Woop Woop!!!! I finally made my Advent Calendar

How much do we love Pinterest on a scale of 1 -10? I am about a 100.

A few years back I saw a pic of an advent calendar that I LOVED and swore I would make it in 2011 and then in 2012, failed again. Finally this year I made some time and did it and I am super happy.

I got some calico and just used fabrics I had around home.

It is big and makes a statement.

We use a magnet to mark the day.

What do you think?

The importance of Christmas Traditions

I love tradition, tradition of any type whether it be Christmas, Easter, Birthdays or Weddings. Being Christmas I thought I would let you in on a few of ours.

I have 2 Polish parents who were immigrants to Australia making me first generation Australian. My grandparents started out being VERY Polish in all the customs and as the years have gone by a few things have been Australianised.

We celebrate on Christmas Eve and have broken away from seafood only and added in Turkey and Ham, a very welcome addition. We always sing carols before presents are opened and everyone behaves like a star in the making. Very comical. Any new person to join our family has to perform in front of everyone. They crap their pants of course. When the kids Dad, Shane, first came, it was also my sister in laws first so they got to do it together...phew!!! My cousin Matt got up with his girlfriend to alleviate her nerves. It is fun, it is silly but it is our tradition and we love it.

My grandmother always made the very traditional Polish Barszcz (Beetroot Soup) and Uszka (Mushroom Dumplings). When she passed away all the women and children took over and it is now tradition to meet a week or 2 before Christmas and have a fun day of getting into the spirit. It has been 8 years and I hope this is continued long after I have gone also.

Super old photo of Lola with her soup

We did this on Sunday and we know our grandparents would be looking down with such happiness that these special customs have not died with them.

My kids LOVE it, they look forward to Uszka making day as much as they do Christmas. As they have got older they are more and more involved and the process is getting faster.

Busy at work

The hilarious thing is they have not figured out that the filling is made from mushrooms which are apparently YUK!!!  they eat the soup with gusto and ask for 2nds. They don't particularly like beetroot as a vegetable but in soup it passes.

Here are some photos from the day, even our new family member Sunny was involved.

Feel free to share any of your traditions in the comments

What's not to love about Little Creatures Geelong? Let me answer your FAQ.

Approximately 2.5 years ago I heard a whisper that Little Creatures had bought the Mills in South Geelong and since then the Luscious Ladies aka Peg and I have been not so patiently waiting for the doors to be flung open and that finally at long last happened last week.

Yesterday I took the family to celebrate Shane and Mstr J's birthdays and we were super impressed.

I bet you have some questions

Where is it?  Corner of Fyans and Swanston in South Geelong

Does it have parking?  Why yes it does and lots of it.

Are their plenty of tables? Yes, it is wayyyyy bigger than most people would think with plenty of seating indoors and outdoors.

Is it Kid Friendly? Yep, Little Creatures want to be an integral part of the community and that means being family friendly. Indoor and Outdoor sandpits and a kids menu with generous sizing. We split 2 kids pizzas for 3 hungry munchkins.

How is the service? Excellent, thank god they have some non typical Geelong service happening, No offence but G Town really needs to lift its game. Loads of friendly, eager staff and the food was super quick even though the place was rocking. They do not take bookings but with things moving quickly there should not be a huge wait.

How is the food? A small basic menu but super yum and fresh. We had the famous hand cut fries which were devoured in minutes, the delish pork sliders and the Chorizo Pizza. Next time I am going for Prawn Tortillas and a Kransky.

Can you hire a bike? Funny you ask, YES you can hire a bike for FREE and we all love FREE and go for a pedal as long as you bring it back by sundown. Brilliant!!!!

How was the beer? Well I am tipping it is 1000% fantastic but I had a Pip-squeak Apple Cider and it was fabulous, do need to watch the kids trying to take sneaky sips. Naughty!!!

I am keen to do one of the free daily tours next time.

Little Creatures choosing our town is an awesome thing and will do wonders. Grab some friends and family and get on down and see what it is all about.

And seriously anywhere that has a knitting corner gets my big tick approval.

And the little things like this don't go un noticed.

Enjoy!!!!

Thank You Geelong

Piccadilly 1st Dec 2013, a set on Flickr.

Thank you for everyone who came out in their droves for the Christmas Piccadilly Market Event.

We had over 100 amazing stallholders with so much choice for presents and of course shopping for ourselves too.

2013 has been a great year and we look forward to seeing you all next year. Dates are still to be confirmed.

This year Piccadilly has been a platform for the 100 for 100 Campaign, Rivers Gift and Geelong Animal Rescue to raise close to $10,000 which is fantastic.

Until next year.