How we do Christmas at Helston Heights

Start the day with a shave.

Then get stuck into the presents,

and the kai.

Perhaps later, do a little tidying up.

Five of my favourite things about our new home

1. Harper's pumpkin seedling. He waters it in the evening with his wee watering can, but gets impatient and empties it out over the leaves.

2. The improvised bbq, made from a neighbour's discarded bricks and the grill and plate from Ange's old bbq. We had everyone over on Saturday evening and I still had the delicious smell of wood smoke in my hair the next morning.
3. The orange carpet. We didn't realise just how orange until we moved in. Before that, we'd only seen the floors covered in drop cloths (the landlord was repainting).

4. My garden. In a few hours, Harper and I went on a mission to collect up everything we needed to build a raised bed. We went to Lower Hutt to collect barley straw and lucerne hay, got the boxing, collected some old tyres, got four bags of commercial compost, snuck next door when the neighbours were out and scraped all the grass clippings off their just-cut lawn, and emptied it all into this 2m x 1m plot with our homemade compost and some sheep pellets. It now contains red onions, beetroot and peas. In tyres, I have agria spuds, H's pumpkin, and four cherry toms. Grow you good things!

5. Harper and Sweeney's swing. Grandad Derek was just up from Christchurch, so after collecting the required materials, he spent the afternoon putting it togethe. When Sweeney came over that evening, we tested it out and taught Sweeney how to swing. Harper's still a bit little, but he likes pushing it. I sat on it yesterday and nearly broke the branch, so alas, no swinging for this monkey.

Birthday boy, home alone

I've got a bit of catching up on the blog front to do, so here we go starting with the Postie's birthday. We both had the day off work, and I attempted to give him the Most Awesome Birthday Ever (TM) by:

• carting the kid off to creche
• making him eggs benedict and poaching the most perfect eggs ever
• making him a birthday cake while he was out mountain biking
• paying sneakily for his afternoon massage (though the massager guy didn't realise this and P paid for it himself)
• taking him out for swell dinner with our pals at a Mexcian restaurant where a certain girl had too many margaritas because it's been a long time since she really drank anything.. ahem.

The next day, P and Harper jetted off to Auckland to see Gparents, Gmother, and cousin Jessica and her folks, and I was left in blissful solitude for four whole days. I did stuff. I had long soaks in the bath. I ate every takeaway possible. I finished the orange sweatshirt that I started a year ago in sewing class. I watched three seasons of The L Word. I left cups of tea all over the house anywhere I wanted. It was awesome. Oh, and the boys had a nice time up norf too.

Trying to escape from the godmother, One Tree Hill

While thousands of my fellow countrymen were voting ...

On Election Day, I:

• listened to the results on National Radio while we waited for the road to re-open near Porters Pass
• buried my son's placenta next to my family's grave in Greymouth
• spent nearly ten hours in and out of a hot car travelling over the Arthur's Pass road
• showed Harper his first kea
• went to bed early