My Christmas - Shelley T

image; stephan t for galerie montmartre

Thanks to all those gorgeous creative lovelies who took time out of their busy schedules to indulge us with their Christmases. Did you enjoy the 'My Christmas' series? I loved it. I thought it was a lovely peep into the lives of others. However, I didn't think it was fair to ask others to tell us about their Christmas without sharing a little of mine.

I am one of those holiday lovers!! I enjoy the planning, the imagining, the decorating, the giving, the eating and drinking! Having spent a number of years in the US, my 'holiday excitement' begins at Thanksgiving time (last Thursday of November) and goes right through to the end of January!

After several years of living in a home that has stayed well and truly in the 90's, I finally got around to getting our little courtyard completely decked (thank-you Cousin Brett), which only means one thing, people - parties! So this December/January Chez Trbuhovich will see alot of people stepping through the doors and sharing some food, drink and conversation....and maybe a cheeky dance on the kitchen bench....but that is for another blogpost...

We host Christmas most of the time at our place. L'Homme, a man of many talents, is an incredible cook and puts on a feast of sorts. This year, our families are slightly scattered, but all in Melbourne, nevertheless. So that means that we have an all day 'drop by and say hi' type situation, with a lovely traditional lunch thrown for my immediate family and then the barbeque kicks into overdrive as a seafood sensation is prepared for all our friends and family who turn up after 4pm. Love it!

Our Christmas tree has travelled with us around the world, having bought it in a Marin County (Northern California) Target store a gazillion years ago. I love it, it is the most real looking fake tree I've ever seen!!! To the Petit-Garcons, it is the most incredible thing they've ever set their tiny eyes on, which is why the bottom half of the tree is filled with glass-looking-plastic and felt ornaments and the top half holds all my precious, breakable ones! I can tell you where every single ornament is from and where I got it. I plan on passing them down to my little guys, I'm a bit sentimental like that. Always traditional Christmas colours for me - red, green and gold with white slowly creeping in....and I have a feeling I am possibly the bauble queen; picking up new ones every end of year sale to add to the collection - I don't think I have ever paid full price for a Christmas decoration yet.

I want to wish you all a fabulous and safe holiday season. You have been very good to me, I am grateful that you take the time to drop by. I write as if no-one is reading but always feel so delighted when you comment. Thank-you - I'll be in touch again next week.

My Christmas - Lucy Feagins

toddler Lucy as a Christmas tree, someone very creative obviously put this ensemble together...and so the interest in design begins...

the crazy hat tradition - love it!

last year's annual friend's christmas/hanukkah celebration planned by lucy and gavin youngs

all images; lucy feagins

Well, you know all your Christmases have come at once when a friend so insanely busy with such a revered blog decides that she'll put together a little something to share!

I think you'd be living under a rock or very new to the blogosphere if The Design Files is not familiar to you. Lucy is a set dresser/props buyer/stylist/writer who has the whole town talking and vying for her attention. I was one of those people who was quite ignorant to the way the blog-world worked (in fact, it was Lucy who taught me how to put an image and/or link on my blog!), lurking around in the background, never leaving comments but completely in the grips of this internet design world when I invited The Design Files (who seemed to be on every blogroll!) to Galmont. It was such a great time, that we have since shared meals and chats and celebrations together and met family members and now Lucy and her man can't get rid of us!

The thing I like about this friendship is that it happened right when I thought my friend quota had been reached (!), but then that someone special sneaks in under the radar!!! Lucy Feagins is a classy, stylish, generous, creative soul who packs more into a day than most would in a week; I knew her Christmas would be an interesting time. Thanks for sharing with us and bringing some of your design know-how to Femme de Montmartre, lovely Lucy.
PS. And the crazy hat game is about to become a tradition in our family too...

My Christmas by Lucy Feagins

I am such a sucker for Christmas time - I love the smell of the Christmas tree when I come home at night... the twinkle of fairy lights in our loungeroom after dark, and the panettone I've been eating for breakfast everyday this month!

For me the season is about winding down, spending long-overdue time with my boy and family and friends, reflecting on a busy year and making exciting plans for the year ahead! It's like a breather - I love the feeling that almost the whole city is relaxed and in holiday-mode!

Leading up to Christmas there is always a big get-together with my closest friends - we usually have a big picnic lunch and a Kris Kringle... it's a lovely way to catch up and give everyone a squeeze before everyone leaves the city to be with their families for Christmas. My friends are a very creative bunch - we've been known to get up to very crazy antics - from customised dress-ups at the lunch table, to inflatable santa suits and even jumping castles! I feel very lucky to have such an amazing and creatives bunch of friends!!

Christmas Day is the only day of the year I can justify doing absolutely NOTHING except cooking, eating, chatting, relaxing and generally catching up with myself! I don't think there's any other day in the year I could do nothing all day and feel ok about it! (And be assured I will not receive some urgent phonecall from work or 400 emails to respond to!).

This year Christmas Day will be at my Mum's place in Fitzroy. I grew up in London... so we really relish the Aussie Summer Christmas - no roast dinner for us! Instead we'll eat smoked salmon and seafood, delicious prosciutto and treats from the Mediterranean Wholesalers (Mmmm Buffalo Mozzarella!), delectable salads and fruit... maybe a special rosewater and pistachio pavlova for dessert. After lunch Mum makes us play the 'hat game' - we create crazy hats from all the leftover wrapping paper and take lots of ridiculous photos. It's a game my Grandma invented and absolutely loved - it always ends in hilarity and a surprisingly competitive spirit! My Grandma passed away this year so we'll play this crazy game in her honour.

My Christmas - Potty Mouth Mama

all images; potty mouth mama and her crafty little self!

Hello - yes, a brand new post today......finally! And I'm excited, because we have the honour of reading all about Lexi K's Christmas, have you read her blog? It is a fabulous mix of humour and wisdom and the girl has got me completely sucked in! I first began reading Lexi's posts in earnest when she turned 30 years old and someone called her a not particularly nice name and she posted a retort....and it was hilarious and so were the comments....such is her dedication to blogging about her life, she has probably forgotten all about that hullabaloo - it was quite a while ago now. (Sorry sweetie, I hope I am not raising anything too traumatic for you!)

So Lexi has two little people - the Doctor and Tiny - and she is the kind of Mother that I would like to be one day, when I get my act together!!!! (Look, I'm sure the Petit-Garcons are happy with their lot, but they sure miss out on the baking and crafting with Mama aspect that Lexi manages to do with her kids.) And she takes photos of their messes, as opposed to cracking it and storming around cleaning it up!!!
So, I bring you the lovely Lexi and her Christmas - keep on blogging about your world, Lexi, you always bring joy to my days. x

It’s funny to describe Christmas in our house. It’s an ever-evolving celebration for us. As our children grow older, it has become inherently more and more exciting each year. Each year I try and build the excitement and anticipation, for the big day itself, but also for the season. It’s just one short month of festivities, but I try and jam it full right from the 1st.
I’m a sucker for sparkles, so our Christmas is bound to include some sparkly decorations. We’ve been forging our own traditions too. Of course, I borrow from our own childhood, because my own parents and grandparents were particularly clever at making Christmas magical. I can still remember lying in bed at my grandparents house, and late, late at night being sleepless. I still swear that I heard bells that night. And they were definitely from Santa’s sleigh.

The Doctor and I usually decorate the tree together. I am definitely not known for a perfect tree. Ours is a small plastic tree that I ruthlessly, shamelessly stole from my sister that she had bought at a $2 shop. Its lights change colour every few seconds. It’s pretty special. It’s usually covered with pom poms, wooden decorations, candy canes and anything else that sparkles. Stars, felted decorations. Whatever we have goes on there. I don’t do tinsel though. I can’t stand the feel of it. I also have a few special decorations that I bought when Matt and I went to Paris pre-Doctor and Tiny. It was Christmas. We had little money. But these decorations come out year in, year out. One strand of clear gems stinks. But it’s super pretty (and sparkly) so it always makes an appearance. I’ve also come across a few of these vintage plastic nativity scenes. I found my first one in the bin. Following that, I was at an op shop and came across two more. So now I have three. This year they sit nicely, bright and tight with Nan’s peggies as the makeshift Three Wise Men. I’ve also finally gotten around to starching some of my doilies for some snowflakes. So simple. So cheap. And if I’m doing it, then you really know anyone can do it. I always do fairy lights. If you don’t have any other decorations, I think fairy lights more than make up for it. Every year I have the good intention of making an advent calendar but it always gets put off ‘til next year.
Christmas tunes always belt out too. I am a sucker (much to Matt’s chagrin) for a bit of at-home Christmas caroling. The Doctor sings ‘Jingle Bells’ – ‘Jingle bells, jingle bells, all the way to school.’ It’s too cute to correct. Besides that I bake a lot. I love baking. But given it’s summer I have to choose my baking time carefully! I love the sniff of gingerbread pouring through the house (not to mention eating it!). And I have a whole cache of Christmas books that we bring out for the smalls for bedtime reading. These are ‘special’ books that only come out at this time of the year to retain the special factor. It really adds to the excitement.

I love Christmas time. It’s the one time of the year that things seem to slow down, but life seems to also speed up. I carry that giddy, butterfly in tummy feeling all month long and I’m always feeling a bit sad when Christmas Day is all over.

My Christmas - Captain KK

image; captain kk

This girl is good! I first came across Captain's gorgeous blog when I was perusing the list put out by the Creative Women's Circle and I loved it. Captain's photos are always slick, she gives a little of herself away whilst maintaining a certain mystery and she has a great eye. She likes a laugh too, I could just tell. And she is super organised - I could tell that too! So I sent Captain KK an email to let her know how clever I thought she was, and the rest, as they say is history. I liked her, she liked me and now we're mates!

Somehow Captain manages to take care of her little girl, 'the husband' and her architectural skills - all at once! I am sure they are in for a rockin' and stylish Christmas. So here is Captain KK's take on the festivities...

i love, love, love, christmas time. i love the romance of it all. fairy lights, sending out christmas cards, decorating a real tree at home while christmas carols are playing (not the bing crosby stuff.. more new orleans party style) & generally lots of little design touches that i can share & indulge in. instead of wasting heaps of wrapping paper, we have an assortment of white boxes that we use & re-use for presents each year.. it's just the ribbon that changes. i'm a sucker for a beautiful ribbon. i'm not a big red person, but i don't think you can beat red, white & aqua for christmas.. with a little silver in there somewhere too. definitely not gold. never gold. we normally have a very relaxed christmas day, indulging in a few chocolates and croissants for breakfast, before exchanging gifts & popping a bottle of champers. after presents it's time for a casual lunch of cold meats, prawns with home made dipping sauce, lots of yummy salads & a pesto pasta that the husband makes that goes perfectly with everything. for dessert i bake a raspberry & almond tart on christmas eve & then serve it after lunch with cream & ice cream & gawd it's good! i've got no idea what i'm doing for gifts this year, but settlement for our first home is just before xmas so it promises to be a very special christmas.

My Christmas - Dearne Herrenberg

image; eucalypt flower (summer red tutu) via paula bray on flickr

image; mainichi design, one of the many fabulous pieces that dearne creates...her etsy shop is here

Hello! And so, another lovely Christmas journey, this time with Dearne Herrenberg, interior and jewellery designer extraordinaire, who just so happens to be founding member of that illustrious gang of lovely creatives, better known as Creative Women's Circle. Yet another can-do woman who just gets on with things, but judging from this little snippet of My Christmas, the girl doesn't mind a bit of party time either - and well deserved!! Dearne's blog is here, if you want to pop by and say hello...

Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule, Dearne, to let us know about your Christmas - sounds like alot of fun...and happy birthday too!

Since our now two year old arrived and took charge our Christmases have been changing each year!

This year on the 1^st December we’ll be decorating a tree, which we plan to be an Australian native that can be planted in the garden afterwards. I have a big box full of lights and decorations, some of which have survived from my childhood, and quite a few treasured ones purchased over the years.

December is punctuated by my birthday (and hubby’s too, on the same day would you believe) a week before Christmas. So we certainly do have a month of celebrations. Then we really begin to feel like its Christmas when the huge Christmas ham settles in the fridge. This would probably be one of the first traditions that arrived in our house.

My family is not religious, so Christmas for us was always about catching up with relatives, a family day spent together, and enjoying lots of fun and good food. That tradition continues now in our house. When the 25^th arrives it always begins with early morning gift opening, and usually an early phone call or two from interstate or absent family. I always remember this tradition from my childhood too, growing up in Queensland away from most of our Victorian relatives.

After gift giving is over, we usually spend our day preparing and munching on yummy food (not too much of it though - have to watch the Mummy waist line) and indulging in some good champagne and wine. Lunch is our big meal, and we like to start with fresh seafood such as prawns and oysters (a Queensland tradition we have brought to Melbourne) followed by ham, of course, with a roast and all the trimmings, and always something sparkling to accompany it.

Christmas afternoon is spent lazing about after dessert of plum pudding or home made fruit cake. If relatives are visiting there is usually a bit of silliness and more wine to be enjoyed. An afternoon snooze is often on the menu, or watching a DVD that was gifted to someone. Early evening someone breaks out the sandwich toaster and our day is topped off with more ham, in the toasted sandwich form!

Our Christmas usually continues with a Boxing Day visit to friends or relatives to eat some left over Christmas Day food and indulge in more good wine.

My Christmas - Belinda Graham

image; matchbox advent calendar, handmade and photographed by belinda graham

Yet another wonderful blogger to share their Christmas with us! How lucky are we to have the lovely (and the often irreverantly funny!) Belinda Graham, journalist extraordinaire, to let us in on a bit of her Christmas joy?! Belinda and I became in touch via her past work at Real Living magazine and my little retail space; she is writing freelance these days while playing Mama to her two little people, so if you are needing a professional to get your copy done, drop her a line, I'm sure she'd give it a good go.

Thanks for sharing with us, Belinda, I agree, your Christmas sounds pretty much perfect - we hope you had an extra special St. Nick's Day with your family!

My Christmas
My love for Christmas grows every year - I’ve always loved that magical feeling that starts around dusk on Christmas Eve and continues until you‘re drifting off to sleep on Christmas Night. As kids we’d be hanging our stockings and scattering carrots for the reindeer on the lawn and leaving some cookies out for Santa. We’d sing along to the Disney Christmas Carol CD (which we swore Dad’s voice was somehow sliced into the middle of “Partridge in a Pear Tree”) and munch on nuts in front of the glow of the Christmas tree lights. When we’d wake up (late - we were great sleepers) our parents would drag out the day to make it all last as long as possible: first dad would hide and we’d have to find him, then we’d get to open our stockings, then breakfast would be the world’s slowest-cooked breakky and we’d be teased by the pile of pressies scattered around the lounge room, trying to work out who was getting the big one. Then finally - after another Dad Hunt - we’d get to open our presents, with the biggest one to last. And mum always did something fun with it: one year it’d be a treasure hunt, the next we’d each have the end of a piece of coloured string which had wound its way around the whole house and we’d have to follow it until at last, there was a computer, a Barbie van or a bike at the end of it. And now I get to create all the fun for my own kids - and I‘m definitely going to do a present hunt of some kind; my son just turned three so is the perfect age to get excited by this kind of thing.
Christmas sort of lost its appeal as an adult, but since having children, I’m excited by it all over again. I’m looking forward to putting up the tree with them, decorating and sharing some of the traditions we had as kids, such putting up our tree and laying out our boots on December 6 (Saint Nicholas Day - my father is German), doing the advent calendars and advent candles. And decorating in a fun, cheery way – I’ve even embraced red this year! This is huge for someone who refused to let Christmasy colours in her house and only ever decorated in silver, white or gold.
We’ve also worked out a way to make the shopping less stressful for all our families: we do a Kris Kringle to a certain amount per couple amongst adults and we send off wish lists to everyone - that way we don’t know what we’re getting off the list or who it’s from, but we’re guaranteed to want, use and like it because we requested it! And for my own kids I like to try and stick to this rule I read last year: something they want; something they need; something to wear; something to read. And I’d add something to share in there because I know they’ll get something for the two of them! If we could work out an easier way to organise the family get-togethers, I’d say our Christmases are perfect!

Belinda has actually blogged about her St Nick's Day today...read it here....so cute!!!!

My Christmas - Pip Lincolne

image; retro christmas pic of pip lincolne ( i can say retro, as we are from the same era!) - pip says, 'this image is of me in 1973. i am pulling my (coral polyester) dress down. santa thinks i am a tiny trollop. i am proving that even a cardigan can not make me demure. i think my dress was scratchy actually.

I know that many people really get into the Christmas spirit on the first day of December (including moi!), so I think there is no better person to share their Christmas with us on this inauspicious day than Ms. Goddess of Craftiness, Pip Lincolne. Pip and her partner, Cam, run the adorable Meet Me at Mike's and she delights us with her whimsical, off-beat look at life on her blog....I dare you to read it once and not crack a smile.
Let's welcome sweet Pip to Femme De Montmartre. As always, she has gone above and beyond even supplying us with additional Christmas ideas at the end of her text.....thanks so much, Pip - the mojitas advice has been taken onboard, I'll see how the Petits feel about wearing dresses (I realise it is optional) on Christmas Day!!!


Christmas for me is decorating the tree on Christmas Eve, from a big suitcase full of dinky Christmas decorations. There are lambs and deer and little santas and angels with big eyes. It's so nice to do this once the retail year has finished for us, that way we can launch into our own doors-closed Christmas! We shut the shop on Christmas Eve Eve so that we can have one day to prepare and regroup and decorate and drink fancy drinks.

Christmas is all about nice food and nice family in our house (unless you are 13 and under, then it's all about gifts, family AND food!) We always always go to the Vic Market to pick up supplies at the crack of dawn on the last shopping day. We have eskies on standby because not everything will fit in the fridge.

We have cold cuts and fresh bread and cheese and fruit and prosecco for Xmas breakfast. We usually have a few friends round in the morning. Then we make a big pot of coffee and get started on cooking some things for lunch. It's all about simple salads and seafood and whole fillets of beef for our family lunch. Home made mayonnaise, home made tomato sauce, home made mustard. Then pear tart, pudding and Elizabeth David's flourless chocolate cake too! We travel 40 minutes East to Cam's family for lunch with all the rellies on his side (mine are all interstate). It's such a lovely day. Everyone brings delicious food. The cousins are there and they have High School Musical Hair and nice sun tans. We have Fitzroy hair and have not seen the sun for 12 months. It's heaps of fun and the kids go wild. Last year our car broke down and we had to jumpstart it with a coat-hanger. Tres dangerous. Let's hope that's not your Christmas. Yikes.

We always have lots of food left over for Christmas supper - which is back at our house with just us and the kidlets. We put the telly on and continue to graze and sip without worrying about DUI. Nice. Boxing Day is my very favourite day, though. The kafuffle of Christmas Day has passed and we can open up the doors and windows and relax for a few days. Ahhh. I really do love Christmas. I love the ritual of celebrating family and friends and home. Because I think we are very lucky to have all of those things. I hope your Christmas is wonderful and you do not spend any part of the day sleeping. Because that is not on. No sleeping the day away, people, unless it's after 6pm. Get amongst it. Be festive, would you?!

Happy Christmas to you! May your Mojitos bubble over and your sticky-tape ends be easy to find. (I think those two things are closely related, actually) xx

Christmas Gifts :: buy Australian on Etsy.com :: click the shop local tab http://www.etsy.com/shop_local.php?ref=fp_nav_local or buy from local independent retailers :: check out The Melbourne Design Guide and Handmade in Melbourne for tips on where to shop. Or take the vintage tack and buy second hand :: your gifts will be unique and collectable and MUCH more personal! Or if you are totally ace you could make some of the things you are giving this year :: check my website under 'things you can make'.

Christmas Decorations :: I really like daggy old decorations, and Savers and the Salvos usually have them by the bag. Get some of those. Paper chains and paper dolls are also lovely. Paper snowmen and paper Christmas trees would be ace too. Make them with your kids whilst sipping hot chocolate. Or make them with your boyfriend whilst sipping mojitos. It helps a lot. Trust me.

Christmas Food :: you can't beat good quality ingredients prepared simply - avoid the big chain supermarkets and opt for your local Fresh Food or Farmers Market - perhaps make one whizz-bang impressive dessert like a croque em bouche (a teeny bit of showing off is good!) Try to start some Christmas Food traditions - because it will make things memorable and lovely for your kids and family. Maybe a few special things that you only make for Christmas? Be it glazed ham, fancy punch or totally amazing egg and bacon pies for brekkie.

Christmas Inspiration :: be sure to borrow a swag of Christmassy movies to watch with your nearest and dearest (the cheesier the better!) :: download some vintage Christmas tunes to facilitate dancing under the mistletoe :: make mulled wine or egg-nog or poinsettia cocktails (v. important!) :: make sure you have some Christmas carols to play in the car if you have to drive a long way on the big day :: you must wear a nice dress on Christmas Day (optional if you are a boy).

My Christmas - Tess McCabe

I like quiet achievers, you know the type, they just get on with things and don't blow their own trumpets, but are reliable and always come up with beautiful creations that deserve a bit of 'trumpet-blowing'. Well, Tess McCabe is one of those people, she has her own graphic design practice, her own fabric design company (just look at the gorgeous little number to the right!) and she heads up a wonderful group called Creative Women's Circle organising meetings and events for women here in Melbourne who have their own creative arts businesses.

This is Tess McCabe's Christmas;

Early childhood aside, I've never been a huge fan of Christmas. My family is neither large nor religious, and I spent my early 20s working in a suburban mall, which is probably the worst place to foster a healthy regard for general human kindness around Christmas time!

Currently, my siblings and I are hovering in the post-childhood, pre-parenthood ether, so Christmas for us these days is pretty low-key. But my favourite Christmas Day memories are from my tween/teen years, when The Treasure Hunt was a tradition.

Growing up, "Santa" would always bring us small gifts that would keep us amused early Christmas morning while our parents slept in until a respectable hour, after which the real gift-giving would begin. But come 11 or 12 years of age, in our stocking on Christmas morning we would find a short, handwritten piece of paper - our first 'clue'. From there my brothers and I would spend the next hour or so deciphering cryptic messages... which would lead us each to some place around the house or garden and the discovery of small gift, and our next clue. Sorting through desk drawers, upturning couch cushions, poking around potplants - this became our Christmas morning tradition.

One year, I spent a good half hour trying to figure out the location of a gift given the clue 'You would find this at a tiny beach'*. But it was all good fun, and definitely made the rewards so much better. To say my parents were pleased to have figured out a way to make their children really earn their sweets and other trinkets on Christmas morning was probably an understatement. I hope to carry on that tradition some day!

*A microwave, of course!

I love this memory - thanks so much, Tess! Oooohhh, I wonder which creative lovely will be next to share their Christmas with us?!