The run-up to Christmas

I finally switched to family mode in the week before Christmas.  All Townmouse orders were in the post by Monday or Tuesday and then it was time to relax (oh, and prepare Christmas lunch for 11 at our place).

We chilled out on a picnic rug in the front garden.  After all the Spring rain our front garden is a green oasis shaded by our big Chinese Elm.  

Past the bay window is our side veranda.  It's a lovely spot to grow a lemon tree because it faces North and gets the filtered afternoon sun.

This is our fledgling Meyer lemon.  Maybe by next year it will bear fruit.

There was time for a little pre-Christmas baking.  Corrie's chocolate brownie for a sick friend.

This is what it looked like before I dropped it over her locked front gate onto her garden path.  Oh dear.

I hope you all enjoyed a lovely Christmas day.  

Ours involved a plane trip to Tasmania, piloted by Captain Henri.  We didn't even have to leave the lunch table.

All Henri wanted for Christmas was a pilot's uniform and keys "to open all the doors in the world, including Daddy's office".  Santa came through for him and Henri was one happy camper.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone.  I look forward to your company and inspiration in 2011.

Comments

[Anne Marie]

Merry Christmas to you and your family! Wishin you the best for 2010!

[Thimbleanna]

Those brownies look wonderful! And Captain Henri is just as cute as can be. Happy New Year to the Townmouse Family!

[corrie]

merry christmas and enjoy the new year! I love that brownie recipe and it never fails!

and the one nice thing about all of the rain lately is that everything looks so green!
corrie:)

[Jane]

And the brownies made it over the fence intact and were quite delicious. Thanks again Kris xoxo

[Kathleen]

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you as well...from your friend in Annapolis, Maryland where it is 30 degrees with snow on the ground. Those brownies look good....maybe I'll make some for my birthday which is January 1st!

[Catherine]

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and your lovely family. I ADORE Henri's Christmas wishes (particularly the key). My husband is a pilot, though our two girls haven't expressed any desire to fly the skies yet.

It's beautifully hot and sunny here in New Zealand (I imagine Australia is our weather plus another 10 degrees). All the best for 2011!

[Catherine]

I forgot to mention (I must still have been spellbound) - your house is absolutely gorgeous. What a delight it must be to live in!

[Jean C.]

Your Henri must be a sweetie! Hope he doesn't change! So cute at that age... keys to every door in the world! Hope you write that down somewhere... heavy sighhhh, my "little boy" just became a daddy for the first time! He and his wife gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. I asked him if either one of them cried when they saw her for the first time... something I did with all my children. He said he had a hard time keeping it together! Then he said that he had a talk with Kate (the baby) the other night (she is a week old tomorrow, Friday) and told her that someday she would be talking to her little baby girl... then he said that he got all choked up... and he got a little misty then. I told him, that's o.k. it's a parents perogative to get choked up once in a while.
Hope your Christmas was wonderful.
Our's certainly was.