Crazy Christmas 2013 - There's no place like home!

Home sweet home!

 
So after a crazy weekend of baking and partying, Carl and I headed back to my parents place, a farm on the Eyre Peninsula, near Cowell, to celebrate Christmas with my family. Naturally we packed bikes! Not to mention all the baking plus fresh fruit and vegetables from the markets as well as some cider and all the Chrissie presents! If we had broken down, we would have been able to have our own Christmas party on the side of the road with all the stuff we had in the car!

What Contessa loves!

 
After a bit of a late start, Carl and I arrived at the farm just as they were preparing tea. Fingers itching to cook, I soon jumped in and took over as my sister and mum looked after my new niece, who was worn out from the trip to Whyalla earlier that day. Soon a wonderful dish of spaghetti and meatballs, courtesy of a recipe from my sister, filled us all up.

Happy Cycling!

Tuesday dawned clear and sunny and we were itching to get out on the bikes, however a more important task lay before us - wrapping the Christmas presents! Mr Carl is quite a perfectionist when it comes to wrapping so it took us a little while to get them all up to scratch and under the tree.

Dusty Bikes

 
Finally done (though there was one last very important present to go, but it wasn't finished yet), we got the bikes up and running and headed out to see what my dad and brother in law were up to. It was sandier in places that I remembered being clear previously, though there's a lot of drift sand on the farm which is fairly mobile, so I shouldn't have been so surprised. After trying to find a clear path to the windmill and failing, we decided to bush bash our way there. We couldn't get lost, as the windmill was the highest thing around, but that didn't mean that we couldn't find our way into a few prickle bushes. 

Turned out that Dad didn't need any help, and it was reassuring to know that he hadn't injured himself. Carl and I decided to try the track that Dad drove in on to get out, though we thought it would end up too sandy. Surprisingly our skills had dramatically increased since the last time we were on the farm and most of the sand was rideable. If we'd known that in the first place we wouldn't have ended up in the prickle bushes.

Big dam - little water

 

A quick ride out to Clutches Hill to circle the big dam and check on the sheep completed our morning ride. It had warmed up enough to make spending the afternoon inside an attractive idea, which was just as well as I had a present to finish. 

How my ideas start

 


As I mentioned in a previous post, this year the Riches family has a new addition, my niece Imogen! And I wanted to give her something special for Christmas. About halfway through November I had had a brainwave that I ought to make her a raggedy ann doll, since I couldn't find one online. But then I had an even better idea - I'd make her a set of dolls that resembled her parents! I'm still not sure if this is creepy or cute, but it made for a lot of laughs as my brother in law is called Ken, so I was essentially making a Ken doll!

 

Turns out that my other sister had the sewing machine and I was too lazy to go grab it so I decided to hand sew the doll. Mr Carl was designated official stuffer! Anyway, what with all the cooking and other bits and pieces, I hadn't got that far on the project and but I was pretty close to completing the "Ken doll" in time for Christmas, even if Imogen would have to wait for the rest. So I spent the afternoon prior to Christmas sewing, and completed the Ken doll about half an hour before we headed into Cowell for the Christmas pageant and dinner. 

Christmas!

Christmas day dawned warm with a slight breeze, though we were lucky that it wasn't as hot as had been forecast earlier in the week. Dad started setting things alight in preparation for the Webber and the spit, then patiently waiting for Imogen to wake so we could open presents. Eventually we were organised and presents were opened! Cookbooks featured heavily in the gift giving department, with my sister surprising me with a cookbook full of Christmas cooking! Now I can't wait until next Christmas! Just so you don't think that cycling was neglected, I also received a pair of much needed road bike shoes.

"Ken Doll"

 


Finally Imogen (well her mother) got to open her presents and I was happy to see that the Ken Doll was a great hit. I had deliberately made it so it was soft and washable, with no parts that could be pulled off and eaten. Imogen promptly started chewing on the head, so I'm taking that as a win!

 
The remainder of the day was spent eating and catching up with family and friends. The food was amazing, as always, with chicken done on the spit and pork and duck done on the Webber (hickory smoked). That was accompanied by roast veg and gravy, as well as grilled veg salad and salsa. All topped off with Mum's Christmas pudding - what a day!