Shambolic Living

Christmas 2015

Janine — Wed, 06 Jan 2016 03:55:53 +0000

Christmas when someone is missing can be a tough gig. Robin Bailey wrote about the lead up to her second christmas since her husband’s death on Mamamia. While Christine Rasmusen on Second Firsts had some great advice for those struggling to deal with the holiday season. This year was our second christmas since we lost Simon.For...

So That Was Christmas

Janine — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 01:07:35 +0000

Are we all done with Christmas now? Hopefully you folks at the wrong end of the world have finished your Christmas day festivities as well, so we will all have survived the family get together and gluttonous overload. We celebrated at our house again this year. It’s a strategic thing. If we are having...

Christmas Cometh

Janine — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 05:34:34 +0000

I know there is a big day approaching. There are Christmas carols streaming through the PA at the shopping centre, I can’t for the life of me find a car park, and people are talking about presents, food and the heat. In my usual state of chaotic disorder I am not acknowledging the big day....

Christmas Come and Gone

Janine — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 14:56:39 +0000

Well it’s over for another year. Christmas come and gone in a mad whirl of shopping, cleaning, cooking, entertaining. It was hosted for the first time this year at Shambles Manor. We did successfully clear up enough room for people to be able to physically enter the house, OK it was never going to pass...

Christmas countdown on – are we ready? No we’re not.

Janine — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 05:12:18 +0000

Three days remaining until the Christmas festivities. Or 62 hours, 26 minutes and 9 seconds at the time of writing, if you count Christmas day as starting at 6.00am on the 25th. As the time ticks away the frenzy gets that little bit more intense because, as per usual, we are not ready. You would...

The Day I Killed Santa

Janine — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 23:39:22 +0000

It is now 12 months since I committed the crime. It began as such an ordinary day. I was trying to clean up. When the Princess Child approached me mid sweep. “Mum, Sam* said his mum told him Santa wasn’t real. Santa is real isn’t he?” Now look I’ve never been comfortable with the Santa...

Because I’m too slack to send a card …

Janine — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 21:42:17 +0000

Over the years I’ve become very slack at sending christmas cards. It’s not because I don’t care or I’m not thinking of you, I’m just slack. I leave everything until the last minute then realise it’s too late to get everything done. I also hate sending a card with Dear XYZ lots of love from...