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Christmas Day

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©Kara Rosenlund

Happy New Year! Christmas came by and went just as fast as it arrived didn’t it?… I was a bit late getting the tree up this year, though she did come together rather well in mid December…eeekk,

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… each year I always ‘treat’ the tree and myself to a couple of new ornaments… this year it was some beautiful handmade stars by Brisbane ceramic studio paper boat press

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… trimming the tree would have to be one of my most favourite Christmas time activities…I purchased these ornaments last year from Anthropologie… a pair of tin and glitter whales…

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… and a feathery swan… everything looks better with glitter…

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….You know how some years are great Christmas’ and then other years are just not so great… well this year was the latter – a ‘not so’ Christmas, though honestly it came good in the end…. it had all the makings of being a cracker of a Christmas I adore Christmas…. First and foremost I had found a ‘Christmas Day dress’, ha  love a new frock for any occasion, I had planned a really interesting menu using local produce suppliers and was ready to jingle myself well into the mayhem of Christmas when …. Timothy O and I unexpectedly ended up spending Christmas Eve at the avian vet with one of our beloved little girls Coco… which resulted in her sadly being put down….. this broke our hearts, even more as our Gigi had come to the same fate three weeks earlier….just like that Christmas was off…

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… to have the love of an animal is a true gift and the purest of joys… needless to say Timothy O and I felt the aching loss of one of the brightest and most curious of characters within our home and secretly our favourite chicken …. come Christmas morning I decided to pull it together and put Christmas ‘back on’…. makeshift style….a coming together of loved ones to enjoy each other’s company and conversation….. to celebrate the good times with the not so good times…

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… I had planned to visit my local haberdashery on Christmas Eve to buy some grosgrain ribbon to pretty up all the plates for each place setting…. needless to say that was the last thing on my mind… instead I tore up an old skirt which I had been holding on to for far too long could never part with it as I loved the fabric…. and just like that ‘hello better than grosgrain ribbon’ for the plates…..

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… I didn’t have any bon bons / crackers on hand either, though I did have quite the number of these delightful triple milled ‘bon bon soaps’ by Murphy and Daughters… so they were the ‘makeshift’ bon bon’s to top each place setting…. plus they made the table smell delightful… summer frangipani wafting in the air…. I will be doing this again next year…

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… I threw a few bottles of our most favourite rosè on ice we always have plenty of this….. Logan wine make every gathering feel that bit more special and familiar…. like seeing an old friend who still wears the same fragrance…

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… I also didn’t get around to doing much of a grocery shop either, as in the fridge was practically empty so Mum and I made up a few boards of what she had in her fridge and what we had in ours….

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… my father had bought a kilo of prawns straight off the trawler on Christmas Eve, so my parents brought them up on Christmas Day… I made the prawns into individual ‘Potted Prawns’ and ‘potted’ them into glass clip jars to posh them up… amazing… super easy and rather effortless…

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… we all chopped wood and cranked up the wood fire oven and Timothy O worked his magic on a piece of Bangalow pork I had arranged at least something prior.… I threw together some potatoes from the pantry and beans from the garden, while roasting some everyday ordinary apples to make apple sauce…..

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… stocking filler gifts became parts of dessert….. sorry Dad, I owe you x…

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… and luckily Brisbane’s baked goods ‘institution’ Jocelyn’s Provisions had an extra Yule Log on hand…. practically unheard of at Christmas…

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… as the Queensland summer heat came down we migrated to the cool breezes in the backyard on the lawn …. I had these coconuts left over from a food shoot, so my father cracked them in half and we had scoops of ice-cream in coconut ‘bowls’ to cool us down…..

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…  we then spent the rest of Christmas afternoon in the backyard with each other, enjoying and appreciating what means the most to us….

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas

K xx

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34 Comments to “Christmas Day”

  1. Gorgeous gorgeous photo of you and your lovely chooky girls. So sorry that your Christmas was so sad, but happy that you got to spend it with those you love. Happy happy New Year Kara. x

  2. Oh darling Kara and Timothy. you both know how I feel about Coco and her adorably, cheeky chicken ways. She was my first, true and only chicken love. So sad. I’m sure she would have been sorry if you hadn’t pulled yourselves together and done Christmas right. She was that kind of chicken! xxxxx

  3. Oh Kara – so sad to hear about your beloved Coco. Your Christmas day does look very special though and as always you have captured it beautifully. Wishing you a wonderful New Year and may Christmas 2014 be a better year! Leanne x

  4. I had one of those Christmases too… The not so nice kind. Spent on the lounge surrounded by cold & flu tablets and tissues. They can’t all be fantastic right? I’m sorry for your loss of your beloved chooks. Pets just have a way of getting under your skin and becoming a little piece of your heart don’t they? Take comfort in knowing that while they were here on earth they would have had a cracker of a life being loved by you x

    • Very true Courtney, they all can’t be fantastic. Hope you are on the mend now. Nothing worse than being sick at Christmas. Thank you so much for your kind words. Happy 2014! xx

  5. Oh Kara, I’m so sad for you that Coco and Gigi are no longer part of your lives. Such a hard and heavy weight to carry on your hearts. I can’t even believe how gorgeous your ‘thrown together’ Christmas was. I’m so inspired by every pic, and how lovely to make use of all the things already in your kitchen/garden. And the dress really was perfect. :) Here’s to a fabulous 2014 x

    • Oh Steph – thank you so much for your words…. these things give us all perspective don’t they. Happy 2014, I’m sure it will be a great one for you! x

  6. Happy new year to you Kara! I’m saddened to hear about your beloved hens. I too last one of mine only a couple of months back. She was the underdog in the coop and was such a tough little cookie. I nursed her till the end and was deeply saddened by her passing. I know how attached you become to them and I feel your loss, especially at Christmas. I love how your family came, contributed, shared and gave up yummy presents to share the joys of the day. That’s what its all about! Love your new dress and your old shirt…you’re right, it does make gorgeous ribbon. Thank you for sharing your Christmas day with us and very best wishes for 2014 xx

    • It is such a journey isn’t Cheryl; I’m so sorry to hear about your little hen; to love any animal is such a gift and then to inevitably nurse and care for them at the end takes such strength and devotion. Your girl would of had the best life being loved by you. I’m sure you will have a wonderful 2014 filled with even more love and good times. Thank you Cheryl xx

  7. What a stunning blog entry. You have a rate talent for capturing and creating beauty everywhere. Our feathered and fur friends are family and it does hurt so when we lose them. May 2014 bring you happiness and as much beauty as in all your images xxxx

  8. Oh no, Kara, that’s so crap to lose your precious girls. We almost lost our Sunny {buff pekin rooster} just before Christmas and had him at the vet too. He’s OK now, thankfully, but we were all pretty flat while he was sick, that’s for sure. They are such precious pets, aren’t they? It’s really hard to explain to anyone who doesn’t have chooks and especially pekins, how attached you get to them. I’m so sorry for your loss:( xox PS Absolutely STUNNING Christmas photos. Ice cream in coconut bowls – how clever!! x

    • Oh Kim – that is good news about Sunny – he sounds as though he would be a beautiful boy too! They are so precious and when they go they do leave behind a void that was much larger than their little chicken size. Hope you have the most wonderful 2014 Thank you so much for your comment.x

  9. Hi Lovely Kara,

    if there was ever a lady who could pull off one of the most over processed and over thought about lunches for everyone in the world who bakes it would be you.
    So sorry for your loss of your gorgeous animals – it is a true grief to feel.

    you have made me drool and want that food all over again anyway – hugs gorgeous

    x Lisa

  10. Oh Kara what a gorgeous and heartfelt post. So sorry to hear about your two little ones so close together:( I have to say that you managed to pull together one fabulous spread though! Mel xx

  11. Happy New Year Kara!
    Your Christmas looked fantastic…that puts my ‘planned’ Christmas to shame! Beautiful photos! So sorry to hear about Gigi and Coco. I did think of you the other day in NZ when I was in a bookshop and found a book of lovely photographs of people with their chickens, and why they loved chickens! (not a patch on your photographs tho)..XX

    • Hi Jodie – Happy New Year! What a lovely sounding book; I’ll have to google it. Thank you so much for your comment. I bet your Christmas was just divine xx

  12. Hi Kara!

    Lovely post! So sorry to hear about Gigi and Coco, overall I hope you had a momentous celebration with your family and close friends. Love your frock too!; where is it from?

    Wishing you a beautiful new year!

  13. You know how sorry I was to hear about your gorgeous Chickens,
    But seriously how gorgeous are your photos of your “thrown together” Christmas !!!
    Everything you shoot is jut sooo beautiful, and sometimes impromptu an make it up as you go along food, is just as good if not better than all the prep in the world. !! Hope you are doing good and hope to maybe catch up with you sometime this year xxx

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