Happy 2015

Well here we all are in 2015 hopefully well rested after the festive season.  For any readers out there who are in bush fire areas of South Australia or Victoria I hope you and your family are safe and remain so during summer.

We had a lovely low key Xmas with Hubby's family, which was also our nephews first Xmas.  He is just learning to walk so was very pleased with his activity trolley from his grandparents.

Unwrapping with his Mum

Look at me go

I was fortunate to receive some fantastic gifts of things that I wanted and had put on my Santa list.  A Santa list made up of a range of items you would like ensures that your husband and family have the opportunity to choose things that fit into their budget and are items you really want rather than them having to guess and give you something that just creates more clutter in your home.

I received some lovely tapas bowls from my best friend and from Hubby's family 2 books from my list of 5 that I have had on my wish list for a while.

I have already finished "Wild Fermentation" and I will tell you more about that in another post.  I also received some cheese mould for making cheeses such as Brie and Camembert.

Hubby gave me a dehydrator which is something I have wanted for ages so I am looking forward to trying it out.

We really try not to get too carried away with all the Christmas hype and we absolutely do not attend any of the post Christmas sales.  I know that these sales are designed to part you with your money (or max out your credit cards) and encourage frenzied spending where the retailers hope you will get carried along with the hype.
Tonight on the news there was a report that Australians spent 27 Billion dollars on their credit cards alone in December, this is compared to the total spent in all forms in September this year which was 24 Billion dollars.  There were sound bytes from shoppers admitting they had maxed out their credit cards in the post Christmas sales and now they were going to struggle with the expenses of their kids going back to school.  What kind of crazy messed up society things that this behaviour is ok, normal, or acceptable.
Well I for one am sure glad to be someone who is not obsessed with shopping.  We are really trying to minimize unnecessary possessions and although it is not easy I do find that it gets easier with practice.

How was your Christmas?  Did you manage to avoid the Sales?

Happy Birthday To Me

Today marks the day I am another year older and hopefully a bit wiser and more knowledgeable that the year before.  

There will not be any big party or fan fare.  Hubby's birthday is only a couple of weeks after mine and we often celebrate together so there is likely to be a nice meal or 2 out with family and friends to celebrate both our birthdays. 

Often Hubby and I do not buy each other gifts instead we buy something that we both want.  This year  however Hubby brought me a lovely gift for the kitchen, three lovely Victorinox knives.

There is nothing better than good knives in the kitchen and the boning knife (the bottom one) is something I have wanted for a while.

My mother in law made me a tapestry cushion.  It is actually the second one she has made me as I loved the first so much I asked for a second one to match.

 I feel very lucky to have received such lovely gifts.