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I wonder what happens to all of those letters anyway?

I suppose that’s how new traditions are formed. Since the Christmas pageant last weekend, when Oesch (2) caught a glimpse of Santa from on top of Stephen’s shoulders, he’s been talking about ‘whiting a letter to Santa’. Nothing like the promise of presents for a bit of motivation! At four, it was the first letter she’d ever written and I was amazed by her determination. This was a little surprise that came out of the blue last year – Doots announced that she was writing to Santa. I have lots of ideas for everyone on my list – little sewing kits, peg fairy kits, a play mat with roads, napkins, place mats, book covers… should have started in June 🙂 We’ll be rolling beeswax candles ( like these) and decorating them for teachers. They were all lovingly received and worn, and that has spurred me on to make more gifts this year. Last December I made six Oliver + S Lazy Days skirts (free pattern here) for nieces and little friends, aged between 4 and 10. I love handmade gifts, and do my best to give handmade when I can. It’s no wonder everyone’s so happy to see us! We order a couple of 2kg boxes and they fly with us to Melbourne. Even on our away years, we don’t go without cherries. It’s from Jean at The Artful Parent.Ĭhristmas time is when Tasmania’s cherries and berries are at their peak. Each apron has an activity written on the underside. Each pocket was a little work of art and it cost nothing! This year I’ve scoured the net – there are lots of great ideas out there – and landed on this beautiful, simple idea – watercolour resist paintings made into folded paper dolls. I used a scribbled-upon scribble pad to make little pockets containing an activity for each day. Last year the kids loved the advent calendar.

This year we’ll be making extra for homeless people in our community. Each child went home with a box full! I would love to make this a tradition – there’s nothing quite like getting everyone around a big table, aprons on, rolling pins in hands. Last year we invited our mothers group friends over for a big session of rolling, cutting and baking shortbread. So, our top 5 Christmas traditions (as voted by our family, and in no particular order) are: But there are some things which have become traditions which we will hang on to… home or away. We won’t decide to take our feast up to the foothills of Mt Wellington for an impromptu picnic to gaze over the city and the sparkling harbour. There will be no Christmas tree at our place this year, and Santa won’t be squeezing down our chimney. For the kids, it’s all about grandparents, cousins, late nights, train rides, tram rides and new places to explore.

Trying to squeeze all the Christmas presents into that suitcase at the end of it all. Living out of a suitcase and sleeping in twin beds in my husband’s boyhood bedroom. Lots of grown-up conversation and catching up. This year it’s an ‘away’ Christmas which means it’ll be jam packed with people – our large and wonderful families who open their homes and their arms to us at this special time. Lazy summer days with new books to read, bushwalking and visits to the beach. So we have two very contrasting Christmas experiences.Ī typical ‘home’ Christmas is small, intimate and low-key with a focus on spending time together as a family and preparing beautiful food (did you know we have the best produce in the world here in Tasmania?) The house smells like pine needles, sunshine and shortbread and a big bowl of cherries sits on the table. We live a plane ride away from our extended family, and when our kids arrived we decided that we would alternate our Christmas locations between our here and there. This post is by regular contributor Sarah Bendeich of Oesch & Doots.