notsmokinjo

G'day Pat and welcome. Just remember every quit is different and we will all have advice and support to offer but when push comes to shove the truck is simple...don't put something in your mouth and light it. Best tip I can offer is focus small. For me I was only quitting for 1 day....I just repeated it, for 4 years now .... but just focus on 1 day at a time and they add up real quick. So 2 weeks in this is what you know...you can go 24hrs without a smoke...so each morning, wake up look at yaself in the mirror and say "Today I am quitting, I will not smoke"....then just before you go to bed, look at yaself again and say "Today I did not smoke, I quit"....and repeat. Don't worry about next week, next month, next year...just worry about today.

Yeah nah it's a NOPE from me.... I mean who'd reckon a perfectly good GRAVY DAY with some foul chemicals and smoke. Happy Gravy Day you mob.

HAPPY GRAVY DAY.

WI spose this is the Aussie version of a Tom Waits' style of Chrissy song...

@Doreensfree that's one of my favourite chrissy songs. Hmm..... let's see....

So if Al Nina doesn't wash us out or blow us off the map I'll post some picks of our chrissy spread today.

Omg...salivating. I love me some lemon myrtle. Over winter I took to chucking a couple of leaves in milk (oat for me) in a pan on the stove, warming the milk and adding a handful of white or milk chocolate buds (none for me, but I'd add some Activite) and stirring till they melted...best hot choccie ever.a few crushed in a jug of ginger beer or lemon cordial goes down well too. Um @Cbdave...after thought but isn't the lack of Bundy in your house grounds for handing in your queenslander card? Oh and glad you liked the coleslaw alternative.

Takes dedication or stupidity to dress as Rudolph on a day like today.

Temp... 36C (96.8)....and this is walking down the main street... Takes dedication or stupidity to dress as Rudolph on a day like today.

Self inflicted, kinda, got 2 piercings (rook and helix) just after eating a tone of sushi....bit of shock set in. Much better today. Now...heading out to pick up zooperdooper holders for the little cousin pressies.

Um not sure...shredded coconut is like dried strip's of coconut pretty sure it's not sweetened....looking for a pic to share. So down here it's unsweetened but you could use sweetened.

Um not sure...shredded coconut is like dried strip's of coconut pretty sure it's not sweetened....looking for a pic to share.

Vietnamese coleslaw.... finely shredded cabbage and carrott (or greated carrot), thinly sliced spring onion, shredded left over roast chook (or Quorn substitute, or a shredded steamed chicken breats or prawns), julienne cucumber, coriander leaves (optional), toss together with a little bit of Vietnamese salad dressing... I get this one from...Coles or Woolies in the Asian section, the brand is Pandaroo. Coconut Coleslaw....is finely shredded cabbage, carrott, finely sliced capsicum strips, toasted shredded coconut (just chuck a handful in a frypan and toss until golden), grilled Pineapple chunks (I do them in a pan with a sprinkle of allspice and paprika then when they are a bit browned I chuck in a splash of rum and glaze until all the rum has cooked off)....once Pineapple is cooled toss together and add lemon or lime juice and a crack of pepper.

So our Christmas is a bit traditional Irish and then a totally multicultural free for all...there are cold roast chook and ham off the bone platters, salads, seafood and then a mishmash of many other cultures thrown in with Christmas pudding and truffle a must. So Sunday is my mums side of the family Christmas. We go to a park in a country town and bring a couple of plates (think pot luck)...stuff our faces....so being on the world's crappiest diet I'm taking food I can eat...this year that will be.... Thai prawn and rice salad Coconut Coleslaw or Vietnamese (coleslaw haven't decided yet) My mum is taking a fruit platter so I'll take desserts I can't eat Sicilian Orange Cake Coconut Ice

Here's an Aussie one just for Little Miss... hmm... maybe not....

So you northern types might need a translation on some of this....

Cleaning vomit from my daughters shoes and cloths.

^ oh those are our boys.... I once was a backup dancer for them a gazillion years ago for a single gig....back when they were Human Who??? ....benefit of going to catholic school run by Mary McKillop nuns. Meanwhile, back below the boarder I was listening to these guys....

8. Potato's In ya sport kit

6. Vegemite (we'll down her at least)

Oh so happy you will all be together this Chrissy @Cbdave .... your choccie moose and cream sounds great and I'll be having a go, will probably use monkfruit to sweeten or skip the water and sugar substitute and use maple syrup. The coconut cream would give it a choccie crackle flavour but if you chucked in some raspberries it would be a lamination moose...super excited to play with this. Peaches on dads tree aren't quiet ready yet but looking good fir a bumper crop this year and the ones from the farm in Bacchus have been super juicy.

@Gus I'm loving your new tradition. We have a trophy at Christmas, well 2....me mums side of the family has a trophy for the egg and spoon race. Me dads family has one for limbo....what hope for normality did I have.

There's gunna be recipies, of course, but the two foods I most associate with Christmas are cherries and mangos.... no chrissy table is complete without a bowl of fresh cherries and a fruit platter with lots of mango. So what foods signal Christmas to you. @Cbdave makes a ripper truffle that he shared the recipe for... I made it and now it's a big favourite with my mob too.

7. Avocados