers) was very matter of fact about settling the kids into their desks and then lining them all up for Assembly.  Parents were encouraged to leave quickly and he was completely happy when I left.

He is super exhausted this evening.  He has already told me he is not keen to go tomorrow in case there is "any fun stuff" at home he misses. I pointed out that home will be exceptionally boring tomorrow and school would be a better option.  He seems happy enough with this.

Apparently the most exciting bit of the whole day was being allowed to bring home a reading book.

J Is Obviously The Letter Of The Day

On a completely different note, my thoughts keep turning to all the people in North Queensland who are facing Cyclone Yasi as I write.  I am sitting in our solid old farmhouse on a hot, still summer evening and it feels a world away.  Like the rest of Australia I can only hope that people stay safe and the damage is not too great...  Queensland is a beautiful part of Australia and it seems to have suffered far too much already this year.

Evening

Farmboy And The Ladies

Farmboy is only six.  But he likes girls.  A lot.  The first time I realised this was when he was three and a half.  I caught him kissing the TV whilst Bindi Irwin was on.  The conversation went something like this.

Me: "Darling what are you doing?"

Farmboy:  "Kissing Bindi"

Me: "Why?"

Farmboy (whilst looking at me like I was an utter imbecile) "Because I love her"

He still has a soft spot for Bindi but his tastes seem to have matured somewhat.  He is now in love with a couple of ten year olds we have dubbed "The Ripstick Girls", because they regularly ride their ripsticks (skateboard thingies) past The Beach House.  They are pretty cute and The Farmer and I have taken advantage of his crush shamelessly. For example, if he won't eat his steak and vegies the conversation goes something along these lines.

Farmparent: "Eat your steak please"

Farmboy: "No, I don't feel like it."

Farmparent: "The Ripstick Girls like boys with big muscles.  The best way to get big muscles is to eat lots of steak".

Result.

Recently he managed to persuade a gorgeous bikini clad teenage goddess to make sand castles with him for about half an hour. Even I was impressed that time.

The Farmer and I do think he might want to change his approach over the next few years.  At present his initial line is

"Hi, I'm Farmboy.  I love you."

What is cute (and very effective) at six, is just going to seem desperate (and slightly stalkerish) in a few years time.

He has had one absolute shining moment though, in his pursuit of the opposite sex.  One day a very cute girl was standing on the bridge in the park near The Beach House.  He clocked her, ran inside and came back with a remote control car.  He then grabbed some daisies from the garden and taped them to the car.  His plan was to drive the car up to her so she got the flowers.  I think it was a stunning plan and would have worked brilliantly if the car did not have flat batteries...

Farmboy Knows These Impress The Ladies

A Summer Storm

Our holiday has finally come to an end.  We want to be back on The Farm by tomorrow as there is the threat of some rough weather due to Tropical Cyclone Bianca making her way down the Western Australian coast.  On the off chance she crosses near us we think a weatherboard beach house is probably not the place to be.  Likewise, as with any summer storm, the fire risk on The Farm is huge and we would feel more comfortable being there to deal with anything that may occur.

Tropical Cyclones do not usually come this far down the Western Australian coast but it is not unknown.  One of my first childhood memories is of my mother tucking towels under doors in our home in the Great Southern.  It was 1978 and Cyclone Alby was tracking right down toward Albany.  I am not sure why it stands out in my mind. Perhaps because it was the first time I had seen my parents worried.

Last night we had some thunder and lightning pass over at about 3.30 am.  Both Farmchildren wound up in our bed with their hands over their ears.  Farmgirl was worried the lightning would come through the window and Farmboy just didn't like "the bangs".

Living on The Farm we are so influenced by the weather.  I don't have time to write much this morning but I did write a whole post devoted to the weather when I first started to blog.  Click here if you want to take a look.

Take care everyone, wherever you are.

We Will Be Here Again

A Farmer's Wife Extols The Virtues Of The Zoo

Hello all.  We are back and firmly installed in The Beach House.  Which, incidentally, has had a bit of an overall.  The general vibe is now very much Ikea meets The Hamptons meets Nanna By The Sea.  All done on a bit of a budget.  But more about that later...

The highlight of our recent trip to The City (aka the gorgeous city of Perth) was a visit to The Perth Zoo.  Now I have to admit that I had not visited The Zoo for some years.  The Farmchildren have been taken by The Farmer or their grandparents several times but I have always opted for some quality childfree time at the shops/hairdresser/cafe with friends instead.  This was brought home to me by Farmboy's clear instructions from the back of the car in relation to exactly how to get there and then where to get a good parking spot.  He was bang on and way better than the GPS.

The Perth Zoo was brilliant.  We all loved it.  It was much shadier and lush than I remembered and the grounds were beautiful without being too manicured and precious.  Some parts of The Zoo haven't changed since I visited as a small child. They still have the pretty carousel which I vividly remember.  Tricia the elephant is still in residence and gets taken out and about for a walk.

Some things have changed.  The animals all now have natural habitats and look very happy and content.

We visited in the middle of the day.  The Zoo animals were showing signs of superior intelligence. They knew exactly how to cope with the heat of a January day in Perth.

They were having a siesta.

Saltwater Crocodile Relaxed and Sleepy

Rhino, Hitting The Hay

A Poolside Nap For A Penguin

Lioness Sleeping In The Shade

Overall a great day was had by all.

I Went Online Shopping. Again. Farmboy Turns Six. Blog Love.

Regular readers of my blog will know I am fairly handy with the internet when it comes to shopping.  Living on The Farm I have limited access to shops.  I do try and do as much locally as possible, but if something is not available, my next port of call is always my laptop.

Through the wonderful Sydney Shop Girl I have made a fantastic new online discovery.  Victoria's Secret.  I never knew they did anything other than underwear, but they do!  Yay!  And with the Aus dollar being so strong against the US dollar it is very, very cheap.  Even with the fairly high postage. My rule with high postage is to buy a few items to even it out a bit on the per item basis.  The Farmer thinks this may be a somewhat dubious concept in economical terms...

So, anyway, after reading of SSG's experiences with Victoria's Secret I could hear my laptop calling me.  I hopped online and found a wonderland of swimwear.  Eventually after doing some sizing research I ordered a "tankini" which is just a singlet type top and bottom.  It arrived a few days ago and I must say I am really impressed.

Tankini Top

The quality is amazing and, even including the postage, they were still cheaper than a similar item in Australia.  This was without using my" buy several things to lessen postage" rule.

I love it when I find a good internet bargain...

In other quick news, we had Farmboy's cousins around for his birthday earlier in the week.  It was very small soiree and there was only four children.  They had an ice cream cake and played non stop on a slippery slide on the front lawn of The Beach House.  It was very simple but Farmboy told me it was his "best birthday yet".

Here are a few photos.

Very Pastel Icecream Cake.  With Six Candles

Farmgirl, Watersliding

Also, super exciting news.  Fiona over at Cattle,Kids and Chaos has given me a blog award.  My blog loves recognition!  Thanks so much Fiona. It made my day.  I will get onto it in the next few days.

Farmboy's Birthday, An Attractive Shade of Green

This coming Monday is Farmboy's birthday.  He will turn six.  I am sitting here wondering what happened to the last six years.  My beautiful baby is now a fully fledged boy.  He can ride a bike with no trainer wheels, catch the school bus and come extremely close to beating me in a game of Draughts/Checkers... Watching him grow into such an adorable kid has been magical.  However I am now faced with his requests for a birthday party...

Last year he had a large "Pirate Party" in the front garden of The Beach House.  It was a great day with what was intended to be a lunch time soiree extending well into the evening with some very merry grown ups by the end... This year we have decided to go low key (having made a decision to only have a proper party every second year) and have some friends around for an ice cream cake and late afternoon drinks.  We are heading to The Beach House again tomorrow so once again that will be the location.  I have decided that the ice cream cake will come straight from IGA as I think I can only face that Women's Weekly Cake Book every second year as well.

Last year I was a complete uber Mum and produced this.

Pirate Cake

I was super proud of my efforts but a bit upset with the colour.  Cake decorating supplies are pretty basic in a country supermarket so I could not find brown food colouring.  I debated going for a Gaudiesque multi coloured extravaganza as primary colours were definitely on offer.  Then I remembered something.  All parents know from years of experience with play dough and paint sets that if you mix all the primary colours together you get a fetching shade of khaki.  Just like this.

Farmgirl's Playdough (With Glitter)

Analogies to dog poo are completely acceptable at this point.

And so I created a lovely muted khaki pirate ship.  Actually I was very fashion forward in my thinking as the military look is now well and truly in.

Anyway I am definitely looking forward to the low key "party" on Monday afternoon.  A couple of friends, a cake and some candles will be enough for Farmboy to have a wonderful day.  And will be much more relaxing for his Mum.

My Idea Of A Perfect Beach House

I don't like super huge beachside houses.  I prefer the fibro shack type numbers. I am not sure why - I think they evoke memories of my childhood summers spent on the Southern Coast of WA in a very basic, but idyllic, fishing town.

I have been giving some thought to what I think makes up the perfect beach house.  I have come up with the following requirements (and our Beach House doesn't quite meet them all but that's OK, we are lucky to have a house at all....)

1.  Beach Views -  I love sitting quietly in the evening with a drink watching the sun set over the ocean.  Our house doesn't have views but I have found sitting on the front verandah and watching the birds play under the sprinkler is an adequate substitute.  I sit here.  It's enough.

Chairs For Afternoon Drinks

2.  Easily Sweepable Floors - Lots of kids in and out equals lots of sand.  Sand is one of those things that fit into my "not worth stressing over" category.  Any floor that can have a broom go over it meets this criteria

3.  No Over Styling - Beach Houses should have relaxed decor.  A daggy 70s twist is ideal.  Some furniture should have come straight from your Nanna's shed. Coastal Chic Nanna Style is perfect.  Nothing should even approach magazine perfection.  It helps if the outside appearance is enhanced by lots of beach towels thrown over the verandah rail.

4.  A Drinks Fridge, Preferably Outside - We have the perfect example.  It has even been painted blue for a relaxed coastal vibe.

Drinks And Fish Fridge

5.  An Outside Shower (With Hot and Cold Running Water) - Perfect for salty, sandy Farmchildren.

6.  Lots of Bedrooms - A dormitory style arrangement would be perfect....  I am thinking of instituting bunk beds in our house.  Living areas don't seem to be as crucial as everyone is outside most of the time.

7.  Dishwasher - I know I sound like a princess but you spend days in a house with 8 adults, 2 kids and one sink...

8.  Easy Care Garden - I have a soft spot for buffalo lawns by the beach.  Again I think it is the childhood memories evoked from that prickly feel on bare feet.

9.  A Location With A Sea Breeze - Great for cooling purposes on hot afternoons.  Farmboy calls the sea breeze "salt and pepper wind".  He says that if you stick your tongue out, it tastes just like salt and pepper.

9.  Lots of Friends and Family That Come To Stay - This is the best bit really.

Bougainvillea, Back Garden of Beach House

It's Almost Here, Only Two Sleeps To Go

Christmas is only two more sleeps away.  Yay!  Things are already getting very busy on The Farm.  The spare fridge looks like this (all farming families have lots of fridges - food storage is valued!)

Very Christmassy Fridge 

You can tell The Farmer helped me stack it.  It is all very rectilinear.

The Farmchildren and I have made Christmas biscuits for the tree.  We were going to make gingerbread men. But I couldn't find the cutter. Failed the uber Mum test.  Again.  That's Ok - I really like the stars and hearts more anyway.

Hearts And Stars - My Favourite Biscuit Shapes

On The Tree

Star With Farmboy Shaped Bite (Did Not Make It To The Tree)

We had dinner with New York Uncle and New York Aunty last night.  We had a great night.  The mango meringue concoction was a hit.

Mangoes and Meringues

I would love to say the photo was taken on an angle because I was having a stylish, artistic moment.  I think it was more because I was having a post three glasses of champagne moment.

I think the blog will sign off now until after Boxing Day.  Then it will be a lazy beach blog for a few days, so expect a change of scene.

I would just like to wish everyone an absolutely wonderful Christmas.  I hope you all have happy times with your loved ones, wherever you are.

Take good care.

With love
A Farmer's Wife

Christmas Comes To Lego Land

Earlier on I posted about how the Lego men in our house were celebrating Movember.  This week they are celebrating Christmas.

Farmboy is a proud, card carrying member of the Lego Club.  This actually just means your Mum is dumb enough to fork out $20 once a year so you get a magazine/catalogue each month. (Basically Mum winds up paying Lego to advertise to her child....)

Anyway this week the Lego Club came good.  And sent Farmboy this.

A Lego Snowman

Yep, it's Frosty done Lego style.  He even has a little hook on his hat so you can hang him on the tree.

I am dying to hang him on The Farm Christmas Tree.  But Farmboy won't let me.  Apparently he wants to play with him.  There is only one thing for it - next year I am joining Lego Club too.

All That Glitters...

This has been a crazy busy week here on The Farm.  Farmboy has had his last day of preprimary with all the assemblies, parties, waterfights that came with it.  I had my own little party for a friend.  Christmas events seem to have been coming thick and fast.  We finished harvest which was lovely and tonight we have The Farm Christmas Party in town.

What stands out though, in my head, this week is the fact that my house has suddenly been invaded by glitter.  The Farmchildren have brought home a huge amount of stunning Christmas Craft from school/day care and every single piece has been incredibly sparkly.

I present some of their finer work.

Very Glittery Pine Cone Christmas Tree

Not Actually Sure What This Is But It Is Very Glittery Too

I could only choose a few because there were many, many excellent (and glittery) examples to choose from.

As a result of this we have a new decor in The Farmhouse.  Every single surface is covered in a fine layer of sparkle. (Particularly the jarrah floorboards).  It provides an interesting (but unplanned) festive feel.  Likewise all the occupants of The Farmhouse are being seen out and about with a little more shine than you would usually expect.  I have decided I have absolutely no choice but to embrace the glitter, both as house and personal adornment.  For the simple reason that no matter how hard I try to clean the stuff up, it just reappears.

In other Farm Christmas news, Farmboy has informed me that an excellent source (fellow student) has informed him (Farmboy) that someone else (Santa) informed him (fellow student) that it will snow here on Christmas Day.  Despite this extremely reliable prediction I have my doubts.  Not least of all because the long range forecast here for Christmas Day is currently fine and hot at 41 degrees celsius.  Taking into account this extra meteorological information I think the chance of snow would have to be slim to middling, at best.

Farmgirl has changed her Christmas present request to a fire breathing dragon.  She would like to be able to BBQ apparently ( I kid you not). The Farmer and I have refused on the grounds that given the info in the previous paragraph we feel a total fire ban will be declared.  Hence it would be very unfair for the dragon.

I hope everyone else has had a lovely week.

Angels On High, On A Friday

Today is going to be a super busy one.  It is Farmboy's school Christmas Concert tonight.  He and his classmates are singing carols dressed as angels.

 As usual there are costume requirements.  We know costumes aren't my thing.  Fortunately this year I just need to provide light coloured clothing.   Farmboy has a white T-shirt.  Admittedly it has a 3D glasses wearing dinosaur on the front which may not give off quite the angelic innocent vibe we are after.  That's OK, we are going to turn it inside out.  The good news is that wings are provided.  The bad news is that I found out yesterday I need to make a halo.  Problem is I am at my day job all day today.  I have two options.  I can just tie tinsel around his head for a funky hip hop angel look.  Or I can con my long suffering parents into making one.  They are coming up from The City today to see the performance.  Mum, Dad - if you are reading this come prepared, with wire cutters and stuff....

Either way it will probably be a step up from last year.  Farmboy was playing Joseph but his head gear fell over his face.  This meant you could neither see nor hear him.  It was difficult to notice because there was about 40 other 4, 5 and 6 year olds on stage at the time and there was a lot going on. He was still a complete star to me....

Very Blurry Photo - But You Get The Picture

Anyway I need to get off this computer and get moving.  It is going to be a big day!

Utes, Rainy Days and A Very Rich Cake

We are well into Christmas Party Season here at The Farm.  Before I got married and moved to the country, December consisted of high heels, marquees and way too much champagne. The social whirl that is Christmas Party Season on The Farm is no less taxing.

We kicked off last week with Farmgirl's child care Christmas Party.  It ticked all the boxes.  There were things like red sausages and cupcakes.  Santa came and everyone got a bag of lollies.

Santa arrived in our local fire ute.

Practical Transport For Santa

(For those readers who are not Australian, what we call a "ute" is usually called a "pick up".  In Australia a "pick up" is what a single young farmer is trying to achieve when he heads to the pub on a Friday night.)

A ute is an excellent transport choice for Santa.  Practical, all terrain and reliable.  I know from personal experience that you can do lots of kilometres in a Landcruiser Ute, no worries at all. This a great feature if you are planning an around the world trip.   A good ute is also a comfy choice.  They even make ones with air con, which would be a handy extra if you were wearing a red, fur lined suit.

We have several more parties to come, including The Official Farm Christmas Dinner for all our staff.  It will be held at a local restaurant.  Then we will have my work party.  Same restaurant. (It is only a little town...)

Our harvest is held up at the moment by the weather. There was a cool change and it rained yesterday  It was a glass of red wine rain. When our crop is wet it can't be harvested.  Today has dawned bright and clear however, so hopefully things will dry up quickly.

Fortunately the rain doesn't look to have done any damage.  Many farms in NSW and Victoria have lost their entire crop to rain.  This is a so sad.  It is awful to get your crop so far into the season and then lose it (and any chance of a profit) right at the end.

A Soggy Fence Post, On Our Currently Soggy Farm

Farmgirl and I have been holed up in The Farmhouse so we don't get wet.  To fill in time we made Ree Drummond's Chocolate Sheet Cake.  It turned out beautifully.  I wimped out on the icing though.  I thought it would already be very rich.  So I just dusted the top with icing sugar.  Sorry Ree, I just couldn't do that much butter.  It was still amazing though.  I would recommend making this cake - let me know how the icing goes if you do.

Ree Drummond's Sheet Cake, Minus Icing

It would be super yummy as a pudding if you just warmed it up, added some icecream and some berry coulis.

Enjoy your day everyone.

A Furry Babysitter

My dear friend Fussy Eater's Mum posted recently about "Panasonica" who is her in-house babysitter.  On The Farm we do utilize our version of "Panasonica", however we have also got an excellent babysitting candidate in Molly.

Molly is our gorgeous border collie/kelpie/huntaway cross.  She is excellent at keeping an eye on The Farmchildren when they are outside.  She regularly runs border patrols around the house and has scared away more than the odd snake over the past few years.  Molly has good sheep dog instincts and has been known to "round up" Farmgirl if she ventures too far from the house....  Molly is regularly smothered with love and is used to being sat on, bear hugged and generally children-handled.

Yesterday evening I was able to take this gorgeous photo of Molly doing her duty with The Farmchildren.

Farmgirl, Farmboy and Molly

Santa Does Exist Farmboy, He Does!

Regular readers of this blog will know how excited I am about this Christmas. The main source of this excitement has been The Farmchildren and the magic of their anticipation and strong belief in Santa.

Santa Will Definitely Fill One of These

A major spanner was thrown in the works yesterday evening.  We were sitting at the kitchen table eating dinner.  Farmboy looked at me with sad blue eyes and said

"Someone at school told me that Santa isn't real and it is just your Mum and Dad who buy the presents"

Farmboy is not yet six.  I quashed my immediate reaction, which was to throttle the child who burst Farmboy's bubble, on the basis of the fact that

1. Said child is only five and I can't throttle other peoples children.
2. It is technically true (but only technically).
3. Said child had probably been told the same fact by a horrible big kid and was just sharing the devastation.

I very quickly moved on to reassuring Farmboy that this was a big lie and of course Santa exists.  Fortunately Farmgirl's belief is so unquestionable that she helped me in this reassurance as opposed to asking awkward questions.

Farmboy is very sensitive and quite smart so I came up with the following examples of very scientific, empirical evidence in favour of Santa's existence.

1. People have proven photographic proof of Santa.  This is a lot more than can be said about things like the Loch Ness Monster and UFOs and lots of people still believe in those.

2.  Lots of songs have been written about Santa.  These have been sung by very well known and famous people like Elvis, Bing Crosby and The Wiggles.  People of this calibre would not have put their reputations on the line by singing about a fake Santa.

3.  Who else would fill the stockings?  It is a well known fact that Mummy is very tired and may even have had a few champagnes by Christmas Eve which means that she would surely forget.  Like she forgets things like library day at school.  And swimming lesson day.  And lunch order day.

4.  People have written beautiful stories about Santa - "The Night Before Christmas" is all about Santa and it is one of Mummy's favorite stories.  Mummy is very smart and pretty and would not like stories about pretend people.

5. We all have beautiful, magical imaginations and so Santa exists.  Grown ups like Mummy, Daddy, Granny, Grandpa, Nanny, Boppy and numerous Uncles and Aunts all have such imaginations and all believe in Santa.

6.  If you don't believe in Santa he doesn't come.

Fotunately Farmboy was more than happy with the above facts and was well reassured about Santa's existence.  Crisis averted.

It did make me realise though that my beautiful babies are growing up.  And I am not always going to be able to protect them from the unpalatable truths about life.  There are always going to be things that will happen to them that I can't fix.  The best I will be able to do is comfort and love.  Hopefully it will be enough.

A Farm Christmas

This year I am getting very excited about Christmas.  The reason for this is The Farmchildren.  Farmboy is almost six and Farmgirl is three and a half.  They are at the stage where they are completely enraptured by the concept of Christmas.  Last year was magical - even if they did wake up initially at 2.45 am and The Farmer and I had to put them in our bed to stop them getting up...

I have been thinking that there will probably not be that many Christmases left where there is this level of magic.  So The Farmer and I have decided to milk every bit of a joy out of this one we possibly can.

It has started already.  Farmboy's class are doing "Hark The Herald Angels Sing" for their item at the Christmas concert.  I know the sight of Farmboy and his gorgeous classmates dressed as angels will make me want to cry.  Farmboy himself is interested in the word "hark".  We have explained it means something along the lines of "stop and listen".  He now walks in the kitchen and says

"Hark.  I would like an apple."

It makes me laugh everytime (and is better than a few other words he has picked up at school lately).

The Farmchildren's Christmas wish list changes daily.  This morning Farmgirl wanted a penguin, but only a small one.  Farmboy wanted a leopard seal.  When asked why he replied

"Because they eat penguins"

The potential of the almost six year old mind for evil is astonishing...

I have gone overboard on the planned decorations for the house.  We will have a big tree and lots of traditional decorations in our formal dining/lounge room.  I have a funkier theme planned for the kitchen and TV room.  I am resisting the urge to put all the decorations up until early December.  I think the wait for Christmas is going to seem long enough for The Farmchildren as it is, without going too hard, too early.  There is also only so many times I want to redecorate that tree..

The Farmer bought Freddo Frog advent calenders.  So I have hyperactive Farmchildren to look forward to every day for 25 days.  The Farmer has also decided he wants lots of lights outside.  It has been suggested I make a trip to the local hardware and stock up on supplies.

With the exception of a few items, I have tried to do as much Christmas shopping as I can in our small town this year.  Like many towns dependent on agriculture for business, it is suffering somewhat because of the poor season this year.  I also like wandering into the local butcher and discussing the size and type of ham and turkey I need.  Or chatting with the post office ladies about the best wrapping options for a lazy farmer's wife...

We have close and extended family coming to The Farm on Christmas Day.  And some friends too.  I am looking forward to planning our menu and cooking for them all.  I have decided to do the traditional Christmas dinner and all the trimmings.  I think that simple things done beautifully is the best way to go.

A Small Christmas Tree - Very Cute According to Farmgirl

I am hoping we have a Christmas to remember.