Merry Christmas to all

Hi everyone!

I hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas. 

As my regular readers know, my eldest son and I are members of the Mater Hospital Sing for Health choir which recently gave two Christmas performances on December 21st. I thought you might like to see some of the footage taken of us singing. Our choir is made up of Mater staff, patients, and volunteers who come together twice a year to perform in the Mater Mothers Hospital foyer. We are not professionals by any means but we have a lot of fun and have become like a big, happy family. It's known that singing helps to promote a sense of well being and our intent is to spread peace, love, and joy at the hospital. This year we also did a Flash Mob performance beside the Hudsons cafe which provides indoor and outdoor dining and is situated on the ground floor. The cafe faces onto Stanley Street which is always heavy with traffic throughout the day. We were all a little nervous as we'd never done a Flash Mob before but it all came together and we had a lot of fun.

This video is of the first song in our flash mob performance but, unfortunately, it's missing the very start of the song. We also sang White Christmas but, as yet, there is no video uploaded on YouTube.

Winter Wonderland
Watch larger version on YouTube HERE

The Little Drummer Boy
(Bing Crosby and David Bowie version)
Watch larger version on YouTube HERE

Oh come, Oh come, Emmanuel
(Mater Mothers Hospital foyer)
Watch larger version on YouTube HERE

Jingle Bell Rock
(part of our Flash Mob performance)
Watch larger version on YouTube HERE

Winter Wonderland
(Mater Mothers Hospital foyer)
Watch larger version on YouTube HERE

Bradley and I are already looking forward to getting together again mid-2017 for another performance with the choir.

On another note,  Christmas is a bittersweet time of year for vegans as we see the high cost that other sentient beings pay for the human festivities. My thoughts are with those animals today and I pray that, one day, times will change where people make kinder choices.  

Personally, this is the only way I would have a turkey for Christmas dinner 

Edgar's Mission is one of the sanctuaries I support so, in light of their most recent rescue, I thought it fitting to share their video here too. Such a beautiful rescue.

A Christmas Carol from Edgar's Mission Farm Sanctuary on Vimeo.

Love, Light, and Peace to all and may you stay safe this holiday season.

Happy 18th Birthday, Aaron!

Eighteen years ago, in the small town of Kemmerer, Wyoming, I gave birth to my youngest child, Aaron. What an amazing journey it has been since.  I've included some snapshots of Aaron over the years since his birth. My apologies that the quality in some of the images is not that great.

Here he is at two months old 

I crocheted the blanket he is sitting on

My little beachcomber at around 2½ years of age

Around 3 years old 

His first day at Preschool

Poolside at around 4 years of age

His first day of Grade 1

Aaron loved going on nature walks with me 

We would always have our cameras at the ready

It has been an amazing journey and it has been a blast to watch him grow up. 

I'm so very proud of the wonderful young man that Aaron has become. 

Aaron and I at one of our many day trips,

This one was to Mount Tamborine

Aaron graduated high school last month. 

I'm SO, so proud! 

Here he is with his older brother, Bradley, on his school formal evening.

And with his Grandma.

Today, Aaron drove us to Wynnum at the bayside
to get out of the house for his birthday.

Afterwards, Aaron goofed around with Snapchat 

 Bradley was in on the fun too

It's been a fun day with pizza planned for dinner 

and also a toast to Aaron's 18th as he can legally drink alcohol now. 

And especially for you, Aaron, my beautiful boy. May your future be filled with many amazing opportunities, blessings, and much love. This song — one of my favourites — by The Pretenders says it all. The lyrics were written by the legendary Bob Dylan.   Click HERE to watch on YouTube if the video below does not work. 

Enjoy the rest of your special day, my son. Love you always. xo

And love, light, and peace to all.

Trees, teas, and butterflies

This time of year is always extra busy for me as I'm sure it is for everyone else too. Lots to organise and do. Bradley and I will perform in the 'Sing for Health' choir this Wednesday. We only had one hour of practice per week for five weeks with our choir master. We also practise at home when we are able. We will have a quick run-through of our songs just before the performance. Exciting and fun!

We will be singing five Christmas songs this year —

• The Little Drummer Boy / Peace on Earth 
• O Come, O Come, Emmanuel 
• White Christmas 
• Winter Wonderland
• Jingle Bell Rock

I can't believe that Christmas is almost upon us. I confess that I'm not really in the Christmas mood yet. I find I get more into the Christmas mood after I've done all the Christmas food shopping and all the stresses that come with Christmas are out of the way. We no longer have our huge fiber-optic Christmas tree but I absolutely adore our little tabletop tree. I think it's SO cute!  

A few weeks ago, I was very excited to learn that I'd won a prize in a competition I didn't even know I was in. How about that?! Apparently, my Woollies Rewards card automatically put my name into the Twinings Tea Promotion when I'd bought some tea in my regular grocery shop. I was very surprised when they rang to congratulate me. A couple of weeks later, this Twinings Tea Chest came by courier. YAY!

I was then able to go to Woollies and select my own teas for FREE. Gotta love that! I do love the Twinings green tea and we have the camomile tea very night before bed. It really does help me to sleep better.  I don't mind a mint-flavoured tea either. Nice and refreshing.

I haven't been doing too much in the way of sketching. I did a quick pencil sketch of one of the Christmas trees on display at the Mater Hospital when we were there for choir practice which I've yet to put a splash of watercolour on.

I also added another butterfly — the one on the right — to the double-page spread I was working on a few weeks ago. This one is called 'The Redspot Sawtooth' and it's not quite finished yet.

I'm linking up with Sunday Sketches this week.  To see the work of other participants, please click HERE.