It's beginning to look like a last minute rush

So is anyone else in denial that we only have two more sleeps until Christmas? My to-do list is slowly shrinking, but I still haven't wrapped a single present, and mum and I only just finishing decorating the lounge room this afternoon.

It's not Christmas at our house without some tinsel bunting

Miss K's contribution to the decorating is not touching this table

So this is technically an unfinished wall because we'll be stringing up some tinsel to make the baubles look like they're hanging on the wall, but you get the idea.

And I finally got a picture of the finished Christmas tree, it has had some rearranging done over the past few weeks as Miss K can't resist touching everything, so most days I find several ornaments sitting on the floor that need rescuing. 

Ladies and gentlemen, we give you Santa vomit.

If you look very closely, you'll see a large white rectangle close to the bottom of the tree, that is actually an ornament that Miss K made with Grandma several days ago. She was so proud of it, and we have to show it to everyone when they first enter the house. Luckily we don't get a lot of new visitors around here otherwise I would get very tired of talking about it. Needless to say this will be saved and kept as a reminder of a time that is passing all too quickly.

In our house, no Christmas is complete until the toys come out. For the past few years mum has been collecting all kinds of irritating singing Christmas themed toys and Nutcrackers. Every year they take their place next to the tree to stand guard against potential thieves, and Miss K loves to spend her days racing the toys, or turning them all on at once and making them perform riff-offs. It's a guaranteed headache creator every time, but it keeps her entertained for so long I have learned to tune it all out.

We're doing all we can to keep the battery industry alive in Australia

Now we were very saddened this year to discover that apparently Nutcrackers have become uncool again. For several years the stores have been well stocked with these gorgeous toys, and mum always managed to find at least one that she felt needed to be added to the collection. Now we have to wait for the next time someone remembers these relics and decides to make them cool again to add further friends to our collection.

Won't someone think of the Nutcrackers???

Now yesterday I harnessed my inner handyman and built myself a marquee. Not from scratch of course, I'm not that good. But given that a lot of Miss K's toys are intended for outdoor use, I wanted somewhere safe and shaded for her to be able to play, even in the hottest days of summer, and given that my only experience in building has been flat pack furniture, I am pretty pleased with my efforts. Of course I built the marquee where our old pergola used to be, and the structure that was the roof is still in place. And yesterday I was surprised to find that it is less than 2.5 metres tall, as the marquee couldn't be erected to even it's shortest extension underneath it. Oops. But even crouching on the ground as it was yesterday, it was tall enough to fit Miss K and an inflatable pool underneath it, so we spent our afternoon having a swim.

I of course have to kneel to fit underneath it, but since it's not for me, that didn't really matter.

Luckily for us Nat was over this morning, so she helped me to move it, raise it up and tether it down with the tent pegs and rope provided. I am now very ashamed of our abilities to tie ropes and secure flimsy buildings, but luckily for me, I have a dad who is an absolute pro at putting up tents and tying ropes, so I'll get him in after Christmas to secure that sucker properly so it doesn't pull a Wizard of Oz on us and fly away to the Emerald City.

And of course what Christmas would be complete without a gingerbread house? My big sister bought a kit for her and my niece and nephew to put together and decorate, and she was kind enough to invite Miss K and myself to participate. Sadly I didn't get any good pictures of Miss K decorating the building, but the finished product is pretty impressive.

If you look closely enough, you can even see the "snowman" in the front that I got to decorate. Yay!

And I finally got a picture better than Miss K sitting on Santa's knee, and that's Miss K dressed as Santa. Now I have to add that this was actually her idea, but it wasn't her idea to pose for photos, which is why she has been stood on a table, in order to slow her down long enough to get a decent photo.

HO HO HO!!!

But of course chasing her around with a singing reindeer always gets good results too...

Well I've shared all of my new photos with you, and managed to put off getting anything productive done for yet another evening, so my work here is done. Tomorrow is now going to be a mad dash to get absolutely everything done before the clock strikes Christmas, but I shall try my hardest to check in with you guys before all of the celebrations have started (or finished).

So until next time, stay awesome my wonderful readers and I hope none of you are as poorly prepared for the next few days as I am. Of course if you are, you could always share this with me, the comments box is always open, and I'd love some confirmation I'm not alone in my lack of organisation skills.