It’s the official start of summer and boy did the weather get the memo this year. It was balmy by the early afternoon with enough of a cool breeze blowing through the shaded areas of the city to take the edge of the heat if you were so inclined.
I met a friend for a long overdue coffee and a catch up in Darlinghurst and I was pleasantly surprised by how relaxing it was sitting on the sidewalk outside the hidden gem that is Posto No 19. The trees, high end interior design stores and the terrace houses that surround the cafe are worlds away from the somewhat seedy party scene that the area is famous for at night. There was not one shred of evidence of a rather big night before to be found anywhere on the tidy streets and foot paths.
And of course, that little celebration of a miraculous birth, love, family, gifting and food we like to call Christmas. That’s another thing I love about December beginning.
My stash of Merryteaser reindeer got gently unpacked from their Costco mega pack carton and found themselves artfully arranged in my special crystal vase on the ‘good shelf’ high, high above the fireplace.
The ‘good shelf’ also now features a DIY Advent Calendar I hastily crafteed together this morning (better late than never). I bought the kit from Target and though its sticker priced it at $15, I got it for only $5. Tip for next year, readers – advent calendars go on sale a month before everything else Christmas related does.
The Target kit looked very Kikki K inside the box with lots of silver, beige, grey and pale blue motifs decorating the pre cut boxes and decorations.
It was very easy to put together and the only extra equipment I needed were my scissors and some sticky tape.
And there you have it, my good shelf is officially dressed for Christmas.
Naturally, the chocolate of choice for the calendar are these champagne flavoured Lindor balls. Toddler SSG’s advent treats will be half a Merryteaser each night after dinner. Who am I kidding? It’s going to be a whole reindeer each night especially when his grandies come to visit.
It’s shaping up to be a rather chococentric Advent at SSG Manor 2.0 isn’t it?
You’re right, though, Advent isn’t just about chocolate. I made a start on my L’Occitane calendar tonight. My first gift was a tube of Ultra Rich Face Cream. It’s going into my future trip packing stash of toiletries right away.
And Toddler SSG started on his Thomas calendar. That’s Salty who was hiding behind window number 1 by the way.
By the way, thank you Twitter for putting us on the right track as to which number to start with when opening our calendar windows. 88% of the vote when to starting with number 1 so that’s where we started except for with the Target calendar. Never hurts to hedge your bets.
Where did you start with your calendar? 1 or 24?
Have you got a non chocolate themed calendar (or two) running at your place? Which ones?