Relaxing with Girl 11

Hi everyone,
I hope you enjoyed the holidays with your family and friends.  I am not usually all that much into Christmas, but ever since I joined in "Christmas in July", I have felt differently this year.

On Christmas Eve, we had a visitor.  This is the same dear friend who took me flying a few months back.  This time, he brought me this beautiful bouquet of roses, a huge chocolate bar, Coke Zero, some bananas and potatoes, and a bag of sour cream and onion chips.  YUM! I really appreciate that
he brings me practical gifts every time he visits.  He helps me to get by just that little bit easier.

After he left, the postie brought a parcel from Texas, USA.  Every year, my dear sister-in-law sends me much loved foods that I miss from back there.  This box only weighed 5pounds (about 2kg) and it cost her $77.95 to mail to me.  Sheez!!! This is the very first time that AU customs has NOT opened my parcel before it came to me.  It also looks great...in the past, the boxes have been quite dented!

Inside I found 3 boxes of Triscuits, 2 bags of Fritos, a bag of peanut M&Ms, and a tote bag.  OH, how I LOVE Triscuits!! They are a shredded wheat cracker seasoned with sea salt.  They taste great plain or topped with a bit of melted cheese mmm...Fritos are made by same company as Doritos. Doritos are readily available in Australia, but Fritos are not.  Fritos don't have the cheese powder coating and they have a stronger corn flavour.....A bag of Fritos or a box of Triscuits along with a block of cream cheese will cure PMS/PMT or any other ailment you have...trust me, I've been testing this theory for many years!

My dear friend De invited Girl 11 and I to her house for Christmas lunch.  Here is Girl 11 just before we left for De's home. I knew I should ask permission if she could go along, and I was so happy when the lady who decides these things said yes!

Here is Girl 11 on the deck at De's home.  She was so polite while we were eating lunch and did not beg at all.  She met Teabag the cat and Harley the galah and she went for a walk around the pretty back yard.  De's daughter loved her so much she said they need to get a dog too HAHA.  That silly old guy Teabag was hissing at her but she didn't pay any attention to him at all. Harley the bird was excited too and he said "hello" and "come on" about 500 times that day :))

She didn't seem to mind her Christmas bow at all. It looked so pretty in the afternoon sunlight.

We had a very busy day. Here is a picture of De and Girl 11 just before we left to go back home.  We really enjoyed our day out but we were all tired by the time this picture was taken.
Thank you De and family for a very nice Christmas lunch and a nice day out. 

De and I have had a tradition for years that we make each other bags for birthdays and dollies for Christmas.  I will show what we made each other in my next post.  In the meantime, I have been tracing applique shapes for future swaps.

At our stitcher's Christmas party last month, my friend Maree gave me a special gift. She had 16 leftover hexie flowers from a previous project. There were also quite a few hexies in the bag too.
Yesterday while I was visiting with another friend who came by, I stitched together two more flowers. Not all, but most of the fabrics in the flowers are from "Beach House" by Moda and this is my all time favourite fabric collection.  My friend also brought me chocolates..."Favourites" and it was the BIG box....oh yummm...One of my two fruit and veg drawers in my fridge is actually a chocolate drawer instead :)
xx debbie
ps...more letters have come from Girl 11's Dad too and I will tell you about them next time.