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xmas

christmas in new zealand

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I have to say it’s very weird having christmas in new zealand

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not only do they have a masked santa (he’s been unmasked now) but it seems the world doesn’t really stop to celebrate

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unless you celebrate with a KFC turkey basket ?

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an idea for christmas

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i’m not sure if this the dress code i’d adopt for christmas day …

treat vouchers

PDF DOWNLOAD HERE

(page updated dec 2013)

here’s what i wrote last year. an ideal last minute present, and perhaps even better this year as we’re all creditally challenged ?

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We’ve made some ‘treat vouchers’ for our girls for christmas, and it struck me these are a brilliant last minute or additional christmas present for a friend or family member.  Best of all, they are individual and needn’t cost you any real money if you don’t want !essentially you print off the voucher, cut them out and staple to produce a cheque book of lovely treats, such as:

  • For younger children:
    • A trip to the fun park
    • A day out with just mummy or daddy (your choice)
    • A free room tidy
    • Stay up 30 minutes late
    • Use mummy’s nail varnish
    • Trip to feed the ducks
    • Free bag of sweets from the supermarket
  • For older children
    • Dinner of their choosing
    • Lift in to / back from town
    • Pamper evening at home for them and a friend
    • Video evening with friends
    • Trip to the cinema with a parent/friend of their choice
  • For Adults
    • Luxury home restaurant evening (you’ll organise food/drinks/family waitress etc)
    • Luxury home spa (you’ll organise the candles/bathstuff/music etc)
    • Trip to the cinema (you’ll organise the babysitter etc)
    • Home wine tasting with 2 friends (you’ll get a few bottles in and create a DIY wine tasting experience at home)
    • I’ll do the housework this week (new idea!)
    • I’ll do the supermarket shop and put it all away (new idea!)
    • I’ll do the laundry and ironing and put it all away (new idea!)

If you want to download my template, i’ve put it in my flickr account here .  it’s a 2MB download, which you can get to via the ‘all sizes’ then ‘original’ above the image here

There are 5 on a sheet – we’ve made cheque books of 10 vouchers, so that’s 2 pages (for those who are mathematically challenged)

Let me know how you get on and the kinds of things you put on the treat vouchers and i’ll add them to the list

UPDATE (after last christmas): just to let you know, jane says it was her bestest friend julie who gave her the idea of the vouchers, so credit to her excellent self is due.  And the vouchers themselves went down a treat and esther says they are amongst her best present !  huzzah.

PDF DOWNLOAD HERE

liz’s luxury mince pies

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our friend liz invited us round for afternoon tea yesterday.  she’d made some mince pies (‘mincers’) which were most excellent.  i hereby announce the start of Xmas 2008

christmas debris

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perhaps we overdid the wrapping paper this year.

treat vouchers – the perfect last minute christmas present ?

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UPDATE: pdf download here

We’ve made some ‘treat vouchers’ for our girls for christmas, and it struck me these are a brilliant last minute or additional christmas present for a friend or family member.  Best of all, they are individual and needn’t cost you any real money if you don’t want !

essentially you print off the voucher, cut them out and staple to produce a cheque book of lovely treats, such as:

  • A trip to the fun park
  • A day out with just mummy or daddy (your choice)
  • A free room tidy
  • Stay up 30 minutes late
  • Use mummy’s nail varnish
  • Trip to feed the ducks
  • Free bag of sweets from the supermarket
  • Cook dinner for a week

If you want to download my template, i’ve put it in my flickr account here .  it’s a 2MB download, which you can get to via the ‘all sizes’ then ‘original’ above the image here

There are 5 on a sheet – we’ve made cheque books of 10 vouchers, so that’s 2 pages (for those who are mathematically challenged)

Let me know how you get on and the kinds of things you put on the treat vouchers.

UPDATE: just to let you know, jane says it was her bestest friend julie who gave her the idea of the vouchers, so credit to her excellent self is due.  And the vouchers themselves went down a treat and esther says they are amongst her best present !  huzzah.

christmas shopping

what can be more christmassy than the sally army band playing their brass carols ? vid here
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christmas is over ?

i spotted this christmas tree in someone’s bins yesterday morning

and then i saw this father christmas in someone’s window:

and here he is closer up:

xmas is finally over

“can we throw the christmas tree out yet mum, it’s been dead for weeks”
“not until the beginning of March”
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1st february – christmas is finally over

can you believe someone’s only got round to throwing their christmas tree out this morning.
i hope that they put this tree up in their house in early November.
i salute their dedication to the christmas spirit.
i suspect they’ve replaced it in the corner of their room with a giant easter egg.
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chic xmas tree decs

here’s a christmas tree decorating idea which is worth remembering for next year. the bag will come in very handy on christmas morning for putting all that wrapping paper in.

click for big

christmas trees

this year’s xmas tree disposal has been quite slow. there were still a few out and about yesterday …
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star

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sick animals

random slip of paper seen in the street. will the cat really be played by a kitten ?

click to inspect

christmas excess

brother kev ate too much fine food prepared by my sister-in-law over the Christmas period and promptly fell asleep on the floor in his son’s play room.
great choice of book.
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