Happy 2010.... where did the time go?

Monday, January 4, 2010

Happy New Year to all my lovely friends & family who read this!

I know that 3/4 pants & work boots don't exactly match - but it was a quick "grab your boots, hat & rain jacket & run" moment!

My, it is hard to believe that it's been so long since I've sat here at the computer & written a blog post. Please forgive my tardiness - my only excuse being that this is the time of year that farmers have time to socialise - harvest is finished & holidays hadn't begun yet (most are gone this week or the next) - we have had a busy social agenda. I've also had two sisters visiting & what a wonderful time we've had.

But let me regress...

Christmas.. What a wonderful time we had. After all that worry about melancholy, it turned out to be a happy time, without a tear at all.... you see on Christmas Eve Dave was speaking to our neighbour & it turned out he & his wife were all alone for Christmas (having celebrated with their adult children the Sunday before), so we asked them over for Christmas lunch. Hospitality at Christmas is something I had never considered before... it always has been a family time & as such the focus has been on our family, but this year was different. And let me tell you it was wonderful! There was no extra work as I had already bought an enormous turkey, made a delicious ice cream gateaux dessert & cleaned the house from top to bottom. The children LOVED having guests & we had a lovely time with them. I would highly recommend sharing your Christmas with others... everyone had a great time & on leaving our neighbour said she would "always remember this Christmas" - which bought tears to my eyes. We also went to a friends house for tea - what a fun, tiring day!



Christmas was a rainy day (which was just beautiful as it was nice & cool) - the first one the old timers remember. Well God let that rain set in & the total over the Christmas weekend we had was almost 3 inches!!! This means most of our dams are full, our water tanks are full & we are still praising God for such a great gift. Even our house dam (which is our big one that has a silt dam before it to "catch" all the silt before releasing water into the house dam - it's never been full enough to release the water before ) was getting water running into it!!

This was enough to make me almost cry - water running into the big dam from the silt dam!!


For New Years generally someone at church has an open house & everyone is invited. This year it was some dear friends turn, so we all attended (including the Sunnyside visitors) & had a night of board games & generally eating the many snacks the ladies provided (needless to say there was a lot of food). We almost missed midnight for all the chating... but managed to just catch the countdown on TV & watch the Sydney fireworks. Jud was the only one to crash before midnight...lets just say we've had some tired children.

See the fence - well we were driving on the other side of that before this big rain!


We had a wonderful time with my sisters over the last week (sadly they had to leave yesterday) with the highlight being our shopping trip on Thursday - our aim was op shops, old wares & antique shops! I'll post our finds later...lets just say we had a wonderful "all girls" shopping day!
One for Nita - who loves Snowy!
We've also had farmyard additions..another post!


I look forward to catching up on blogs as time permits (Dave has the next two weeks off work & we are unsure as to whether we will go camping for a couple of days)!


I hope you are all well & enjoying this beautiful time of year!
May God richly bless you throughout this new year!

13 comments:

Smilie girl said...

Happy New Year Renata!
So good to hear of all that lovely rain!
And I'm so glad to hear you had a special Christmas and fun seeing your sisters.

A Bite of Country Cupcakes said...

What a wondeful time you all had.
We too enjoyed Christmas But the holidays are proving too long (and boring) for my Son,He craves the company of some bOys to play football and cricket with,Bored with me and his Sisters!
I am fast running out of ideas to do that don't cost a fortune.
How gorgeous is that water!!!!

the happy sparrow said...

hi Renata! Its sounds like you have had a wonderful few weeks and to see the rains on your property that is so fantastic! Its still overcast up in Brisbane and the rain has been such change! Hope you have a great time camping!
Love Martine

Grandma said...

Lovely to see you all and all that lovely rain! Nity was very excited to see her and Snowy's pictures - Grandad wants to know what do you feed him (Snowy)???? Was that a picture of you jumping up and down in the puddle??????????????? By the way, have a very, very happy New Year and we pray that the Lord blesses you all heaps in this coming year.
Grandad says thanks heaps for his plane - it is very unique isn't it!
Enjoy your holiday time together. Lots of love to you all, Mum xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Greyhaven Pines said...

The 3/4 pants, boots and hat are classic. What a great photo! :)

Elizabeth

Frizzy said...

Wow! I can't believe all that you've been up to. I am of course thrilled to see the rain as I know the droubts can be hard on you all. I pray the rains continue to bring growth and a plentiful harvest for you all. Happy New Year!

aunty sel said...

Hey Narn,
Thanks for having us visit!!! I had a wonderful trip, and loved seeing all of you!!! The op shops were fantastic, so were the beautiful cafe's.
Luv you all,
sel

Mum-me said...

Happy New Year! Sounds like so much fun at the Sunnyside farm. Yes, wasn't that rain wonderful!

Ana Degenaar said...

I love the pants and boots, I am glad you had such a lovely time Renata and I wish you the best for this 2010. May all your dreams come true in God! Hugs

Cassandra said...

Happy New Year!
Sounds like you had a wonderful christmas and i am so glad!

All the best for 2010!

Cassandra xx

debi9kids said...

Wow renata! All i can do is smile. This is such a wonderful blessing to have so much rain! I remember last year when you so desperately needed it to rain and now, well, look at this! AWESOME GOD!

Looks and sounds like a very blessed Christmas!

junglemama said...

Merry Christmas and Happy New YEar Renata!

Kath said...

What a way to start out a new year with a good rain!!! Happy New Year!
Such cute and happy pictures!

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