Christmas Presents!... and Changes...

Hello all - GreyRabbit here!  As 2019 comes to an end, there are a couple of things I would like to say...

Firstly, I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

As far as presents are concerned, I was very spoiled this year - and my family certainly enthusiastically embraced the idea of buying me toys for Christmas!  Would you like to see what I got?

I am very excited to have received a Field View Mill - it is such a pretty building!  Also a Log Cabin, and not one but TWO Cedar Terraces!  This is fantastic as now all my Sylvanians have somewhere to live - even the new ones!

Speaking of which, I also received the Periwinkle rabbit family and Spotter meerkat family - both second hand, but in lovely condition - as well as a lovely selection of furniture.  Here is a more detailed picture of the smaller items:

The dress on the right was made by my lovely daughter Caitlyn, and is intended for Joy Woolly.  Here she is modelling it:

Joy is very pleased with her new dress!

But wait - there's more!  My husband also had an extra special present for Caitlyn and myself to share - a beautiful House on the Hill!  This is our favourite house, and we never thought we would get it.  It's retired now, and due to its size, the shipping cost on second hand ones usually puts them well out of our price range...

The cute cushion in this picture is from my mum (it is a shared present too), and the table they are both sitting on is another of my presents from Caitlyn and Husband - it will form a new part of Macadamia Grove.

The second thing I wanted to mention is that a bit of a change has occurred here at Sylvanian Sunshine - you may have already noticed.  My daughter, known as Caitlyn Hazelnut here and on the SF Forum, has decided not to continue her own separate blog, but to share mine instead.  This makes sense, as all our critters share the same neighbourhoods, so it seems sensible to keep all their stories together too!  So a big "Welcome!" to Caitlyn as a new author on OUR blog!  :o)

Speaking of which...

Hi, I'm Caitlyn Hazelnut, GreyRabbit's daughter. I am excited to become part of Sylvanian Sunshine, and would like to share with you the Christmas presents that I got this year:

This year I received the Fielding mouse and Cottontail rabbit families, the Baby Tree House, two baby blind bags (baby band series), a second-hand Li'l Woodzeez bakery and quite a lot of furniture. I also received the Farthing dogs and and lovely Mcburrows mole (second-hand). 

I feel very lucky to have gotten so many lovely Sylvanians this year!

Forum Christmas Cheer Exchange - Part Three

You may recall that I took part in the Sylvanian Families Forum Christmas Cheer Exchange this year, and received lovely presents from Fox in the UK!  I also showed a picture of the gift (still wrapped) that Caitlyn and I sent to my swap partner Terra in the USA.  Some people have expressed a wish to see what was inside...

Those of you who are members of the Sylvanian Families Forum will have already seen them, as Terra showed photos there.  For any readers who are not, I thought I would show you quickly here.

The kitten in the sleigh is a Christmas ornament for Terra's tree - I painted the wooden sleigh, and made the little sack and Santa costume.

The Macadamia Grove Village Committee sent the decorated Christmas tree (I bought the little sisal tree and glued the decorations on - they are mostly brads and beads).
The dress was made by Mrs Prickles (ie sewed by me), and the lovely warm scarf was made by Rose Babblebrook (ie made by Caitlyn) - I am very annoyed because I didn't get a photo of the scarf before it was wrapped!  Oh well...
The Cranberry Macadamia Nut Bread, the chocolate truffles and the macadamia nuts were all made by me from Sculpey (and supplied by various members of the village).
Caitlyn made the pavlova using Whipple, and I added the kiwifruit slices to it (these are fruit slices intended for nail art).
Caitlyn also made the fruit cake, using paper clay (I believe it came from Mrs Hazelnut, who is an excellent cook).

Taking part in this exchange was a lot of fun, and we hope it will become a new tradition each year!

Visiting the Northern Mouse

Before they moved to Macadamia Grove, the Outback koala family lived in Town.  Like many Town children, Adelaide Outback always looked forward to visiting the Grand Department Store in December.  Not to shop for presents, nor because of the lovely festive atmosphere, but to visit the Northern Mouse!  He wasn't the real Northern Mouse, of course, but the Grand Department Store always had the best "Northern Mouse", and at three years old Addy was still little enough to think he just might be the real thing!

Although they had moved away, the Outbacks wanted to continue this tradition, and this year would be the first time little Karri would be in the photo too!  So one fine December day, Kylie Outback took her two children to Town on the train.  They did some Christmas shopping first, had lunch in one of the cafes, and then - finally! - it was time for the long-awaited visit with the Northern Mouse.

The mouse in the suit this year was a very kind gentlemouse, who had played the Northern Mouse at the store for several years.  He greeted Adelaide, who was nearly jumping out of her skin with excitement!

Karri wasn't so sure about this strange big mouse in the bright red suit...

It was time for the children to sit in the Northern Mouse's sleigh for their photograph.  

"Lift me!  Lift me!" shrieked Adelaide - she couldn't wait to hop into the sleigh.  She could already imagine herself zooming through the night sky...!

But Kylie lifted Karri in first.  Her little bottom lip had started to tremble...

Karri was not cooperating.  She clung to her mother fiercely, whilst Kylie tried hard to put her in the sleigh.

Finally, Adelaide couldn't wait any longer, and decided to take matters into her own paws.  She scrambled aboard...

"Oh dear," thought the Northern Mouse to himself, "Not another one..."

Kylie was never quite sure, afterward, how they managed it, but between the two of them (and with the help of the photographer), she and the Northern Mouse somehow got both little koalas under control and into the sleigh!

"Just look at them!" she said to her husband that evening, showing him the picture.  "You'd never know that one of them was nearly bouncing out of the sleigh, and the other one was petrified with fear, would you?"

Steve chuckled fondly.  "Well, it doesn't seem to have done Karri any lasting harm," he said, looking at her asleep in her sling.  "Don't forget, Addy was a bit nervous the first time.  I bet next year Karri will be right as rain."

Merry Christmas, Outbacks - and Merry Christmas to all!

*******************************************************************************

Edit:  For anyone who may be reading this post several months later, you may be wondering why the Outbacks suddenly only have two children in this story!  Don't worry - no harm has befallen little Jarrah!  We found him in a SF Shopping Series blind bag in early 2020, and decided to add him to the Outback family.  I didn't want him to be a newborn though, as they already have Karri in that role (and he's bigger than her anyway).  So I have just slyly inserted him into the family, but I decided to let this story stand as it is rather than completely rewriting and reshooting it.   - GreyRabbit.

Forum Christmas Cheer Exchange - Part Two

Happy December!

You may recall me mentioning the Christmas Cheer Exchange we are taking part in over at the Sylvanian Families forum.

We are very excited as a parcel has arrived for us from Fox in the UK!

Here is the pretty gift box our presents were contained in:

We just couldn't wait to open it!

Mmmm... those brown stripy lollies are delicious - they are like hard peppermint humbugs on the outside, but they have a surprise chewy caramel filling.  Yum!  We haven't tried the lollipops yet...

Fox has very sweetly included individual gifts for both Caitlyn and myself - Caitlyn received yet more lollies (sour Haribo ones and some chewy bars) and a cute Santa shaped eraser, whilst I have a delicious-smelling packet of bath salts to indulge in...

Plus most importantly there is another gift for us to share:  an adorable little squirrel has come to live in The Great Pine!  (This is what our Sylvanians call our Christmas tree).  Fox has made him a cosy little outfit, and plenty of accessories for Christmas Eve.

Here is a closeup of the cute little squirrel baby, all ready for Santa to come!

I wonder if that candy cane is for Santa too, or if the little squirrel plans to eat it himself?  He seems quite attached to it...

And here is a picture of our lovely new ornament hanging on our Christmas Tree:

Thank you so much for our lovely presents, Fox!  We like them very much!
Macadamia Grove wishes the critters of Foxbridge a very Merry Christmas!