Christmas in Australia and #MakeBelieve

It's time for the Holiday Spirit Blogfest hosted by Denise and Donna for the Romantic Friday Writers group. They are looking for fiction, non-fiction, memoir, recipes, traditions, inspirational articles...or just photos of your decorated home. Your choice. Share in the Holiday Spirit Blogfest. To see a list of those taking part, click here.

Christmas in Australia
Due to my Make Believe book tour, I've been super unorganised this Christmas. I don't even have my tree up yet. With only a few more days to go, the tree is probably not going to happen. This will be the first time ever that I won't have a decorated tree up for Christmas. While this makes me a sad panda, a tree does not make Christmas.

I usually spend Christmas with family and, despite the hot weather, we enjoy a hot roast lunch. The afternoon involves sitting around chatting and/or sleeping, and in the evening we gather around the dining table and play poker. We bet using one and two cent pieces, which then get returned to the coin bottle at the end of the day for another year.

Another thing us Aussies do around this time of year is travel. The weather is perfect for luxurious cruises, visits to tropical islands, and lounging in the sun. The image above is a photo I recently took on the South Pacific island of Lifou. A gorgeous place of powder-white sand and turquoise waters.

This is a photo my hubby took of me writing while on the cruise. Yes, cruises are currently my favourite form of travel. What's your favourite form of travel? What's your Christmas tradition?

If you'd like to know what I was like in high school, and other unusual things, then pop on over to Rebecca Hart's blog where she is interviewing me as part of the Make Believe book tour. I'd love to see you over there. Click HERE.

Christmas Break Time

With not many sleeps until Christmas, I will be taking a blogging break so I can catch up with friends and family, refresh, eat and relax. I'll be back early January. In the meantime, please have a wonderful and joyous Christmas and a happy and safe New Year.

Lyn

Happy Halloween

This is just a short, prescheduled post to say 

Happy Halloween
Everyone!

I won't be around today because Jury Duty finally caught up with me and I have to head into the Supreme Court to find out whether or not they want me for a trial. I've been on call for the last three weeks with last minute calls to say they didn't need me. It's been difficult to plan anything. I have no idea how long I'll be gone for if I am picked.

UPDATE: I was dismissed from Jury duty. Probably a good thing since it was a murder trial with some grisly details. Ew. I now have time to take part in NaNoWriMo (50k words in 30 days)

Happy News: On Wednesday I will be rolling out the red carpet for Alex J. Cavanaugh. He will be doing a guest post here to coincide with the Insecure Writers' Group. Be sure to pop in and give him your support. Also, if you have signed up for the group, don't forget to write up your own Insecure Writers' Group post this Wednesday.

T is for a Terrific Easter

Wishing everyone a Terrific and safe Easter.

With the Easter long weekend here, I don't have as much time for comments or blog visits. I will visit everyone's blog, but it might take me some extra time.

In the meantime, happy writing, don't eat too much chocolate, and God bless.

Note: This post is part of the A-Z Challenge. To learn more about the challenge click the image on my sidebar.

Update: The finalists have been announced for the Best Australian Blogs Award 2011. If you're curious, the finalists are listed here. I’m still part of the People’s Choice Award. If you haven’t already, please vote for my blog here. It is listed under W.I.P It: A Writer’s Journey -- Lynda Young.

The Jolly by Golly Blogfest

I love Christmas. It's the best holiday season of the year. I love the reason for the season: the message of Hope our God has given us. I love the Christmas songs. I love the Christmas food. I love the Christmas gatherings. I love the pretty, sparkly things and all the Christmas lights.

Jen and Melissa are hosting this wonderful Jolly by Golly blogfest to celebrate this season. So, of course, I had to take part! The idea is to post a piccy of your lights, decorations and tree. Share a recipe of your favourite food and drink and lastly to visit everyone taking part and share the joy.

Generally my Christmas lights are inside the house, but this year we put a string of red lights in our frangipani tree out the front. I keep forgetting to take a pic while they were turned on. Oops.

We have a hot Christmas here in Australia so the traditions vary. I have three sides to the family and each one offers a different kind of food. One side offers a seafood buffet with prawns as the star. Another side offers a traditional barbeque with side salads. And the third side offers traditional roast pork and turkey. Oh, and then there are the snacks... There is no point trying to maintain a weight-loss diet at this time.

I don't have a favourite drink, but I do have a favourite dessert:  

Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake.
250g plain choc biscuits
125g butter, melted
500g cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted
300g sour cream
300g cherries, pitted, halved
cherries and icing sugar to serve

1. preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius (140 for a fan forced oven) -- sorry I don't know what that is in Fahrenheit (It's slightly cooler than a moderate oven). Grease 5.5cm deep 24 cm base spring form pan. Process biscuits until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add butter. Process to combine. Press mixture over base of prepared pan. Cover. Refrigerate for 30 mins.

2. Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating to combine. Beat in cocoa and sour cream until just combined. Fold in cherries. Spread over biscuit mixture.

3. bake for 35-40 mins or until centre is just firm. Turn off oven and cool for three hours with door slightly ajar. Refrigerate overnight. Top with cherries, dust with icing sugar. EAT.

I hope everyone will have a wonderful and safe Christmas. I will post again next week and then my regular blogging schedule will return to normal in the new year.