12 days of Christmas at Glebe Park
Just before Christmas I was in Canberra and happened to visit Glebe Park for an evening stroll. Imagine my delight to discover that this is a key Christmas spot for Canberra, with lights, trees and gingerbread houses!
The park is open to the public most of December but on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights it is closed to all but ticket holders. Proceeds are donated to the Red Nose Foundation.
As well as the lights I’ll show below, there was a Christmas tree forest, a gazebo to visit Santa and a collection of gingerbread houses (wooden cubbies that have been decorated with something of a Christmas theme).
12 days of lights
In a central fenced off area was a series of lights to admire. When I first looked, it was still fairly light but I came back later and all was more spectacular in the dark (although there were also more people around so getting photos go harder!)
On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me a partridge in a pear tree…
On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me two turtle doves…
On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to me three French hens…
On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me four calling birds…
On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me five golden rings…
On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me six geese a laying…
On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me seven swans a swimming…
On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me eight maids a milking…
On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me nine ladies dancing…
On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me ten lords a leaping…
On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me eleven pipers piping…
On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me twelve drummers drumming…
The lights were lovely and it was fun finding all the gifts from the song.
While there was a bit of space between lights (they weren’t squashed up), it would have been nice to see the lights set out over a larger area. Partly because I’m sure it could get quite crowded around the light area (rain was threatening when I was there so few people came into the park) but also because it would be nice to see each one on its own and then move further to discover the next gift in lights. I get it would be impractical to set up and keep secure, but its still my suggestion!
Have you ever seen the lights in Glebe Park? Or maybe even been there on a ticketed night and met with Santa while you were there?
Merry Christmas Australia!
The clocks have ticked over across Australia and it is now officially Christmas!
Have a wonderful day and we wish you much happiness, love and laughter for this festive season and throughout 2018.
The complete set of the 2017 Lego City Advent Calendar
We’re at the end of advent calendars…
So the big day is almost here, and Santa will be visiting lots of good girls and boys over the next few hours.
To help us finish off our countdown and build the anticipation of Christmas Day, our Lego calendars provided another two days of fun for us…
23 December
My son was delighted for find Santa’s sleigh behind flap 23 of the Lego Friends calendar (meaning the earlier one is now just a sled!)
Likewise, my daughter was excited to find a ‘one horse open sleigh‘ to attach to the horse from day 22.
Christmas Eve, day 24
And so we have reached the final flaps in our advent calendars – is the excitement at fever pitch in your family yet? There was speculation from my children – would it be Santa, or maybe a reindeer, some presents or Santa’s chair? But there was no doubt it would be something Christmas…
My daughter was very happy to find a Santa snowman – that is, a snowman with a red top and a Santa hat. So the Friends advent calendar had some disappointments early on but the rest was up to expectations and my daughter seems to have forgotten her sadness, which is good. It does have me wondering whether or not to bother next year, so I guess I will be looking at other options for 2018.
While I think it is just a sad anomaly, we found nothing behind the final flap of the 2017 City advent calendar 🙁 We can see it was meant to be Santa – and we searched the box and everywhere around where we have kept the calendar, but Santa was not to be found unfortunately.
Continuing review of 2017 Lego advent calendars
While Christmas and animals are the concepts for these three days in the Friends calendar, the City calendar has moved away from vehicles …
Day 20…
Behind the 20th flap in the Lego Friends advent calendar was a Christmas tree – and as per previous years, the tree itself is different to the Lego City version.
Day 20 of the Lego City calendar, however, produced a man with chain saw – I’m not quite sure why, unless you think he was cutting down trees to be used as living Christmas trees?
Day 21…
My daughter was happy to find two presents (including a jewel inside the larger box) to put under her Friends Christmas tree.
The City calendar addition for day 21 was, ah, interesting and took a little thought to identify what is was meant to be. We have decided it is an ice sculpture of a snow angel! What do you think it is?
Day 22…
Well, there wasn’t much surprise to know that the Friends calendar had a black horse for day 22 , given we found it on day 16!
In the City calendar, however, my son found what he insists is a sleigh as “I haven’t got a sleigh for Santa yet”, rather than just a form of snow mobile/sled.
A perfect Christmas at Myer Melbourne
For 62 years, the Burke St Melbourne’s Myer store has put on a magical Christmas display in their windows.
Myer window history
Each year, a different theme or story connects the 6 or so windows and people queue up to see what has been done. It is estimated that about 1.2 million people see it each Christmas!
Starting with a sporting theme in 1956 (the year of the Melbourne Olympics) and Santa joining the Olympic torch relay, the windows have covered a number of themes such as Uno’s Garden, Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, Rudolph, the 12 Days of Christmas and the Little Dog and the Christmas wish. The full list of themes up to 2007 is on the eMelbourne site and there are some wonderful old photos at the Herald Sun.
Over time, other Myer stores have also showcased animations in their windows – generally, Brisbane matches Melbourne while Wagga Wagga, Ballarat and Geelong reuse the displays from Melbourne a year or so later (which gives me a chance to visit some I may have missed!).
Now, there are security guards to create an orderly queue. Years ago, it was just a scramble of people trying to see over each other’s shoulders and wait for a turn towards the front of the crowd to see.
An absolutely perfect Christmas story
For the last couple of years, Myer’s ad campaigns for Christmas have centred around some living Christmas decorations. This year, that theme continues alongside a book about those same decoration characters – in particular, about Elf and his desire for an absolutely perfect Christmas.
The book is called The completely and utterly, absolutely perfect Christmas and written H C Floren for Myer and can come to life with an augmented reality app. At this stage, the book is only available through Myer stores (including online).
Elf and his friends Reindeer, Mouse and Angel feature in the window animations. As you move along the windows, the story follows Elf’s journey to find some suitably dedicated decorations as he doesn’t think his friends are taking decorating seriously enough.
Through a progression of stops where other decorations also are not quite right for him, Elf makes his way back home for a wonderful, slightly imperfect Christmas instead.
The absolutely perfect window scenes
We really enjoyed the windows this year, and were lucky enough to only have a short queue to wait in.
For those unable to see these beautiful windows, here are some photos from our trip to the Burke St mall. Obviously, these are taken through glass so are not the best photos, although I must say I actually like the gum tree reflection across the top of pictures!
The story starts with Elf and friends trying to decorate their Christmas tree
I loved seeing Elf sit by some letter boxes with letters, presumably from Santa and friends, and presents popping out!
Elf’s first stop is a set of outdoor decorations that have been used for many years
Elf then looks at a minimalist window decoration
Elf visits a suburban home and sees some Christmas light decorations
Outside a childcare centre, Elf meets a number of decorations made by children
Back home, Elf is happy to be with Reindeer beside their Christmas tree
The story ends with Reindeer, Angel, Elf and Mouse enjoying their almost-perfect Christmas tree
Lego advent calendars for days 17 to 19
Our advent calendar themes continue as we move ever closer to Christmas Day.
Lego Friends
day 17
My daughter was very happy to find a stand for the proud cat, including a ramp and scratching post ‘just like a real scratching post thinggy’.
day 18
On day eighteen, we found what I call a lamp post, although lamp posts don’t usually have bows on them so I’m not entirely sure what it actually is meant to be! Any suggestions for me?
day 19
There were sounds of excitement as my daughter discovered another trailer for the snow mobile to pull along so Stephanie can take her menagerie with her! In lining them up, I also realised that the ‘smaller cat’ was actually a cute little mouse which makes more sense than one small and one tall, proud cat!
Lego City
day 17
Over in Lego City, we discovered a helicopter on Saturday furthering the collection of vehicles for my son.
day 18
When asked what he found yesterday, my son told me it was ‘the lady who controls the helicopter’. She is in a work suit and holds a walkie talkie – maybe she controls all the vehicles.
day 19
We must be getting closer to the 25th, as we have started getting the Christmas items with a Christmas tree! Compared to previous years, I was a little surprised it is just a plain tree without decorations.
Definite themes in Lego advent calendars for 2017
Some definite themes are showing through the calendars now, which is not something we have noted in previous years. That is, there has been an overall theme of snow and ice plus Christmas, but not a theme within the larger scene.
Day 14 – half way!
Yes, day fourteen means we’ve done half of our advent calendars and Christmas is getting very close!
To mark this halfway point, the Lego City calendar‘s fourteenth flap revealed a boat… I’m not quite sure how a boat fits into the snow theme unless it is a toy for the snowboarder!
The Lego Friends calendar produced a trailer (for want of a better term!) for the snow mobile to pull behind the pet section!
Day fifteen
So can you guess what was in the Friends calendar for day fifteen? Yes it was a stand and animal – a cat (or maybe a kitten?) this time – so we really are building up a collection!
The city calendar included a cute little fire truck for my son, which he was quite happy with.
Day sixteen
Today, my daughter told me she found a cat, a fish and a horse in her calendar. However, it turned out that the horse was actually from day 22 and had somehow fallen into the day 16 section. So in reality, day sixteen produced a cat and a fish – nothing to create, and a strange arrangement of the fish being larger than the proud cat, kitten, dog and bird already obtained from the calendar. The fish, in fact, is about 2/3 the height of the Lego people!
In the City calendar, my son created a race car – so obviously his theme is vehicles with a train, two planes, a boat, a fire truck and a race car to date.
Have you developed a collection within a set of an advent calendar?
Mistletoe traditions for Christmas
“I saw Mummy kissing Santa Claus, underneath the mistletoe last night”
I saw Santa under the mistletoe in early December – but I didn’t get a kiss!
Yes Mummy kissed Santa, but the mistletoe connection to kissing is more than just a lyric in a 1950s song!
What is the mistletoe tradition anyway?
The Christmas tradition for mistletoe is that if you stand under some mistletoe, you have to kiss anyone standing there with you or near you.
One version of the tradition states men can only kiss the cheek of a woman met under the mistletoe. Then he must remove one berry from the bunch. Once there are no berries left, the mistletoe no longer signifies getting a kiss!
Of course, you can say no to a kiss – or work hard at avoiding standing under the mistletoe! However, the tradition states it is bad luck to refuse a (suitably sedate) kiss.
While it may look funny, especially in any romantic comedy movies, the tradition really only applies to mistletoe hung in a doorway or archway – so anyone carrying it around or having it stuck on their hat can’t expect lots of kisses!
What is mistletoe?
Let’s start by saying that mistletoe is not the same as holly, although people do get them confused as both have an association with Christmas celebrations. Even if you Google mistletoe you see lots of images of red-berried holly!
So mistletoe is an evergreen plant with white berries that grows on the trunks of other trees – in other words, it is a parasite. It is spread by birds eating the berries and leaving the sticky residue on trees they land on.
It is commonly found on apple, lime, hawthorn, linden, willow and poplar trees in Europe, and less commonly on Oak trees. There are many species of mistletoe, including a number that grow in Australia (but not in Tasmania interestingly!)
Mistletoe uses the host tree for water and nutrients but photosynthesises to produce its own energy – not all parasitic plants do this.
While the berries have been used medicinally for centuries, it is important to know that Mistletoe stems and leaves are toxic. Eating mistletoe can lead to blurred vision, stomach pains, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and drowsiness, so be very careful to keep it out of reach of children and pets.
How has mistletoe been linked with Christmas?
Mistletoe has been linked to Norse mythology (a symbol of love and friendship), Celtic mythology, ancient Druids (in a fertility ritual) and was a pagan holy plant. In medieval times, it was used to ward off bad spirits during December (thus the Christmas connection now) and burnt afterwards.
As mistletoe is green and healthy during winter when the host tree would be bare and dead-looking, it is perhaps not so surprising that people were in awe of it and saw it as somehow mystical and powerful.
Kissing under mistletoe may have been around since the celebrations of Saturnalia (a Roman pagan ritual), but certainly since the eighteenth century. It was probably a bigger attraction in times when touching and kissing while you were single was frowned upon.
* Images courtesy of Love Santa, Llez, Max Pixel and Loadmaster
Lego stands in advent calendars
We are continuing our Lego advent calendars as we get closer and closer to Christmas Day.
Day eleven
My son found a snowman (with stick arms and a scarf) in the City advent calendar for day eleven.
As well as developing a collection of animals, my daughter is also getting a collection of stands from the 2017 Lego Friends advent calendar! For day eleven, she got a cupcake stand
Day twelve
I was surprised to see the Friends calendar gave my daughter another stand – this time one for hot chocolate. My children were not so surprised, believing that we have found three pet stands and two stalls. I love that it comes with a bottle of milk and a block of chocolate.
The City calendar also revealed a food stall with a coffee mug – just right to hold Grandma’s biscuits.
Day thirteen
My son was happy to find a skiier behind flap thirteen of the City calendar.
And my daughter was happy finding a campfire with two seats and a marshmallow on a stick – although she was a little disappointed to only have one marshmallow!
A gingerbread sleigh and reindeer for Santa
Happy Gingerbread House Day!
To celebrate Gingerbread House day (yes, there really is a day celebrating gingerbread!), ChristmasJen and I made some gingerbread to create a Santa sleigh.
We used a gingerbread recipe known to work well and a cutter set that I had grabbed from an op shop.
Cutter set
Using the cutters, we cut out two sleigh sides, two sleigh ends and four reindeer. My tip if you create a gingerbread sleigh – cut half the reindeer with the cutter upside down so some will face the other way for decorating.
Baked gingerbread pieces
The set made this all very easy, but you could cut out cardboard templates instead – the ends are just squares and the sides were about 3 times longer with curved sections to look like a sleigh. Any other animal cutters may work if you don’t feel able to draw some reindeer templates!
Creating the sleigh
So you will need gingerbread and icing, plus a board to sit your sleigh on.
- two sleigh sides
- two sleigh ends
- reindeer (as many as you want – I got four out of the recipe above)
- egg whites
- icing sugar
To make the icing, start by beating two egg whites until they are white and form stiff peaks.
Stiff peaks in the egg whites are important
Then add icing sugar, about half a cup at a time, to make a really thick icing. I used 3.5 cups in total, and probably could have used more. Remember that thinner (ie runnier) icing takes longer to set so you will end up holding pieces together for a while.
Stiff enough to hold up a spoon!
Lay out your gingerbread pieces and pipe some icing to stick them together as a sleigh.
Let the construction begin!
Decorating Santa’s sleigh
The gingerbread reindeer were easier to decorate lying down, but the sleigh can be decorated once it is put together – especially if you want to decorate the back of the sleigh.
Some of the lollies used on our gingerbread sleigh
My son had a wonderful time using the remaining icing to stick on Smarties, candy canes and lolly cupcakes.
He was generous with the icing as he attached lollies!
To finish off our gingerbread sleigh, we added a marshmallow Santa on top.
Decorating the reindeer was quick and simple – and we added a glacé cherry to one to be Rudolph!
The reindeer gained personality as we added decorations!
Then we ran long streams of snow (also known as icing!) out in front of the sleigh and stood the decorated reindeer in the snow. This is where stiffer icing would have helped as I need supports to help the reindeer stand for a little while as the icing fully set.
We used some sour pencils to form the reins between the sleigh and reindeer, and we were done!
Santa’s gingerbread sleigh
It was a lot of fun to make Santa’s sleigh. And the reaction at a local Christmas party when I presented the gingerbread sleigh was priceless! There were compliments from adults, but more striking was the amazement and wonder on lots of little faces – I do love delighting young children! It didn’t take long for there to just be an empty board with bits of discarded icing…
Days nine and ten of advent calendars
It feels like December has just started, and yet we have opened ten advent calendar flaps already! But the excitement is building and there is so much Christmas everywhere.
Lego Friends calendar
So after a few rocky days, the Friends calendar has redeemed itself in our house with the dog sled and shelter, thank goodness. So let’s find out what was hiding behind flaps nine and ten…
My daughter was quite happy to find a little bird and to make a pretty stand for it to perch on. She is getting quite a collection of animals from this year’s advent calendar!
Grandma came to visit from the City calendar with a sled…
On day ten, she got two microphones and a microphone stand – and immediately wanted to put on a concert for us all.
Lego City calendar
On day nine, the Lego City calendar produced a snow machine! As Australians, we aren’t so used to snow machinery so my children first thought this was a snow clearing machine.
My son was surprised and happy to find that day ten’s flap hid a second plane – a jet plane according to him, and I let him hold onto that idea…
Santa is Coming to Victoria puzzle
It is very exciting to find personalised things, so books about Australia (and more specific areas I know) always catch my eye and make me smile. And I know my kids love seeing Aussie Christmas stories and images.
I have previously reviewed the books Santa is coming to Australia and Santa is coming to Melbourne, but now here is a jigsaw puzzle based on the Santa is Coming to Victoria book of the same series.
Santa is Coming to Victoria puzzle
The puzzle comes in a sturdy box with a handle so you can store it fairly easily, which is always handy.
It has big pieces which are also sturdy and made of thick card, so it will survive many uses and the curiosity of little hands.
I had a lovely surprise upon opening the box and finding a miniature version of the book in the box as well (ok, it is written on the box but I hadn’t remembered that!). So we read the story before attempting the puzzle which helped bring the picture alive even more.
Putting the puzzle together
Although I expected it was too young for him, I did with the puzzle with my nine year old to see how it went, and whether it was suitable to give to a two year old. We did it fairly quickly but he made some mistakes in the side pieces so it’s not overly simple.
I’ve taught my children to do the edges first in big puzzles
It is harder because the image is a collage of Victorian landmarks so the top of a building, for example, may not be at the top of the completed puzzle.
My son absolutely loved spotting places he knows. And I enjoyed being able to name the places as we put the puzzle together, too.
Overall, this puzzle is probably best for 3.5 and up, but still fun for 8-9 year olds. It will excite Victorian children, and I daresay the equivalent puzzles for the other states and cities are similar in style so they can have their local excitement, too! It is also a nice gift for someone travelling to Victoria now or next year (a good preparation to do the puzzle ahead of arriving!)
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