Highlights of a Beautiful Year

I have found that with each year that passes we will always have our ups and downs. 2011 has been no different but “with each new day comes new strength and new thoughts”.

Overall, I have found that this year has been one where I have shared in many celebrations with friends and family and have continually stepped out of my comfort zone.

It has been a year of spreading the MakePovertyHistory message...

...of refugee rights campaigns...

...and of working with the amazing Geelong Young Vinnies group.

It has been a year that was Grinchified with tinsel pom poms and many other outrageous Whoville costumes.

A year where some of my dearest friends completed their Year 12 or graduated from university and a year spent tutoring three beautiful children with one of my good friends.

A year of celebrations with twenty-firsts, eighteenths and a gorgeous wedding.

A year where two of my Clonard sisters were each proposed to in the most romantic of ways.

A year with the arrival of a beautiful child and announcements of more tiny feet to arrive next year.

It was also a year that saw Chris receive the Karingal Young Achiever of the Year Award, I chaired a session at the Australasian Pacific Play Therapy Conference and was accepted into honours for occupational therapy.

So as my family gather around our peace tree to play games, sing and welcome in the New Year, I wish you all a wonderful 2012 filled with family, friends, love and laughter.

Peace and love to you all.

Love, laughter and Christmas

“A cup of kindness that we share with each other,

A sweet reunion with a friend or a brother,

In all the places you find love

It feels like Christmas.”

Christmas has now been once again and I am left feeling full of love.

It truly is a magical time of year.

My family and I spent Christmas Eve going along to our local church where the children sang several carols to the congregation. It was just lovely.

I also spent the mass with my cousin’s little girl reading through a picture storybook of the Christmas story. Isabel managed to find the star on every page and got excited when she saw the baby in the manger.

Christmas day was spent with my simply gorgeous family as we shared gifts, sang carols and ate our feast.

The homemade Christmas crackers that my mum, aunt and myself made earlier this week were a big hit. They were a blast...literally.

As we rescued the ribbons from the Christmas crackers to use next year, I managed to tie many of them into my mum’s hair. She looked very Christmassy!

We spent our afternoon and evening with full bellies while watching the video from my 21st, visiting two gorgeous goats that I wanted to bring home with me and seeing the baby open its mouth on my cousin’s ultrasound DVD.

Christmas was truly a day of love, laughter, celebrations and life’s miracles.

God bless you all.

'It Feels Like Christmas' ~ A Muppet Christmas Carol

Birthday Celebrations

A few weeks ago I celebrated my 21st birthday.

It was a night spent with family...

...and friends.

It was a night where I was surrounded with love and laughter.

Birthdays are days that we celebrate a person’s life, what they have done and who they have become.

Birthdays are a time where the birthday girl or boy is centre of attention for the day (whether they like it or not).

So with all this in mind, what do you think about when it comes to Christmas?

After all, Christmas is simply the birthday of Jesus.

Congratulations to the Class of 2011

The anticipation is now over.

Three years ago, I was in your shoes and I remember the feeling of staring at that computer screen waiting for my results to upload.

Now it is time for some of my good friends to do the same.

I wish them all the best with their results. I know that they deserve it.

I remember the final years of high school and the intense stress that surrounds it. So I would like to congratulate my dear Year 12 friends not only on their results but for all the hard work, for staying strong and surviving Year 12.

You should all be so proud of who you are as you are some of the most gorgeous, motivated and generous people that I know. I cannot begin to imagine what your futures hold.

I would also like to take some time to pat a few others on the back.

To the parents and families who have provided so much support throughout the years of VCE, I salute you. I shall also encourage your daughters and sons to pamper you during their break. You deserve it.

To the teachers who saw the potential in their students and worked with students to achieve their best, I say thank you. All teachers should take a leaf out of your book.

And to the friends who have been there for each other throughout the most stressful years, I send my hugs and I hope that your friendships continue to stay strong.

Now at the end of the day, I hope that you all remember that your ATAR score is just a number. If you do not end up getting your first offer next year...it is okay. There are many pathways that will lead you where you want to go.

I know that when you are in Year 12 this number is surrounded by hype but I will let you in on a secret...no one cares what your score is next year. To tell you the truth, I can’t even remember what my score was but I can tell you that I am happy with what I am doing.

Do not get me wrong, I am not disregarding your ATAR scores and all the work you have put in. You should definitely be proud of all that you have achieved. I am simply advising that you do not get caught up in the hype of what is just a number.

Leaving Year 12 may seem like the end of an era but I promise you it is just the beginning. Congratulations to my Year 12 friends and welcome to a world outside of high school.

So continue to be your amazing selves and you will be able to achieve anything!

'Tis the Season

Our nativity is out, my family’s presents neatly wrapped in colourful paper and our Christmas tree is now decorated with some new decorations from Oxfam.

‘Tis the season to be very jolly indeed.

I love working in at the Oxfam shop. Anyone that knows me can vouch for that. I love that my uniform has the MakePovertyHistory message across the front. I love that I get paid to promote fair-trade while sharing the fascinating stories behind our products.

One of my favourite pieces in the shop is an aluminium friends bowl made by the people of Noah’s Ark. Their products are entirely recyclable. This gorgeous bowl could have once been someone’s car radiator. I just love it!

Now as Christmas gets even closer, the shop is becoming increasingly hectic. The Christmas period certainly brings out the grumpy, generous and in some cases just plain odd.

One customer came into the shop asking if he could have a gift voucher for ten cents. Ten cents. He had spent the afternoon going across town gathering gift cards and vouchers from all different shops with a value of ten to twenty cents each. I would not like to be his Kris Kringle.

I cannot decide whether I like working in retail at this time of year or not...I don’t mind the busyness, I can deal with that but people’s attitudes.

There are times where I just want to headbutt a customer because they are arguing with me over the price of our homemade cards (which I may point out are actually cheaper than the typical Hallmark card but will actually make a difference to someone’s life, oh and did I mention handmade). However, Oxfam and retail in general is against the headbutting of customers which is unfortunate during those moments.

On a more positive side though, the Christmas period does bring out the most generous in people from sharing chocolate with a stranger to watching a little girl counting out her coins onto the counter so she can make a donation to Oxfam Australia.

Moments like that just make me warm and fuzzy.

Christmas is meant to be a time of year full of sharing, generosity and many warm and fuzzy moments. Please keep this in mind as you embark into the hustle and bustle of town in these last few days before Christmas.

‘Tis the season to be jolly.

Welcome to the Peace Tree

“We sow the seed right, nature grows the seed and then we eat the seed. And then, after that we sow the seed, nature grows the seed and then we eat the seed...”

Neil, The Young Ones 1984

I have had lots of advice on how to write my first blog from writing a mainstream piece first to bring in readers to making sure you introduce yourself and outline exactly what your blog is about, why you are doing it and when you will post...and to tell you the truth, it all got a bit too much for me.

I believe that the Peace Tree will grow over time and as I welcome you into my life I am sure you will get to know me.

To outline what my blog is about would be like describing the branches and leaves of the Peace Tree as they are an extension of who I am and how I reach out to the world.

Neil, a 1980’s hippy from the Young Ones, once said “...we sow the seed, nature grows the seed and then we eat the seed...”.

So I would like to welcome you to the Peace Tree as we sow our first seeds.

These seeds of peace, love and hopefully a little bit of wisdom will grow and bloom into the Peace Tree of my dreams where one and all may gather and feed on upon the fruits nature provides.

Peace and love,

Tara Lee