A TEAM EFFORT - Jennifer Reid

This week was such an exciting one, being one of my favourite times of the year and all! Each year we like to visit the beautiful Queen Victoria Building (QVB) in Sydney to gaze in wonder at the huge Christmas tree. It was getting closer and closer to Christmas and we still hadn’t gone, so the day before Christmas Eve, battling the crowds, we ventured in on the train.

My additional motive for such a venture was that I wanted to go to a book signing at Dymocks in George Street that day…my cupcake hero, Paris Cutler, was launching her new book, “Planet Cake Cupcakes”! So I dragged my kids and some other family members along with me.

We got off at Town Hall Station and walked through the QVB to get to Dymocks, but happened to stumble upon an enticing chocolate shop, called “Bon Bon”. We just had to stop and it was chocolates all round…I tried the coconut rough, which was to die for!!

Then it was on to Dymocks, where I got to chat to the beautiful Paris Cutler for quite a while before the crowd arrived. She is charming, as well as talented, and I was left thrilled and even a little star-struck! I made her a “Life is like a Cupcake!” card, which she is holding up in this photo:

I love the way Paris thanks and acknowledges her team in her books. She is so openly grateful for them…Anna Maria is one of her very talented cake decorators, whom I was honoured to see at work at the book signing:

Her Christmas cupcakes inspired me to try some of my own, but I only hoped mine would be as cute….

The next day was Christmas Eve, so there was no time to waste. I awoke that morning excited about the cupcake adventure I was about to embark on with my precious daughter! While the cupcakes were baking in the oven, we began to make up the coloured icing….

Once cooled, it was time to decorate. Santa, Mrs Claus and 43 elves were the aim of the day??!!

Before long, we realised that we needed to come up with an alternative design for the remaining cupcakes, or we would be up all night! We ended up making Santa and Mrs Claus as planned, 32 elves (rather than 43) and 11 Christmas Stars….45 Christmas cupcakes in total to take to our family lunch the next day!!

I was so proud of my daughter, who painstakingly created Santa and Mrs Claus all on her own…..

And I owe the success of my elves to her too, as the icing would have dried out if I didn’t have her rolling the little eyes for them all. We had a production line going! As you can imagine, we were very pleased with the end result…..

We certainly had a lot of cleaning up to do…

…but not before a delicious dinner made by my gorgeous husband (aka “Masterchef”), without whom we would not have eaten at all that night! Barbequed fish and vegetables on a bed of mash, with a lemon butter sauce…..

And after dinner, a leisurely drive around the neighbourhood to check out the Christmas lights……

Our Christmas Eve success was definitely a team effort; we were all exhausted, so it was off to bed for another early start in the morning!

Amazingly, it was the first Christmas morning ever that we had to actually wake the kids up, instead of the other way around! After they excitedly opened all their presents, I opened mine, with some of them being cupcake-related, of course…..

We then had a festive Christmas Day with lots of family, lots of food and lots of fun. With 55 mouths to feed (and mind you, there were some missing), it was a team effort…great job team!!

Sometimes we need help when baking cupcakes.

It’s okay to ask for help. Over the last couple of years, I’ve actually had to get really good at accepting help from people. My husband has been my greatest helper; then there’s my mum, my kids, my brothers and sisters and their families, doctors, nurses, neighbours and friends. A pretty long list of people on “my team”, whom I’m so grateful for!

As the year draws to a close, when I pause to think about what I am most grateful for in 2010, it would have to be “team effort”. So often, it’s the team that makes a person successful – Paris Cutler acknowledges her “Planet Cake Team” for her success; my family acknowledges that it takes a team effort to feed a multitude on Christmas Day successfully; and I acknowledge that my life is what it is today, thanks to my team!

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up”. Ecclesiastes 4: 9-10 (Holy Bible)

Not only do I feel valued and loved by my team, but I am so humbled that there are so many willing team members! Thank you team….I love you!!

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(I’ll be having a holiday from blogging for a couple of weeks, so will look forward to writing about my “cupcake adventures” again soon…HAPPY NEW YEAR and thank you so much for reading my blog in 2010!!)