Last year, a very special package arrived in the mail. In between recovering from two broken wrists and a broken arm, my mother had been secretly making Hayden his very first quilt. I found out that every Wednesday she had been heading down to a quilting workshop, where she had been painstakingly cutting, blocking and piecing together this amazing creation. She chose a theme of Australian sea creatures, and the humpback whales, dolphins, and sea turtles swim together in a colourful and tranquil staggered brick pattern. With sashing strips of yellow and blue, and a backing of tiny stars, it’s currently great for tummy time and will have pride of place on his bed when he gets a bit older.

When we met up with our friends on Friday they surprised us with a stylish bag full of treats. As well as some rare snacks for us and the kittens, they supplied us with everything required for a traditional Australian breakfast. Now we can have vegemite on crumpets accompanied with a lovely cup of Earl Grey tea, sitting snugly in a hand-knitted tea cozy. Thank-you Luke and Shyla for thinking of us.

My working week became a little bit brighter with a gift from my Secret Santa from the intertubes. Even though my Secret Santa posted this box to me in November from Canada, it only just arrived on my doorstep. It was lovely to find all these tokens from Quebec, especially as Montreal it was a candidate for our new home back in 2008. The package contained many regional bookmarks, a lovely card from Santa, as well as The Shadow of the Wind, Flashman, and a local cookbook with lots of interesting family recipes. Furthermore, some delicious maple sugar, coffee candy, and hot chocolate mix to keep me company when I am curled up with these new novels.

I started Flashman on my metro trip to work this morning, and by 29 pages in I agree with his self-assessment that he is “a scoundrel, a liar, a cheat, a thief, a coward—and oh yes, a toady.” I am looking forward to learning about military history from a very interesting perspective, as well as introducing some French-Canadian influences into my Australian-Belgian cooking repertoire.

Thank-you Santa, for sending me some exceptional literary and culinary delights.