Christmas Day is just over a week away. It’s hard to believe that this year has gone so quickly, and it seems that the bustle of the average Christmas season has passed us by. For various reasons, and in various ways, this Christmas will be quite muted for us. We wait. In stillness. In silence. For our hearts to light, and the flame to brighten.
Usually, I love all the glitz and glitter of the trees and presents, the jingle of the bells and carols. Sometimes, though, it’s just the right time to sit, and remember, the coming of the baby King – the beginning of the story that culminates in death, redemption, and resurrection.
And so – we hold on to faith, and we wait. For God, in His love, will not tarry.
We’ve decided not to put the big Christmas tree up this year. Doesn’t seem much sense in unpacking boxes at the moment! I’m still feeling a bit neutral about it all right now, but feel like I might regret not decorating in some way…I put some lights and other bits up today, although I forgot the batteries!
Gingerbread, reindeer, and a couple of gnomes. The boxes make a handy background!
I also found a tiny tinsel Christmas tree at the charity shop today. It even came with teensy teddy ornaments 🙂
I might start playing some of my Christmas CDs soon. I haven’t got the CD this came from, and I initially didn’t think I would like it anyway, but I had a listen. I think it’s one of the best things I’ve ever heard 😆
There’s something about Jimmy Barnes yelling at me to have some pumpkin pie that cheers me right up!
Or maybe you’re feeling a bit down and you’d rather something about what Christmas really means…
Still peering through the gloom, and we’ve not been feeling very festive. I’m not even sure whether to put the Christmas tree up, although I might stick some lights up at intervals on our cardboard boxes!
The frangipani tree has decided to suddenly break out in flowers…
So nice to be living in a world that still blooms into new life, whatever else is going on!
Anybody got a house to spare? Another knoockback, on a house we really wanted, on a grey, rainy, cold-for-summer day. We applied as four adults on the app, so the “sorry, but…” emails came four times, one after the other. I suppose there’s a reason we didn’t get it, but we’re feeling a bit flat about it all. Maybe even a bit like this!
😆
We are trusting that God has a place in mind for us, but we’re taking a bit of a break on hunting and viewing. I’ll still look at the real estate site, but only look at places that are just what we want. Hopefully things will be clearer after Christmas. Until then…
Apparently it was National Fairy Bread Day today! 🙂 I hadn’t had a proper round of fairy bread for ages, and I had to go to the shops to get hundreds and thousands this afternoon so I could make one for tea.
Many years ago I went to a playgroup party with my Biggest Boy. We were living in the U.K. at the time. I happily turned up with a plate of fairy bread, never dreaming that they don’t eat it over there! Everyone was a bit wary, but most tried it eventually. Not sure they added it to the regular party menu, though.
We’re still waiting on a house. Still packing randomly, trying to decide what can be packed away and what needs to be left out for the time being. Who knows where we’ll be next week/month/year?
In the meantime, I can still enjoy a slice of fairy bread. Or an episode of Time Team. Or maybe just an unexpected pallet of flowers outside a charity shop on a main road.
Still a bit down. Ever had those times when everything just seems to go wrong – not in any way that’s easily fixable, just…not right? We’ve had different things in different spheres go a bit awry in some way or another lately. You end up questioning if you’ve turned the wrong corner somewhere and are somehow lost on the wrong road out of town… Turned up to look at a place today. Seems we got the wrong day, which would explain why nobody else was there. 😆 Two more viewings tomorrow. We talked to a neighbour who has just moved from this complex. She was saying that they paid the money on the app the agents use to apply for places. It says that the fee is not compulsory (and technically it isn’t), but you seem to have to pay it to get anywhere – we have four stars out of a possible five star rating as tenants. Paying the fee (for some sort of “verification”?) would get us the last star. It’s for each adult on the application, though, which means at least $80 all up for us, probably $120 to be sure. Still, I’ve been packing a bit more. Looking at listings each day. Listening to YouTube to cheer me up 🙂 Here’s a couple of songs I’ve been enjoying lately. The first one is from an album I’ve just bought, although it’s coming to me from the U.S. so I’m not sure when it’ll get here.
…and this one is an a capella version of one of my favourite Beatles songs.
I’m going to listen to some more music before reading a bit, then bed. After all…tomorrow is another day, and another chance to arise. And shine. ❤
…and medium size boxes, and even some bigger ones!
Yes, still packing. We seem to have missed out on some places that we really wanted, and we are feeling the time slip by now. It won’t be too long until we have to sign another lease here, and the rent has just gone up. Still, we do have some viewings coming up. My Babe has rearranged the furniture a bit so that he has more room for his computers and instruments.
There’s a lot more room now, which is useful for when I need to put the washing on hangers inside. We could still do with an extra room so he can set up a permanent business space.
I don’t know where we’re going, and when. I just want to get there. I’m tired, and a bit down about it all. We might not be moving yet…but I suppose I can keep moving on!
Another round of house viewings… Yesterday my Babe missed one of his classes to view a place, only to find when we got there that it would have to be rescheduled. Not the agent’s fault – the tenant wasn’t contactable, and there was a dog shut in the house. I quite enjoy looking at other people’s houses – not because I’m nosy (you never look in cupboards etc if there’s someone living there), but because I find it interesting to see how other houses are put together. Some can be quite puzzling, especially the older ones where it looks like rooms have been randomly stuck on at intervals. Most of the places we’ve looked at have been newer builds and often quite small, even if there are technically four bedrooms/two bathrooms. I think we’re getting past the thrill of looking around. We just want to be home.
Coming back from the viewing-that-wasn’t yesterday was a bit dispiriting, but I cheered up when I got my mail. I’d ordered a DVD of John Farnham’s Live Tour with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and it arrived yesterday. Watched it while eating dinner, and felt proudly Australian.
We’re starting to see some of the same faces at different viewings. One of the boys jokingly called them our “rivals”, but of course we’re all just trying to find somewhere we belong… The two places we looked at today were different. The second place we saw was no better than where we are now, at a higher rent. The first place, though, was beautiful! We’ve put in our application, prayed over it, and are just waiting to see what the answer is.
😆
There are more viewings next week…time to rest for a bit now.
I have finally got around to putting my tax return in! It’s one of those things that kept crossing my mind…except when I was online, where I could fill out the form and lodge it. In the end, it was easy, and I have avoided the fine I would have got if it was after October 31st. Sometimes the easy things are harder than they seem…
Well, we’re still looking for a house – we get to the final stage, but then go no further. From what we can find out, it’s nothing to do with us personally, it’s just that there are too many people for too few places. Still, I’m enjoying dreaming of how we would fit into each house we look at.
What with this, that, and the other (houses, taxes, Centrelink…) it’s sometimes hard to keep calm and carry on. Sometimes it’s a bit more like this –
Ok, maybe not quite like that.
My inner screaming is not that melodic.
We’ll get there, wherever there is meant to be. In the meantime…
Unfortunately, we didn’t get the house we liked, even though our application got through some of the stages. We’ve heard that there are apparently too many applications of a high standard for each rental, so someone has to miss out 😦 I was quite disappointed when we heard yesterday, but at least we can look at more listings – we’re going to see a place on Saturday. I’m just at the stage where I want to be moved and done, certainly before it starts getting too hot. We’re sort of partially packed, with boxes in odd places. When I’m feeling a bit blah, good music helps to calm me. Today was a bit more like this…
🙂 I’d still like to be settling into a new place, though.
The rain today has made me think of this song – I’ll have to get the album!
a bit of creativity, a bit of eco consciousness, a bit of inspiration.... hopefully not a lot of pompousness and blathering :D
i'm not entirely sure what's going on here... let's travel along and see...
