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Giving Thanks for Christmas!

To my dear friends~ Welcome to Natasha In Oz!


Today I would like to spend some time giving thanks for Christmas.

May the Christmas season fill your home with joy, your heart with love, your life with laughter and may the miracle of Christmas fill your heart with warmth and love.  

Giving Thanks for Christmas, Christmas, Natasha in Oz



Please enjoy this beautiful videoThe Christmas Story (2010 version),  as told by the children of St Paul's Church in New Zealand. Thank you Debbie for sharing this gorgeous story with everyone!



Blessings and best wishes always,
Natasha In Oz 
Please join me each weekend for the Say G'day Saturday Linky Party!
You can also visit me at PINTERESTTWITTER

Happy Birthday Maddy and Stacey!

Happy Birthday Maddy and Happy Birthday Stacey!

Happy Birthday Maddy and Stacey, Natasha in Oz



If you have time today I would appreciate it if you keep a dear bloggy friend in your thoughts and prayers. Jane from  My Pear Tree House is about to undergo very serious surgery and she needs our love and support. Just Martha has posted about the power of positive thinking and she has asked us all to look at the moon every night, after all, don't we all share the same moon? Here is what she says....

  • What if each night you look at the moon for, say, 15 seconds and send positive thoughts to Jane and to others who you know are going through harsh times?... 
  • What if you post this concept on your blog or speak to your friends?...
  • What if your followers blog this concept and speak to their friends?... 
  • What if hundreds of women look at the moon each night and send off their thoughts?
  • What if women needing support received these hundreds of thoughts?...
  • You see, we all have the same moon, don't we?..
  • Girl power. 
  • Can we do it? 15 seconds a day? Pay it forward?
  • I say we can. It can only help. It can connect us all. It can be global..
  • So what do you say?...
  • Start blogging the concept girls or make a pact with your friend


I hope you will join in with me and the many bloggers who are sending positive thoughts to sweet Jane.

Blessings and best wishes,

Natasha In Oz 

Please join me each weekend for the Say G'day Saturday Linky Party!
You can also visit me at PINTERESTTWITTER

Hark the Herald Angels Sing and a Christmas Home Tour

Welcome friends! I am so happy that you have popped by to visit me at this very busy time of year! Are you all ready for Christmas? I am so happy to welcome you to my Holiday Home Tour!

Hark the Herald Angels Sing and a Christmas Home Tour
www.natashainoz.com


I would also like to welcome you to the last Tuesday Tune  for 2010! 


Tuesday Tune, Natasha in Oz


Before I share my Tuesday Tune Hark the Herald Angels Sing and my Christmas Home Tour today, I just want to thank the wonderful people who have, at some stage or another, shared the gift of music with me. I have truly loved listening to every single one of the beautiful songs that my musical friends have shared each week. I have enjoyed listening to them so much that I have added many of your recommendations and choices to my ipod over the course of the year!

Thank you for making Tuesdays so special for me each week!

Well, I am sure that you all know by now how much I love Christmas so, at this very special time of year, I am sure you all probably guessed that I would be posting a Christmas carol at some stage this year! If you have visited my Christmas blog, Keeping the Christmas spirit Alive, 365, you will probably have heard her version of Hark! The Herald Angels Sing in the background. 




I have posted about Sissel, the beautiful and talented singing sensation from Norway, here. Sissel is widely regarded as one of the finest and most talented sopranos in the world. She has sold over six million solo albums and contributed the vocal tracks for the soundtrack to Titanic

Tuesday Tune, Hark the Herald Angels Sing


Yummy Christmas Ice-Cream!

Today I would like to share a recipe for Christmas ice-cream pudding for a few Christmas parties! I will be linking up to 

Foodie Friday with Michael Lee



As you would know it is Summer Down Under so Christmas day is usually very hot. We haven't caught on to the whole cookie exchange concept yet, probably because it is too hot to keep baking all day! Since it is so hot many Australians tend to have cold foods on the big day. Many families serve cold seafood, salads or have family BBQ's by the pool. However, since my mum is from England we always have turkey (with stuffing), baked ham and Christmas pudding. Now I am not a huge fan of all the peel that goes into a traditional pudding so I always make one that is made with ice-cream, chocolates, cranberries and macadamia nuts...YUM!

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To make this yummy ice-cream pudding add:
2 bars of white chopped white chocolate

2 Peppermint crisp bars


2 small toblerone bars


1 cup roasted macadamia nuts



About a cup of cranberries (I usually use dried cranberries as that is all I can normally find but I found these cherries a couple of weeks ago and they worked beautifully too!)


And 2 litres of softened vanilla ice cream


I then add about 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg and then mix everything together in a large bowl. When mixed well, place into a pudding bowl, glass bowl or even a cake tin that is shaped like a pudding bowl) that has been lined with cling film. Leave some cling film hanging over the edges of the bowl so you can cover the ice cream and then place the bowl in the freezer overnight.

When it is time to serve the pudding take it out the freezer for a few minutes and then turn it out onto a plate. I then drizzle it with chocolate topping (the one that dries hard) but you can also top it with mixed berries.

Voila!


This is such a great recipe because it is easy and it has to be prepared in advance-one less thing to have to worry about Christmas day!

I made this ice cream pudding for an early Christmas lunch that we had at the in-law's place a couple of weeks ago. They have gone to Paris to spend Christmas with D's sister and her family.

Here are some pictures of our Christmas table and our yummy food:


We always have crystal glasses for special occassions!


We ate roasted chicken and glazed ham, roasted potatoes and pumpkin, steamed broccoli and cauliflower with white sauce. I think the dishes are from Johnson Brothers but I could be wrong....

 

Dessert was a traditional steamed pudding with brandy custard and ice-cream pudding. 

 

Thank you also for hosting these wonderful linky parties ladies and thank you for inviting me to join in.

I am heading over to visit my beautiful hostesses, so I can get some more recipes and look at some beautifully decorated homes but before I go, I just want to invite you to join in with Sunday Song tomorrow. 








It will be the last one for the year so please feel free to link up any songs you might have posted about on your blog this year. I am hoping that there will be lots of Christmas Songs in the mix at this very special time of year!  

Take care and best Christmas wishes, 

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For centuries men have kept an appointment with Christmas. Christmas means fellowship, feasting, giving and receiving, a time of good cheer, home. W.J. Ronald Tucker

Nearly finished decorating for Christmas!

Well, our home is nearly decorated for Christmas! I am not quite finished but I really wanted to share some pictures of some of the things I have done over the last few days.


Normally we tend to head to the Northern hemisphere to have a cold Christmas but this year we will be home and I am really excited about it, especially because my sister Holly and her family will be home from England!

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