Day 10 -11/13. The annual christmas letter and grandparent gifts.

I've never sent out a christmas letter before but was feeling kind of inspired to since we've received a bunch in the mail this year. I wanted to go a bit further than the whole just type what's happened so with the help of publisher, in about 15 mins I had this: 

Once all our info and stories were added, they were printed and packaged for family who we sadly won't be seeing over the christmas break. Now all my extended family can put us on the fridge and will be up to date next time we see them! 

Then since my Aunt will be passing them on (no last minute postage problems), I included a special little gift for the grandparents from our garden since we've spent lots of time together in the garden.

We have a quandong tree hanging in our yard (Australian wild peach) and a while back I harvested them and froze them. It was time to pull them out of the freezer and attempt to make some jam. Since inspired my apricot jam was a success, I thought I could attempt quandong jam. I used a CWA recipe and hope my grandparents like it. I also added in some bags of potpourri (from our garden) for the extra special touch and smell :)

 Quandongs bubbling away

Canned and ready to enjoy!

For me, I love buying presents for others but something just seems so much more special about giving homemade gifts and using fresh produce that you've grown. I have dreams of one day having a large veggie patch and a hoard of fruit trees, of making the majority of my food from raw ingredients, and of only buying the freshest of produce. I long for the simple joy of living off my land and cherishing where everything comes from.

Perhaps the country air is getting to me...

Lisa x