Christmas Eve Day

I know this is a little late, but we have limited access to the Internet these days.  This was our first summer Christmas... and though it's hard to really get into the Christmas spirit without layers upon layers of clothing and darkness at 4:30 pm, we managed to tough it out in the sun!  Christmas Eve day we took our friend Matt to get mussels and clams at our new favorite little beach.  It's so secluded and so beautiful it's absurd!  Here's a glimpse of where we were...

This is where Mark and Matt gathered my dinner!!

Here are the mussels close up

It was such a gorgeous day.  It's so sad to be away from all our people on holidays like this.  At least I had the sun to console me!  Totally not the same as being tackled by nieces and nephews, but still not a bad way to spend this day!!

Adventures with Gingerbread!

In keeping with my most favorite time of year... I decided to take a stab at my very own gingerbread house.  I've maybe done this before when I was younger, but I don't much remember.  Being the person I am (and not having ANY cookie cutters) I decided to do it all by hand while accepting the challenge of a Nativity Scene from Mark.  So here goes...

The absolute BEST part is of course eating everything!!  I'm using straight melted sugar to "glue" the big pieces together.  I can't believe how good it worked!

Above is my house before,

Below is my house after I finished!

It's is complete with a 3D Christmas tree in the side yard made with gingerbread and candy cane.  And yes the footpath has individually cut gingerbread stones!  It should be embarrassing how much fun I had doing this... but strangely it's not!!  :)

Now for Mark's Nativity scene...

There were cows that didn't survive the decorating process, but rest assured they were tasty!!

Instead, we just have Shepard's and their flock ...

Wise men with gifts of mandarin, banana, and grapes...

Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus in a manger... with hay!  And please try to ignore the fact that Jesus is a little crispier than everything else.  I swear I didn't mean to just about burn him!!

So there you have it!!  There were a few things that didn't make it into my creations, but all in all it was a raving success!

I might never need to eat sugar again!!

Merry Christmas

Ode to Views, and a Full Sized Stoves!!

You may or may not remember that for the past year Mark and I have resided in a studio flat.  Many of you being urbanites, your mind will directly go to posh big city flats with quaint furnishings.  PLEASE know... this would not be where we have been living!  This "studio" flat was the size of our last bedroom, with a kitchen smaller than most people's bathrooms.  Full with a dorm sized fridge and a toaster oven as the ONLY oven Mark has cooked in for a year!  This is no longer the case, because we have MOVED!!  It's so exciting... we have three whole rooms!  I might even have separation anxiety when I'm in a room all alone!  The view alone is worth it!  Here's the view out of our bedroom:

Minus the big rusted roof, it's awesome!

I included this next one for any of you who know Mark.  The fact that he has a full oven AND a full sized fridge is no small thing!

Now, when I tell you that our place is up a vertical hill... I'm not kidding.  But, I forgot to take a photo of the worst part, which is the longest 20 yards you'll walk!  The last bit right before our place is walking on your toes only kind of steep.  Before this part, you can either get to our street one of two ways... the hill, or the stairs.  These are the stairs... that disappear in the photo because there are so many!!

It's really not too bad... though it does make you double check that you have everything before you leave the house, because "running back home real quick" has a whole new meaning.  We also have a little back yard area, that Mark is testing for a garden.

Right now it's home to these three herbs, but hopefully soon seeding goes well and we'll be planting some veggies!

My contribution to our place is the tackiest Christmas Tree EVER!  Seriously... it's Gold Lame Elvis level tacky.  I got it for $2.50 from a local resale shop, and I was immediately in love!!!  The branches are made of white and silver tinsel.  The box for the tree looked liked something from the 70's.  The whole thing is sitting in a big metal bucket I found on a walk!  All in all, I'd have to say this is "Carrie's perfect tree"!

Christmas, Santa, and Sunburns!

Merry Christmas from Dunedin, New Zealand!! 

Though it seems wrong to be singing Christmas carols dressed in flip flops (or jandals as the Kiwi's say) and tank tops... after suffering through 2 winters last year, Mark and I are more than happy to make the adjustment! 

This weekend was Dunedin's Christmas Parade.  And since this is my absolute FAVORITE time of year, I drug my husband out to stand along side every other child in Dunedin! :)

Though the parade was (not surprisingly) running behind schedule, it was well worth the wait.  The floats were AMAZING!  From singing, dancing, and crepe paper creations... Macy's would have been impressed for this small New Zealand city.

But, unlike any Christmas parade I've ever seen... shorts, sun glasses, and sun screen were a must on this hot day!  And of course no community event in this town would be complete without screeching bag pipes.

They had bizarre and cool floats... many that I'm not really sure what they have to do with Christmas, but I was impressed never the less.  This one is sponsored by Otago Museum.  The part before this alive mummy was a Cleopatra looking lady sitting on a throne.

I loved remembering all the children's tales depicted.  I proudly sang along with all the kids, "Who's afraid of the big bad wolf..."!

Local Kiwi pride of course includes all the sea animals & birds.  I was impressed there were no casualties from the crazy driving penguins and seal lions on wheels! 

However, I was sufficiently TERRIFIED of the gigantic Barbie!  Seriously... she was HUGE!

And what parade is complete without Ronald McDonald and the Hamburglar!

Dancing Seven Dwarfs...

Jack and the Beanstalk... Fee Fi Fo Fum...

And of course... SANTA!

I loved every minute!

Merry Christmas! XOXO