And so this was Christmas

December has a habit of racing past, doesn't it? One minute you are excitedly decorating the tree and opening the first day on the advent calendar, and the next you are looking at a pile of opened presents and leftover festive food.

So Christmas has been and gone again and looking back it was quite different here than other years, and while a few changes felt a bit odd at the time, the resulting feelings after the event are heaps better.

Our Christmas cake/gingerbread sleigh combo

Most of our changes were based on our conscious decision to be more environmentally friendly. Last year we had masses of mass produced, plastic encased gifts, many of which were so poor quality that they broke within a week, and they were all wrapped in masses of wrapping paper.

This year, the gifts we gave each other were all homemade, second hand or vouchers for our time and activities to do together. The gifts we gave others were all homemade, many from recycled/repurposed materials. And the things in the boys stockings were about 50% homemade, and the gifts from Santa were purchased with quality and longevity in mind. There were also a lot less gifts than in previous years, and they were all either not wrapped, or wrapped in reusable fabric gift bags.

Christmas day at home - notice the spunky matching PJs?

In addition to our efforts, we asked our parents to give less to us and the boys, and to wrap less. They, and others, took on the challenge and we received some lovely eco-friendly gifts and a small amount of fun things for the kids.

These were pretty big changes, so how did we go? Well, there were times when making the presents felt stressful, but it was more the deciding what to make, rather than the actual making. I started the making very early and finished a week before Christmas. The gifts were all really personal and very different to each other, so they suited my desire to not make the same thing over and over. However, perhaps next year I will try making a lot if the same gifts so I can do a bit of a production line for the making. I will post a list of the gifts I made, with some photos, in a little while.

The gift wrapping was easy too. I bought fabric last January (on clearance) and then as we needed them, I simply cut and sewed very simple sacks. They looked great under the tree and we got all but 3 bags back, so next year I should only need to make a couple more. And the tidy up was brilliant! Just fold the bags and put in a box and because we used curling ribbon to tie them this year, that was all that went in the bin - so much better!

Second hand presents were fabulous! The children bought at the op shop, and I received a gorgeous summer dress and a cookbook that I will probably never use (it's a casserole book from 1972), but I love to look at it and love the sentiment. Stu received a stack of good quality business shirts for his new job and a card game from the kids and a good quality jumper too. And Stu gave me a set of vintage kitchen scales, that are exactly the same as my mum's - I love them!

Second hand gifts which are much loved already

The only challenging thing about the gifts was that there were less. I know we wanted less 'stuff' and we knew there would be less, but the reality for the kids and us of having much smaller piles of stuff felt a little weird. Don't get me wrong, at the end of the day we were all grateful to have a smaller amount of quality, eco friendly gifts, knowing that all that was missing was the piles of junk that we usually have, but just for a moment, we missed it. It'll be easier next year.

Because Christmas is about so much more than presents, we had plenty of celebration too (with green changes of course!). The Saturday before Christmas, we travelled to Melbourne to catch up with family. This year we took the train which was great - cost less than driving, no one had to drive and we saved all that fuel. In the city, we saw some festive city sights and picnicked at the gardens with our extended family.

Christmas Eve brings our quiet family tradition of a platter of cheese, cold meats, deli treats and fresh fruit while watching carols by candlelight on the tv, surrounded by our own candles. This year there were homemade cheeses and biscuits and homegrown berries with our free range, local ham. And I gave a Christmas Eve family gift of homemade matching pjs - fun and very well received!

(blurry) shot of our delicious Christmas Eve feast!

We've hosted Christmas the last few years, but it was decided that mum would host again this year, so after our family time around the tree on Christmas morning, we headed to their place for a lovely family afternoon.

Overall, a beautiful Christmas that left us with a much better taste in our mouths and feeling in our hearts than last year.

And to top it all off, I get to share it all with you. So thank you for not only reading my ramblings, but to those of you who also write blogs, I would like to thank you for all of your inspiring posts this year, and I look forward to sharing with you into the new year.