A normal day

Today is sooo cold for our standards. Yesterday was quite chilly but today is even more. Looks like tomorow it will be milder because it will rain. Let's see. My litlle one is waiting for rain because she wants to take her frog umbrella to school. Maybe she will have the luck.

Today in the evening I must go to my other little girl school - this one is 10 and the other is 5 - because she will sing in the choir - yes, she too.

Well, see you tomorow. I have so many things to so and so little days until Christmas.

I leave you with two pictures, one of my Christmas tree in the dusk and other of my new lavender.

A trip to the garden center

Yesterday it was lovely at my little one's school. There was she, singing in the choir, very proud of her.

Today I was a bit in a strange mood, as my husband said - not related with yesterday, I was just tired and irritated. So my husband decided we would go to the garden center. Poinsetias, rosemary, evening primrose and lavender, it was our choosen plants.

And for dessert he made cheesecake.

Not bad, hum ?!

Busy weekend and lovely flowers

Just a quick post to say hello.
I'm quite in a hurry because I have a lot to do and in the begining of the afternoon we must go to my little one school for her Christmas party. Looks like she will sing with other tots. She must be dressed with a red plain dress, have red tights and red shirt. Let's see what it will be.
See you tomorow, then.

PS: this wonderfull rose it was my mother who gave me. It's so beautiful.

Other thing: my bougainvillea is still flowering so much. Just look at that.

The sun is coming in

The sun is coming by the Christmas tree after some days of rain and fog.



It's a good time to hurry up and put the washed clothes on the line to dry.
Here you go, laundry wooman.



Good time also to tidy up the laundryroom

and after that make some more wrapping and planning all that baking that needs to be done.
This is a nice season.

Bolo Rei

Bolo Rei means King Cake. We eat it at Christmas times in big quantities. No Christmas is Christmas without Bolo Rei. It's like Christmas Cake and Christmas Pudding in England.

It's made with yeast, like bread, and it takes candied fruit and nuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts, raisins and that kind of stuff.
Many times, as the tradition says to do, it has a little present inside and a broadbean. That means that the person who gets the slice with the bean inside must buy the cake next time.
Well, that was some time ago. Now, with safety measures, most times the cake hasn't the bean or the present.
Even so, we keep eating it a lot.
When I was a little girl, in our home, it was my grandmother who made ours. It was an adventure to me to see the whole process. The smell, then my grandmother putting a cloth on top of it and leaving to raise, later on tending the dough and putting in the oven...
And then the smell of freshly baked Bolo Rei...
Now we buy it.
That's ok, it's still good anyway.

Done

The tree is up.
We always decorate for Christmas since December, 1. The Nativity is done too but, as the tree, it has a lot to improve.

Later: I just want to share a comment I made at Mountain Moma about the spirit of Christmas at her post Simple Joys of the Season.

I wish I had snow here. We only have it in the North so, no chance for me. Some 2 or 3 years ago it snowed in Lisbon – Sintra belongs to Lisbon – and it was such a hapiness. The television programs stoped to announce that!I like Christmas so much. As here there’s no Thanksgiving, I dream about Christmas since October. Well, ok, since September but stronger since the end of October. In the day 1 we put the tree up and do the Nativity. Then everyday we improve the decorations and put the garland on the door. I wrap the presents – whatever the number, that doesn’t matter, and make lists. I plan and dream. It’s my favorite time of the year.

Wrapping, wrapping, wrapping...

Sometimes I read that a lot of people doesn't like to wrap all those Christmas presents they buy. Not me. I can't wait, every year, to begin to wrap.

I try to avoid maratons of wrapping, when my back hurts because all that time standing and wrapping. I do small sessions everyday and, because I never tire and burn, it's always such a pleasure.

So, I began some days ago and I have been faithful to my purpose of doing a little everyday.

I keep looking to all those papers that I find so nice, mainly the child's ones.

I like to see the bows, to work on them so they can curl...

I can't wait to see my little girls faces when they will see the Disney papers.

They are not like that children that all the want is to tear the papers and see the contents. When they see a wrapped present, they begin to feel the pleasure. They look how nice they are and then they open the presents.

Ah, that's a nice season.

Thanks to Our Lord

Myspace Graphics, Thanksgiving Graphics at WishAFriend.com

Happy Thanksgiving.

Isn't she a beauty?!

My mother sometimes gives me a rose plant because she knows I'm crazy for roses. The problem is, many times, they come so beautiful but sometime later they begin to look not so nice and eventually, they die.
So this one is stil in all its splendour and I couldn't help showing you.
Just look at that!

Raining outside

It's raining outside but here, in the house, it feels good.
My cyclamen, that my husband gave me, is very nice. I can't say the same about some others in the windowsill. They need a bit of prunning. I should take more care of my plants.
Gardening time.