Hello, my friends around the world. We’re heading into a hot and lovely Christmas in Sydney. It’s time for family fun and holiday cheer, and all of us rubbing shoulders together in a world that’s magical and bright, and also possibly noisy and busy.
Last night I arrived home from walking Evie to find a giant Costco bear on our roof — a hilarious and huge Christmas gift from one of our sons. So we’re the house with a bit of this going on…plus a massive bear on the roof!
Ahhhh, Christmas!
If you’re lucky enough to be with some of the people you’ve been given to love, I wish you so much laughter…movies and treats, snacks that you definitely don’t need at night, and starlight walks to look at the sparkle in your suburb or neighbourhood.
I hope you have a moment to pause in the morning before everyone else gets up, and appreciate this time of year.
All the joy.
All the work.
All the love.
I don’t know why, but I keep thinking about all of us women spread across the world…and the kind of lives we lead and what we do to contribute. We work, we love our people, we get stuff done.
We gather up the heartache in a suitcase and walk miles with it to help someone else, and often we carry the joy and pain of our families and our friends.
We live. We care. We keep going.
When I think of you, I think of these words from Maya Angelou…a woman who knew a thing or two about living.
This Christmas, while you share your song, I hope you have a wonderful time — and that you’re appreciated and celebrated for who you are, and what you do.
I’ll see you on the other side of this beautiful holiday season.
Love, Catherine x
P.S. The Fun Stuff!
I don’t have a family photo yet, but here’s one of Christmas Evie. I think she’s the favourite dog in our suburb. Evie loves everyone and everything. She radiates joy, and is a lesson to me every single day.
With six of us here for Christmas, we now have serious ‘gift sprawl’ under our tree. So many fun surprises. Like this to keep phones out of the bedroom and this for jewellery. And loads and loads of books!
I made these peanut butter balls — a family favourite — and they’re almost gone. The genius hack: don’t dip in chocolate. Just heavily drizzle. I use dark chocolate melts in a ziplock bag with the corner clipped off. See my photo below.
My favourite Christmas songs — had a slow dance with my husband yesterday to this one and I’ve always loved this absolutely gorgeous peaceful winter song. Both are worth a listen. And for my Canadians, I do love a little Justin so there’s this one. I’ll invite my sons to two-step with me in the kitchen this Christmas. We dance, always, because that’s how we celebrate around here. (For my beautiful mama — here’s the ukulele score! For my mother-in-law, here’s the piano score!)
I’ve gifted this pretty decoration to a few friends and colleagues. Fits perfectly into a Christmas card. I wish I could give one to all of you…thank you for being on this journey with me. (Extra friends are always welcome…we are in this together!)
