The Fruit Just Keeps on Coming

Today it was cherry picking. They were seriously The. Most. Perfect. Cherries. Ever. Huge, sweet, firm, and abundant. And another wonderfully kind farmer who waived his rule of "no children under 6 allowed in the orchard" so The Squidd could help.

The dilemma now is cherry clafoutis for New Year's or raspberry shortcakes?

 

 

Not a Bummer

I love Christmas. Love it, love it, love it. I'm the person who heads to the tree farm (or nursery or whatever) the day after Thanksgiving to buy the tree, and I usually wait waaaaaaaayyyy too long to take it down after Christmas is over (read: January is in the double digits). The tree is always brown and losing needles everywhere, but I'm always so sad to dismantle it that I put it off as much as possible.

This year, we took the tree and all the Christmas decorations down on the 26th. It was long past its prime, and it had become a haven for all sorts of spiders and moths that enter the house through our unscreened windows (don't get me started). Plus, our house is so small that a 7-foot Douglas fir takes up A LOT of space that we could otherwise use for toys and playing. So down it came, and surprisingly, it wasn't sad. Not in the least. After thinking about this for a few days, I've concluded that it's at least in part because it's summertime and there's simply so much else to do that I haven't dwelled on the end of Christmas. In fact, most of the country packs up on Boxing Day and heads out for several weeks of camping on the beach and extended holidays. What a nicer way to ease into the new year than heading back to work in the dark and the cold for a few days before the new year's day off.

For our part, we've been BBQing with friends, playing at the beach, splashing in the outdoor pools, and today . . . berry picking! It's a lovely 78 degrees with a light breeze and some high clouds--we're loving it! The berry farm also had fresh berry ice cream sundaes with chocolate sauce and berries on top for $6. I was so tempted, but I didn't give in. In retrospect, we may have to pick berries again this week if only for the chance to succumb to the lure of cool, sweet treats afterward.

Tortillas and Lollies

I took The Squidd out for a drive the other day just to get him out of the house. 

The first stop on the drive was a place that specializes in pseudo-Mexican/Caribbean food.  Needless to say, The Squidd was not appeased.  I asked the shopkeeper how much was the bag of 30 corn tortillas languising in the fridge.  In response I was tsked (and boy do I hate to be tsked these days) and was told that I could only buy the tortillas individually.  Individual tortillas!  AND each corn tortillas was a little over $2!  Needless to say, I was not appeased.

Our solution to this New Zealand corn tortillas fiasco is simple.  We have asked Wordy's sister to 'import' roughly 200 corn tortillas from East LA when she comes to visit us next week.  The price of 200 corn tortillas is roughly $5 (US).  This means once we receive our tortilla 'package' we will have roughly $500 (NZ) in tortillas!  Wordy then plans to sell them on the streets to establish our Corn Tortilla Cartel where the first corn tortilla is free...

So back to The Squidd.

His mood after the pseudo-Mexican experience was not improving.  Personally, I didn't blame him.  My mood was not improving either.  So I decided to take him to a shop that I had driven by numerous times while taking him to the beach.  From the outside the building is offensively pink and reminds me of a place where zombie clowns would want to settle down and start a family.  BUT, inside this pink building I knew there would be something that would excite any 3 year old. Candy.  Lots and lots of candy.  With a name like the Lolly Shop, how could I go wrong? 

When we first started to enter the building, I was relieved to see a giant gumball machine because chances were good that I somehow missed the New Zealand vernacular for porn shop.  The Squidd was stunned into silence once we entered the main area where there were rows upon rows of candy.  He had never seen such a thing and just watching his reaction gave me the biggest smile.  I told The Squidd he could choose one thing from the store.  Little did I realize that they had a 30 pound lollipop for sale ($90!) and immediately he told me that that was what he wanted.  Crap!  Think fast Rocky!  I immediately scoped out a big display of Chupa Chups and steered him that way.  After some persuasive negotiation he settled upon a strawberry Chupa Chup in which he got to lick it all the way home while listening to his favorite Flaming Lips album.  This might not be a big deal, but it was for me.  It was his first lollipop.  And I will always remember how proud he was to be a big boy and how he enjoyed that experience with his dad.

Merry Christmas!

I Can't Wait for Tomorrow!

Candy before 10:am

To be fair, it was to be expected, and there was really no good reason to say, "no."

Preschool Holiday Party

Cue off-tune singing and mass mayhem after the children ate way too many sweets at the potluck lunch.

But there was excellent entertainment provided by a duo of singing pirates and their menagerie of critter puppets, and Santa came and gave presents, which were generously donated by a local bookshop, to all the children. 

It was a nice start to the silly season (what the kiwis call the days leading up to xmas).

 

Christmas is Coming . . .

We're getting started with our Christmas decorating.

I've also decided that, while I can enjoy certain aspects of Christmas in the summertime, I feel like I'm getting short-changed on this holiday what with all the long days and sunny weather. So I'm going to attempt to step it up a little this year--to do more holiday things so that it feels more like the holiday I look forward to every year. I want to bake and decorate a gingerbread house with The Squidd and Rocky. I'd like to have a Christmas party of some sort (I so miss our annual dessert and White Elephant Party). Maybe we'll try to see a show or go to the Santa parade next week. More baking. More crafting. As I type this, it's sounding awfully ambitious. Will post pictures if any of these grand plans actually pan out.