Pyjamas are the New Black

I love pyjama pants.  They are my favourite piece of attire.  My go to slop round the house choice of garment for winter, spring, summer and fall.  Of course they have to be Peter Alexanders, these give you the added excitement of a near death experience on at least a weekly basis, when you take a stride and your toe catches in their extra wide leg bottoms, you nearly go A over Tush just catching yourself before you go plummeting head first into the fridge or wall (although on occasion I have actually splattered onto the floor).  There is nothing like the adrenalin rush, it keeps you going on those days where there is nothing very eventful happening and gives you the lift you need in between breathing in the petrol fumes at the local garage when you fill up the car. (only joking).

Image from A place of my Own

My daughter posted an old  picture of her sister and herself, from a few Christmases back on Facebook the other day.  They were both in their new Peter Alexanders, which have become kind of a family tradition at Christmas.  It started years back.  There is nothing like pyjamas, we adopted them as our school uniform during our home schooling years, they saved us a lot of time.  We would have breakfast in our pyjamas and carry straight on into school work, non of that annoying showering and changing.  Uninvited visitors who turned up at 2pm would find us still in our pyjamas comfortably relaxed and busy with school work.

Our family think nothing of bringing pyjamas to family dinners, or to their friends so there is something comfortable to slip into when the party moves on to board games and cocoa later.  I mean why not, I am sure if we spread the word, more people will catch the idea, I know Oprah brought out a line of leisure wear that felt like pyjamas but looked a bit dressier for shopping etc., so I know our family is not alone.  The world is obviously over suits and ties.  I know years ago there was a trend among doctors to wear more casual attire, which resulted in specialists coming into hospital rooms to consult with patients clad in Hawaiian shirts.  I guess they may not evoke confidence in their professional ability if they were in their pyjamas, but I am sure pyjamas would be ok for most other situations.

I am almost positive that if you wore pyjamas to the shops, no one would notice.  You could try this during the Christmas rush when everyone is busy and see how you go.  I myself am taking baby steps at converting my friends.  I splashed tea down the leg of my white jeans the other night when we had visitors.  Not a problem I put them in a bucket to soak and came out wearing my pyjama bottoms instead.  It was quite late in the evening and my guests didn't bat an eye.  If they were in fact horrified and just good at hiding it, only time will tell.  If they don't ever come back then I will have to rethink my venture into reeducating the masses on comfortable hostess attire, but if they do I will assume I can take the next step and just be in my pj's when they arrive. Of course, what would really get the drums rolling and the streamers popping, going beyond my wildest dreams and signalling complete victory, would be if I opened the front door to my next dinner guests, and they had turned up in theirs.

Easy Thai Coleslaw

Just made Pete Evans Easy Thai Coleslaw for our Dinner Guests tonight.  I found it when I was wading through old Christmas menus looking for inspiration.  The mint and coriander were a delightful surprise and the light fresh dressing made a lovely change from our usual mayo sodden veggies I usually produce.

I will definitely be doing this again over Christmas and New Year.  If you make a large batch and only dress the bowl full you are using the rest will last in the fridge for days.  Pop a folded paper towel sheet under the extras in an airtight container, this will absorb any moisture.  If you don't like the full on flavour of whole coriander leaves (I think they call it cilantro in the US of A and Me-eecko) you can always pop a 1/4 tspn of powdered coriander in the dressing, then you will get the flavour without it being overbearing.

Yum!


Easy Thai Coleslaw

Combine
1/2 Savoy cabbage - shredded  (I used ordinary)
1/4 purple cabbage - shredded
4 lebanese cucumbers, sliced lengthways, seeded and sliced thinly
1 large or two small carrots peeled and grated
1 bunch each picked and washed mint and coriander leaves
1 tablespoon each white and black sesame seeds toasted (dry roast in hot pan with no oil till they start to go golden)
Toss with Dressing

Dressing:-
whisk together
1/2 cup grape seed oil
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 1/2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon mirin (Mirin is sometimes called Rice Wine and is made from glutenous rice, with a low alcohol level but quite a high level of sugar, I used sherry instead and cooked my dressing to get rid of the alcohol.  We usually have it for when we cook sushi rice, but were all out)
1 lemon, juiced

Making Peace at Christmas

I passed a couple who were pulled over in their car yesterday, they were having a full on barney and at least were sensible enough not to fight and drive, shortly after the four wheel drive in the lane next to  me nearly ran up the car in the front's backside because he was yelling at his kids in the back.  The little boy closest to me turned and looked forlornly out of the window.  I thought here we are, silly season has arrived.  The rushing, spending and shoving that we get caught up in, taking it out on everyone within the blast radius until we finally arrive hot and frazzled at Christmas lunch,

and explode all over the relatives we don't see from one year till the next.  Kind of makes me wonder if this really captures what God had in mind when he out of His great love for mankind sent his only very loved Son into the World to save us, and saving us is exactly what we need.  The good news the angels declared was peace, and yet when we look around there is little peace on the outside, someone once told me that at any one time there is at least 25 wars in progress, somewhere on the planet, so world peace is probably not what Jesus was talking about.  It is hard to get two people to agree on anything, so getting 7 billion of us to is probably out of the question.  But, if I can encourage you to just stop for a moment, and take a deep breathe.  Allowing God's love into our life changes us on the inside, and while we may never see the 'World Peace' the beauty pageant winners are talking about, you will have the peace that the Angels were talking about at that first Christmas, so long ago to the Shepherds, that peace that comes on the inside and passes all understanding, that makes you be able to move about calmly in the middle of the chaos, and hopefully be able to share that peace and love with the next frazzled person who asks you why you are calm and not going crazy like the other mortals.  God bless you this Christmas, and remember, the next time you are tempted to do more than you are physically capable of right now, remind yourself that we are celebrating Christ's birthday and that He wont care if you buy fruit mince pies instead of baking them yourself.  Merry Christmas xx Evie

The Reason for the Season

I had fun on Saturday afternoon putting up my Christmas tree alone with Michael Buble' playing away in the background.  The Man of the House who will subsequently will be referred to as Moth wasn't keen to thread ribbon through a tree.  Anyway I came across some little red apples and tartan ribbon while sifting through the baubles and had a moment of nostalgia as I remembered that Christmas many years ago with two young children at the time and not a lot of decorating budget I clad the tree from top to toe with the little red apples (about 20 for $1) and tartan ribbon bows (the wooden duck on the coffee table also got a bow).

 It made me realise how our situation has changed over the years and how I have changed also.  My taste has developed with age and the elegant tree I have now is a far cry from its cheap and cheerful but loved at the time cousin from years ago.

 I don't like a lot of the same things I liked years ago, or think the same about life as I did years ago, with age and the help of God's love in my own life I can try to accept that other people can change too and not hold things against them from a time when they may have been different than they are now.  Christmas is all about forgiveness, it is a good time to invite forgiveness into your life, forgiveness for those that have hurt you, forgiveness for yourself if you have hurt others and asking them to forgive you.    I realise that much of the change that has happened to me is because God's love has changed me, and I would hope you would allow Him to heal hurts in your life, but even if you have never had an encounter with the Reason for this Season, Jesus, forgiveness still works.  Harbouring things eats us up, forgiving releases us.  Some wrongs are really bad and hard to forget, but we can only do our bit, by letting the hurt go and leave it up to God to sort the other person out.  Have a wonderful day!