Christmas at the JHB VdB's

On Christmas Eve, when all the family was here, we made delicious snacks and a cheese board with fig preserve and onion marmalade and all the other fab cheese accompaniments. The grown-ups played Pictionary, and we had so many laughs. Interesting to see how people think and reason ;-)

Imke and her Oma & Opa van den Broek played up a storm - I SO love how they just go for it and always play with her and have fun together. Memories are made of this!

Just before dinner everyone went to freshen up, and the ladies donned their bit of bling ;-)

Imke chose this silver dress, and the shoes - and felt so beautiful! (the pic on right is her making a model pout lol!)

At about 7pm we all sat down for dinner (which was delicious and WAY too much, as always!). Then we handed out our Secret Santa prezzies. And we had a little gift for each of our guests, to say thank you for their presence at this special time.

I got Jeroen series 1 - 4 of The Big Bang Theory - we love that show so much! And thanks to Chicara from the fab Lipgloss Kisses who blogged about these notebooks which look like VHS tapes from Big Blue, I got it for my BIL who is a film editor, and he adored it! (by the way, Lipgloss Kisses is an awesome blog for those looking for beauty and prettiness inspiration - head over there; promise you won't be disappointed!) We got my mom and my sister some pretties from Carol Boyes (and I also got spoiled with some from my husby!)

I made Imke a mattrass, fitted sheet, duvet and pillow for her dolly's crib

 

Silliness always ensues when the whole family is together - I love love love when everyone relaxes and gets silly!

After we put Imke in bed, I got down to business - Mission from Santa Clause MAGIC business :-)

I traced one of J's shoes, used it as a stencil and sprinkled cornflower and glitter to make Santa's snowy footprints coming out of the fireplace. 

 Then I munched half a carrot, got Jeroen to nibble half a biscuit and swirled a bit of milk around a glass. All ready for Santa and the reindeer's visit! We also put a ribbon around her prezzie from Santa, and laid it out all the way to her bedroom; for her to follow in the morning.

  

In the morning, Imke followed the ribbon with a bit of hesitation, then she inspected the footprints with awe, and then giggled when she saw the remnants of Santa's snack. And when she saw her prezzie and the note from Santa (which Christmas Elf delivered), she was ecstatic!

She had asked Santa for a pink foot scooter - and he didn't disappoint!!

 After everyone was up and dressed, we made a big brunch and had a swim and relaxed.

And after everyone went home, a huge rain storm started and we cuddled inside building and playing with Imke's new Lego! So much fun!

We had a magical Christmas - thank you to our families for joining in the magic and for all the love. We adore you all, and the memories made this Christmas season will last a lifetime. Mwah xxx

Oh Christmas Time, oh Christmas Time!

I hope you had a very merry Christmas and Festive Season with your loved ones! And a very Happy New Year to you and your family!

I just adore this time of year, and with a little girl who is starting to really get the magical Christmas feeling, it makes me even more giddy.

J and I hosted our families at our house this year, for Christmas Eve dinner, and Christmas morning brunch. Except for my sister and her husband, everyone stayed over for the night and we had so much fun!

Imke loved having everyone over, and she loved getting dressed in her new sparkly dress for dinner, and she got to stay up a bit later than normal, and eventually fell asleep in my arms while we all sat around chatting - melted my heart holding my baby girl in my arms while she slips into sleep surrounded by family who just adores her <3

My theme for this Christmas was Gold & Silver - I wanted a bit of glam and glitter :-)
I made a silver tablecloth, and a gold runner, threaded some pearly beads through the chandelier over the table, made gold and silver tissue paper pom pom flowers that I hung from the ceiling, and J put the little battery operated fairy lights all around the room. It felt and looked magical!! And I appreciated it so much that all the ladies got a bit dressed up for dinner - thank you!

Here are some pics:

I will post the rest of our Christmas pics later on this week.

Happy 2013 xxx

Santa has been spying!

Elf on the Shelf Part 1

We are doing the Elf on the Shelf this year, and it has been so much fun thinking up ways for the Elf to be mischievous but not too naughty ;-)

We also don't have the proper Elf; I looked high and low locally but our Elf was the best I could find. But Imke adores him, and loves scolding him every morning when she finds him after a huge hunt.

Here are pics from Elfie's first week of spying for Santa:

xxx

Can you smell it?? It's almost Christmas!!

I am SO looking forward to Christmas this year! Everytime I think about the whole family together and my little girlie’s excitement, the rush of joy and happiness makes me grin form ear to ear.

This will be Imke’s 4^th Christmas, and every year she understands more and this year her excitement is palpable. She has asked me to write to Oupa Christmas (she has called Santa ‘grandfather Christmas since she saw her first santa clause at our Moms & Babes Christmas party in 2010), and has requested a scooter, a pink ball and the ‘Pirates, band of misifts’ movie.

She has also been cast as Mary in her school concert, and her best best friend, Thomas, is Joseph. I can NOT wait to watch them! Imke has been taking her role super serious, and has asked us to call her Mary lol!

Last year Imke, J and I made all our decorations for the tree ourselves, and I want to do the same this year. My friend Jess (who has an awesome blog you can check out here), has shared this recipe for a clay you can make at home and then paint etc – will be perfect for this years’ tree.

Here is the recipe:

Salt Dough Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup salt

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup luke warm water

Directions

1. In a large bowl mix salt and flour.

2. Gradually stir in water. Mix well until it forms a doughy consistency.

3. With your hands form a ball with your dough and kneed it for at least 5 minutes. The longer you kneed your dough the smoother it will be.

Store your salt dough in a air tight container and you will be able to use it for days.

You can use cookie cutters to cut out shapes and stamps to imprint into the clay once they have been rolled out. Experiment with pressure to find the perfect amount you need. Paint your creations with acrylic paints and seal with varnish or polyurethane spray.

You can let your salt dough creations air dry, however salt dough can also be dried in the oven. Bake at 200 F until your creation is dry. The amount of time needed to bake your creations depends on size and thickness; thin flat ornaments may only take 45-60 minutes, thicker creations can take 2-3 hours or more. You can increase your oven temperature to 350 F, your dough will dry faster but it may also brown, which won't matter if you are painting your entire creation (you can also cover your dough in the oven before it turns brown).

There are a few options to color your salt dough: 1. Add powdered tempera paint to your flour, 2. add food coloring or paint to the water before you mix it with the salt/flour, or 3. add natural coloring like instant coffee, cocoa, or curry powder.

Here are the decorations we made last year

I am putting a countdown to Christmas ticker on the blog – just to get my even more excited! ;-p

xxx