The life and times of Libby Withnall

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. We had a great time. Here’s a little video I took on Christmas morning , followed by a slide show of photos.

This is my Granny’s recipe for shortbread. Since she’s Scottish it’s the real deal. Everyone who tries it loves it. And it really is easy to make..

You will need:
250g of plain flour
125g rice flour
125g caster sugar
250g butter, room temperature

METHOD:

1. Preheat oven at 170 degree

2. Sift flour,  rice flour and sugar into bowl.

3. Add butter and work well until soft and pliable, but not oily.

4. Place in a greased and papered baking tin.

5. Prick well all over with a fork.

6. Bake in the centre of a steady oven till it begins to colour. (around 45mins)

7. Cut shortbread into lengths of about 7cm x 2.5cm.

Enjoy

This year I thought I’d do a video tour of my home. Hope you enjoy it. And don’t forget to click on the above logo to see more home tours.

[flickr video=3097676145]

I’m hoping to do more of a catch up post later today but like most of you it’s busy around here. So if I don’t manage it here’s some video of Christy’s Christmas performance last night – grade 1 sang Wombat on a Surfboard. The was the second performance at night so i think she was getting a little tired. They also sang other songs with all the infants classes but she was hard to spot. For some reason year 1 was behind year 2. Don’t quite know what they were thinking. You’d think they’d arrange them by height wouldn’t you? Still was a nice night and it really feels like Christmas/end of the school year now.

[flickr video=3072329950]

This December I’ve signed up for Shimelle’s Journal Your Christmas class where she gives you daily journalling, photo and layout prompts in the lead up to Christmas and the New Year. Today I worked on my album. It’s VERY different for me but I was inspried by Ali Edwards December Daily album. I haven’t put the dates on all the pages so if I need/want to I can move them around. Now I just can’t wait for the 1st!!!!

As you can see we put up our main tree on the weekend (we have another that goes in the family room). On Monday I did all the decorating downstairs so it truly feels like Christmas is on the way. Most presents have been purchases (Mum and I had a big shopping day yesterday) but need to be wrapped. And my Anthea Turner Christmas DVD and book arrived yesterday to help things along.

I’ll be sharing more photos as we get closer to Christmas but in truth it looks much like it did last year.

Hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas Day. Amy and I were up early – around 4am (which is not that unusual for us). Amy watched a movie and I read blogs until Christy woke up around 6.30am. We then got Kevin up and opened presents.

Amy knows all about Santa (she worked it out herself) but was still very excited and I don’t think any of the magic has been lost for her. Santa bought them Zongo Bongos

From us their main present was the High School Musical Sing-a-long for the Wii. They love it.

We had our usual French Toast for breakfast with Nanny, Poppy and Granny. Then unfortunately I fell and badly hurt my knee.

It swelled up pretty quickly so I sat AND iced it for a while but with visitor coming for lunch I really couldn’t just sit around all morning. I also hurt my back, so on top of a cold and runny nose I really wasn’t feeling the best. Still I managed and we had a lovely lunch with my Aunts, Uncles and some of my cousins. Kevin took the great family photo at the top of this post (I stole the idea from a layout I saw in a scrapbook magazine a few years back).

This is me, my Mum, cousin Tara, Auntie Irene and Granny.

And of course Rosie, who decided to eat the remainder of the reideer food (wonder if she can fly now).

It was a great day, despite not feeling well, but I’m looking forward to a very lazy day today. We ended the day watching The Long Way Down – which was Kevin favourite present. We’ve watched the Long Way Round a number of times and always enjoy it. I can’t wait to play with my new toys – the Crop-o-dile and Making Memories Tag Maker.

Finally, here’s a photo of Christy asleep – shes wanted to sleep downstairs last night.

Okay, cheesy title but I just couldn’t resist. I’ve had a busy two days getting ready for Christmas Eve and Day, and now remember why I’m so over Christmas as soon as it’s past. I love it and love preparing for it but it is tiring and exhausting.

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve with our friends. We sat outside while the kids (and Kevin and Rodney) went in the pool. The weather was a little cool for most of us (though they reported the pool was warm).As is our new tradition we ordered Pizza for dinner, we exchanged presents and had desert. It was a really great night and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. I’ve been celebrating Christmas Eve with friends ever since I was a child and cannot imagine not doing so.

I made two deserts. Raspberry Cheesecake and Pavlova. Don’t they look yummy? The cheesecake was a real hit.

Christy putting out milk and shortbread for Santa.