Welcome to the Love Santa Blog

We share lots of Christmas related ideas, recipes and crafts in the Love Santa blog. You are welcome to comment or submit your own Christmas stories, too.

Safety for children

child sitting on a tree branch

Climbing a tree is an acceptable and healthy risk, but not everything children want is safe enough

Whether it is from advertising or simple interest, kids will ask for all sorts of things for Christmas (and birthday) gifts.

There may be many reasons to decide against a particular item for you child (price, values, practicality, appropriateness, and so on) but one I have been reminded of this week is safety.

Considering safety of a gift request

This week, a mother contacted us about not wanting mention of a mermaid tail in her daughters’ Love Santa letter as she had decided it was not appropriate for her daughters.

I know very little about mermaid tails so I am not saying they are or are not dangerous.

But the point is valid.

If you don’t think your child’s gift request is safe or appropriate, then that is your decision and the child should not get that gift.

Choosing what is safe

At one level, safety depends on the specific child. That is, the child’s age, personality and physical abilities will impact on what is suitable for that child, and that takes someone who knows the child to make that decision.

Certain things are clearly not safe and thus easy to decide against – like small Lego pieces for a baby or guns for any child, for example.

Whereas other things may be less clear. So to decide if something is safe enough to give to your child (or the child in your life), here are some suggestions:

  1.  do some research online – if you know little about the item, it is hard to judge it so find out what it is, what’s it made of and so on.
  2. look at the age group it is suggested for
  3. find out what other people think of the item and what experiences they have had with it – ask parents you know but also look for some online reviews. Even if you disagree with a review, it may give you some questions to ask or information about the item’s features.
  4. think about whether you would have used and enjoyed it when you were that age – this can help you view your child as a person rather than as your ‘baby’ who needs to be protected
  5. If you can, go and touch and try the item. Does it feel sturdy or likely to fall apart? Will it put the child high above the ground or travelling fast? Does the packaging and instructions promote dangerous activities?

Saying no to the child

If you decide a gift is not safe, what do you tell the child?

I think it helps if you don’t promise anything so you don’t have to back track 🙂

Beyond that, I tell my children that I don’t like a potential gift and give them a reason. I may simplify it to suit their knowledge, but I let them know to maintain their trust and get them thinking . It also means that I have already set the expectation that I won’t get it later nor allow them to buy it themselves a few months later.

How do you tell your children you have decided against them having something they would like?

Love Santa letters

Just to compete the above story about mermaid tails…

Santa understands safety and works hard to never give children toys or gifts that are not safe. And when Santa writes to children he never promises any particular gift will be given because he knows things may change between writing the letter and Christmas Eve.

As each Love Santa letter is individually adjusted, it was not difficult to remove any mention of the mermaid tails for the girls mentioned above, keeping everyone happy and safe.

Christmas jokes (child friendly!)

While Santa loves a laugh and often puts a joke in his personalised letters, the following ones are not in this year’s letters so won’t ruin any surprises!

Christmas Jokes

What do Christmas and dogs at the beach have in common? Dog in a Santa hat

 

What happens to you at Christmas?

 

How long do an Elf’s legs need to be?

 

Once you’ve thought about them…

 

 

 The answers are

 

They both have Sandy Claws…

Yule be happy

Just long enough to reach the ground so he can walk on them!

 

Image courtesy of 123RF

Bubbay – Christmas book review

Bubbay – A Christmas adventureCover of the Christmas book 'Bubbay a Christmas adventure'

by Josie Wowolla Boyle
illustrated by Fern Martins
Magabala books, Broome, 2012

Age group: primary school

Coming across a lovely picture book that is very Australian (without any clichéd cute animals dressed as Santa) is a nice treat.

The story

Bubbay is a lonely boy fending for himself in the Aussie Outback. On Christmas Eve, he feels sad to have no family, no house and no Christmas tree. At this point, the story gets magical with Bubbay’s Grandmother’s spirit leading him on an adventure to collect special things so Bubbay can earn a special Christmas.

The story is a little  detailed for pre-schoolers but is enjoyable for lower primary children. It is beautifully illustrated with simple, detailed paintings. Australian animals are included in a way that hints at the Dreamtime and characteristics of those animals (eg mentioning a Bower Bird’s home), thus inviting further discussions and learning.

My review of Bubbay’s Christmas adventure

Front cover of BubbayMy only disappointment was that Bubbay sat back on Christmas Eve to watch reindeer flying by instead of boomers, but reindeer may well work better for a wider audience.

I was able to predict the ending early in the book, but it is still heart-warming – and children wouldn’t see the obvious coming as easily as I, so this doesn’t detract from the story at all.

Definitely a beautiful book to add to any child’s (or adult’s!) Christmas or Australian book collection.

Passionfruit Christmas biscuits ~ recipe

Passionfruit Christmas biscuits on a plate with tinsel

While these biscuits don’t look or sound very Christmassy (other than by adding colouring to them or icing with Christmas colours like I have), they feel like a Christmas treat to me!

I think it is because the passionfruit flavour is a hint of summer and the texture is like shortbread (which I associate with Christmas).

These are fairly easy to make so are suitable for young children to help with – and I bet Santa would enjoy a few of these on Christmas Eve!

 

Passionfruit Christmas biscuits

  • 125g unsalted butter
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 1 Tbs castor sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence
  • 2 Tbs passionfruit pulp (1 – 2 passionfruit)
  • 1 cup plain flour
  • 1/4 cup coconut flour
  • 1 Tbs cornflour

{Makes about 40 biscuits}

Mix the butter (softened butter makes this easier!) with the sugars and vanilla essence.

Mix in the passionfruit pulp then add in the flours.

Creamed brown sugar and butter in a bowl

The mix is browner than most biscuits because of the brown sugar.

It forms a stiff mix, not quite like a pastry dough – and it looks a bit sticky.

Put a little plain flour on your hands then roll small bits of the mixture into balls (the flour is enough to stop them sticking to you).

Floured hand holding a ball of passionfruit Christmas biscuit dough

Turn a sticky blob into a ball…

Put the balls on a greased tray or tray lined with baking paper (I’ve tried both and neither seems superior to the other).

baked passionfruit Christmas biscuits on a greased tray and a baking paper lined tray

Greased tray or baking paper – the choice is yours!

Push down on each ball lightly with the back of a spoon to make them flatter. Note these biscuits don’t spread very much so you don’t need a lot of space between biscuits.

Bake at 160°C for 13 – 15 minutes.

Cool on the tray before serving, icing or storing.

Passionfruit Christmas biscuits on a white plate for serving

Passionfruit Christmas biscuits – they look simple but taste divine!

Some additional notes…

Why use the different flours? Well, corn flour and coconut flour are gluten free so these biscuits are lower gluten than most biscuits. The coconut flour also adds protein and fibre so these biscuits are lower carbohydrate than you’d expect. It also gives a slight hint of coconut to add to the summery effect.

Why brown sugar? It is less processed so healthier than white sugar of any type.

I melted some white chocolate and added colouring to cover some of my biscuits. I love the crunch of the set chocolate but I found it did overwhelm the passionfruit flavour a bit – they still were yummy and melted on the tongue though!

A child's hand reaching for the last passionfruit biscuit on the plate!

What my children and friends thought of the biscuits…

I am thinking of making batches of these with my kids this year for them to give to kinder/school teachers as Christmas gifts.

What will you do with the biscuits you make?

And I’m curious, if you are from the northern hemisphere, would these feel Christmassy or would you prefer them in summer?

Passionfruit Christmas biscuits ~ recipe

Do you know what I’m getting…

I have heard this question a lot recently.

My son keeps asking “Do you know what I’m getting {insert various names} for Christmas?”

I think it is lovely that a six year old is so excited about giving gifts to the people he loves.

Boy in a Snat hat giving a Christmas gift

Seeing children happy to give a gift with love is a beautiful sight

And he is trying to be selfless in the process – some the gifts are perhaps a bit more of what he is interested in than the recipient (like a Lego set for his grandfather!) but he is thinking about what they may like which is a great lesson for him.

At six, my son doesn’t truly comprehend how long it is until Christmas so his perspective is different. Of course, his idea of suitable budgets for presents is pretty limited, too!

In the adult world…

Some people are well into organising their Christmas gifts and others are horrified at the idea of preparing this early (I have a few relatives who will start on about the 20th or 22nd of December!)

But I am enjoying the fact that as I type this, my son and his friend are singing (made up) Christmas songs and playing  time at the emergency centre with my daughter. They are happy and excited even if there are still 43 days to go!

Have you started thinking about what gifts to give people? Have you started getting those gifts?

I had a chance to go shopping without children last week so that’s when I started Christmas shopping. It does feel good to have crossed a few names of the list!

Special Christmas Memories

Santa hat on Christmas tree of green lollipops

The perfect Christmas tree for a sweet tooth – it’s made of lollipops!

My momma always used to make Christmas for me and my brother special. I have such great Christmas memories thanks to her.

The Christmas tree…

We would get a Christmas tree as tall as possible without touching the ceiling.  I remember the struggles we all had trying to get the trunk into the base so it would stand straight!

Decorating the tree was always a special occasion.

Although my mom stopped putting candy canes on the tree until Christmas Eve arrived, which was a bit sad. All because my brother and I would sneak and eat one or two or five a day…

Row of red and white candy canes on a wooden background

Christmas in the future…

I loved Christmas! And now, 20 years later as my wife and I prepare to have kids, I will give them the same memories of Christmas my mom gave to my brother and me.

 

 

* Image courtesy of 123 rf

Egg Shell Ornaments for Christmas

When I was a child we use to make egg shell Christmas ornaments for the tree. Does anyone remember these?

They were super easy to make. But the worst part was blowing the inside of the egg out, YUCK!!!!!

Making egg shell Christmas ornaments

multi-coloured decorated eggs in a pileAn adult, usually Mama, would give us all an egg. It was raw, of course, we would have to be outside for the first part of this project.

We would take a small nail, and very carefully punch a hole in the top and bottom of the egg.

Then we would gently press our puckered lips against the top of egg with the hole in it. We would then blow really hard into the hole.

Usually, it would take us at least three good blows to push the yolk and white out of the other hole at the bottom of egg shell.

Once we had that done, we could go back inside and decorate the outside of egg with paint or glitter.

Just whatever we wanted to do with it was fine. We would use thread inserted in the hole to hang our ornaments.

 

* Image courtesy of 123rf

Christmas jokes…

I have three jokes to share with you today…

What starts with P and ends with E, and has a thousand letters?

How do you make Lady Gaga cry?

Why is Santa so good at karate?

 

Santa laughing

Santa loves a good laugh – HOHOHO!

Answers…

 

Post Office
Poker Face
Because he has a black belt

The night before Christmas – for aviation people…

Sorry, I don’t know the original source of this but as someone works with planes, this made me laugh!

I hope others enjoy it too – Merry Christmas!

The night before Christmas (aviation style)

Twas the night before Christmas, and out on the ramp,

Not an airplane was stirring, not even a Champ. 

The aircraft were fastened to tie downs with care,
In hopes that come morning, they all would be there.

The fuel trucks were nestled, all snug in their spots,

While peak gusts from three two zero reached 39 knots.
I sank behind the fuel desk, now finally caught up,

And settled down comfortably, resting my butt.

When over the radio there arose such a clatter,

I turned up the scanner to see what was the matter.
A voice clearly heard over static and snow,

Asked for clearance to land at the airport below.

Santa in a blue Christmas plane

He barked out his transmission so lively and quick,

I could have sworn that the call sign he used was “St. Nick”.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,

Sure that it was only Horizon’s late Dash.

Then he called his position, and there could be no denial,

“This is St. Nicholas One and I’m turning on final.”
When what to my wondering eyes should appear,

A Rutan sleigh, with eight Rotax Reindeer.

Cleared for the ILS, down the glideslope he came,

As he passed all fixes, he called them by name:
“Now Ringo! Now Tolga! Now Trini and Bacun!

On Comet! On Cupid!” What pills was he takin’?

Those last couple of fixes left the controllers confused,

They called down to the office to give me the news.
The message they left was both urgent and dour:

“When Santa lands, have him please call the tower?”

He landed like silk, with the sled runners sparking,

Then I heard “Exit at Charlie,” and “Taxi to parking.”

He slowed to a taxi and exited Three-Two,

As he came down the taxiway the sleighbells’ jingle grew.

He stepped out of the sleigh, but before he could talk,
I had run out to him with my best set of chocks.

He was dressed all in fur, which was covered with frost
And his beard was all blackened from Rotax Reindeer exhaust.

His breath smelled like peppermint, gone slightly stale,
And he puffed on a pipe, but he didn’t inhale.

His cheeks were all rosy and jiggled like jelly,

His boots were as black as a cropduster’s belly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old fool,

And he kindly informed me that he needed some fuel.
A wink of his eye and a twist of his toes,

Let me know he was desperate to powder his nose.

I spoke not a word, but went straight to my work,

And I filled up the sleigh, but I spilled like a jerk.
He came out of the restroom with a sigh of relief,

And then picked up a phone for a Flight Service brief.

And I thought as he silently scribed in his log,

That with Rudolph, he could land in an eighth-mile fog.
Next, he completed his pre-flight, from the front to the rear,

Then he put on his headset, and I heard him yell, “Clear!”

And laying a finger on his push-to-talk,

He called up the tower for his clearance and squawk.
“After departure fly heading three two zero,” the tower called forth,
“And watch for a Luscombe inbound from the North.”

Then I heard him proclaim, as he climbed thru the night,

“Merry Christmas to all! I have traffic in sight.”  

Santa in sleigh pulled by 6 boomers1

 

* Images courtesy of Love Santa and 123rf

Christmas pudding balls ~ recipe

Christmas pudding balls on plate

Complete Christmas pudding balls – they didn’t last long on the plate in our house!

I came across a recipe for dough balls which looked yummy and adjusted it for taste and to make it more Christmassy.

It is easy to make, doesn’t need to be cooked, and could be a nice snack to leave out for Santa, or on a plate to take to a function. I’m finding these quite handy to send along to the kids’ Christmas parties at school and scouts because they are quick and easy and kids love them!

I don’t think they quite fit the nice gift category but that could just be me 🙂 Try the recipe and let me know if you’d give them as a gift…

Christmas pudding balls

100g unsalted butter (room temperature or almost melt it in the microwave to make it really soft if kids are helping you cook!)
3/4 cup raw sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/2 teaspoons red food colouring
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons of mini chocolate chips
3/4 cup fruit mince (or dried mixed fruit plus 1-2 tablespoon of liquid*)
1 cup plain flour
125g white chocolate
1/2 teaspoon green food colouring

mixing ingredients for Christmas pudding balls

An easy recipe for little people to help with – although you may get a bit of flour splatter around the kitchen!

How to make Christmas pudding balls

Cream the butter and sugar.

Mix in the essence, red food colouring, cinnamon and flour.

Stir in choc chips and fruit mince.

Form balls of dough. I found it needed some moisture to really hold together and be able to roll it – dry fruit alone will be fairly crumbly and impossible to roll (forming shapes is ok) thus fruit mince or some liquid is required.

Put them in the fridge to harden – I left them for a few hours but half an hour or so is probably enough. Note they taste much better at this stage now when just mixed 🙂

Melt the while chocolate until liquid. Then add green food colour.

Christmas pudding balls created and ready for fridge

It’s not easy to make neat balls with this mix, so be comfortable with a rustic effect!

Dip each ball into the green chocolate and place on a tray.

Put back in the fridge for the chocolate to set, and for storage. Enjoy!

* You could use a liqueur or some orange or cranberry juice

Christmas 2013 is almost here!

Santa is just finishing up at the North Pole in preparation for his big trip Down Under (and elsewhere in the world!)

The excitement is certainly building in our house, street and community (especially as all the end of school year things are underway, too. Are you feeling excited or are you still caught up in the busyness leading up to Christmas?

Love Santa letters

Images of chldren and teens enjoying a letter from Love Santa

Children of all ages enjoy getting mail and finding a Love Santa letter addressed to them

Of course, Australia Post is very busy at this time of year which means we can’t be sure how long letters will take to reach children now. So letter orders will soon be closing – and we suggest not ordering personalised letters for anywhere with longer delivery times.

Deliveries to Melbourne and Sydney – close Thursday 19th December
For orders to children in Melbourne, we can accept these on Friday 20th December but do not promise delivery before 24th December. Please contact us if you would like us to try.

Deliveries to other capital cities and Victoria – suggested deadline is Wednesday 18th December

Deliveries to other rural areas – suggested deadline is Tuesday 17th December or sooner

If you have not ordered letters by those deadlines, you can order an emailed version instead. These letters are on the same backgrounds and professionally written but are not personalised and obviously come without the physical surprise and are emailed rather than mailed.

Love Santa - www.lovesanta.com.au

 

Order Cut Off Dates

Please note that Love Santa letters need to be ordered before December 18 to be delivered before Christmas!

Order now to be sure of delivery before Christmas. Keep an eye on our blog for final ordering days as we get close to Christmas Eve.

 

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