A Very Random Recap of Our Christmas

I could NOT get into the holiday spirit this year.  I don't know what it was (truly, I don't), but I was dragging my feet all the way to Christmas Day.  One evidence of this: I have a stack of Christmas cards that didn't get given out.  And that doesn't even bother me!

In my brain, I love the idea of creating some Christmas traditions for our family.  Things like have a Decorate-the-Tree evening, where we make hot chocolate or some other tasty drink and eat tasty Christmas snacks and decorate the Christmas tree together.  That didn't happen this year, since we didn't do a tree at all.  

I had really really wanted to do a tree this year.  People are surprised when I admit that we have never had a Christmas tree in our family since we've been married.  Various reasons for this include being pregnant, just moving, being out of town, not wanting to police the tree from little fingers.  But I thought that I could handle the policing this year, and that the girls would enjoy putting on some decorations.

But it just never worked out, so there you go.  The only Christmas decoration I had up was the centrepiece I made at the ladies' night out.  Which was a nice one, but looked oh so lonely.

Another Christmas flop for us was Christmas Day meals.  We had planned to make a Scrambler for breakfast, and individual pizzas for supper.  Well, guess what we found in our fridge Christmas morning?  No cheese.  Oh sorry, two teeny tiny pieces of cheese.  Not enough for anything.  So off scurries Mark to 7-11 to pay $9 for 400g of cheese.  I may or may not have peed myself hearing the price.

But it wasn't all bad.  This year for opening our presents, I borrowed an idea I read over at Living Life Intentionally.  The idea was to let the kids open and play with presents as they went, if they wanted to.  I liked that idea, since it might let the kids appreciate their toys and not get a more-more-MORE mentality as they hopped from present to present.

So we tried this and it seemed to go so well.  We stopped and put together toys (and wow, do some toys have about a million parts.  With no instructions).  And we played.  It took us much longer to get finally done, but at the end, it felt good to me.  It felt like how I have hoped Christmas Day would feel.  Relaxed and together.  

Getting Snowhere

Here is my front yard.

And just so you know, at the bottom is my weed patch, I mean vegetable garden

I like the look of snow.  Winter is here now.  I wouldn't mind winter if it weren't for the having-to-bundle-up factor.  Snow is so pretty, and can be fun.  It's the before and after math that isn't fun, namely wet boots, mitts, coats, pants, etc, etc.

Snow and winter mean changes.  Simple changes like not wearing flip-flops (so sad!!!!) and start wearing a warmer jacket, and bigger changes, like putting cellophane around all the windows in your house to eliminate drafts (speaking of which...).  Another change is that I pretty much have stopped walking with the girls to Abby's preschool, and drive the ONE SINGLE block there.  I admit, I do feel ridiculous.

But my strollers wheels are not made for this!  I really need to think about these things more before I buy something I suppose.  Anyways.  It's just nicer to drive, though it takes almost as much time when you factor in the time it takes to do up and undo car seat buckles.  Though if we don't warm up the truck, then I don't really think it's that worth it since it is just as cold.

One big bump that has come as a result of the snow is that dear Abby (hahaha) refuses to wear her snowpants.  When this snow first came, last Thursday, she was excited to go outside and build a snowman (which would have been pretty impossible since it is not sticky-together snow, just fluff).  I got the snowpants on, but right after that it was like something clicked in her brain and she whipped those things off as fast as she could go.

She practically spits on you if you mention them.  This could be a loooooooooong winter.  I could deal with her never playing in the snow, fine.  But her class goes outside two out of three days!  I can send the pants with her, but I don't know if she would put them on, even for someone who wasn't Mama.  I guess we'll find out.

How's the Weather? and Other Mindless Chit-Chat

I was planning on posting this last weekend.  I had even thought out a few ideas in my head, just waiting to be written here.  But then my family got the flu.  We are just now recovering.  So those posts (obviously) didn't get written, and I don't even remember what I was going to write about. 

When I had time to notice the weather outside this week, I am caught between my desire and reality.  It was really warm last week, but this week it has been cold.  Okay, so cold is relative.  It has been around -10 to -16.  Ish.  Not cold compared to the weather we used to have when we lived up North, but cold for here.  I think that it is slightly deceitful of the sun to shine on the cold days. 

The snow we had has melted off a lot last week.  My yard has barely any snow in it, though there are lots of yards around town that still have snow.  But all the melting makes me feel like it's close to Spring.  Yet it is still just the beginning of February.  So I am in for disappointment I think. 

But less snow means that it is easier to get outside for me and the girls.  I have plans of going for walks on the warmer days.  We'll see if that materializes.  I ahve been trying to take them outside more, since I have slacked on that all winter.  And we went outside a couple times before the cold.  They love to be outside.  Man, I wish I could be a kid again sometimes.

So this is my pointless post for today.  I am still feeling kind of tired, so I can't attempt anything other than this. 

Wintery/Christmassy Thoughts

As I type The Wiggles are playing in the background, making it difficult for me to focus.  I should wait until tonight when the kids are in bed but I am saving that time for making Christmas cards, so I will push through this.  Just be warned that I am sorry if I break out into song sometime during this post.  It isn't my fault, it's those singing/dancing men's fault.

It is snowing again today.  I feel sad about the snow coming.  I think because I can't pretend that winter isn't here anymore.  I wore my flip-flops up until last week.  But -15C is a little chilly on the toes.  (Oh no, Old Dan Tucker is playing, that's like my favourite song...Git Out the way old Dan Tucker, you're too late to get your supper.)

Winter has it's good points.  I am looking forward to building snowmen with the girls, taking them out in the sled, maybe even going boarding with my hubby, though that last one is not for sure.  I used to love to snowboard, and I think I still would, only I haven't been out in, um, almost five years.  Five years!  I have new snowboard boots that I bought just after my last time boarding, but I got pregnant before the next winter and haven't been since.  Mostly due to babysitting issues. 

But the cold, I dislike the cold.  It makes it so much more unfun to go outside.  We have to bundle up, make sure all our limbs are covered.  I can't just open the door and let the kidlets run.  And walking places isn't going to be nearly as much fun.  I don't even know if I can fit the toddler backpack on me with my winter jacket on.

I should stop complaining.  After all, we're not half as cold as up north where we lived before.  They just had a bunch of days at -30C ish.  And I am definitely grateful for that.

Another fact that I have to admit is coming is Christmas.  It is a month away.  One month!  Since we are staying down south and not going up to our parents' houses, I technically don't have a ton of preparations to do.  I can do as much or little as I want.  I have no parties or anything planned, oh well actually we are getting together one night with our friends down here, but just the one family.  So nothing HUGE or anything.   And, I will openly admit it now, we are not even doing a tree!  It almost feels sacrilege to me, but it just doesn't fit into our lifestyle right now.  I don't have the patience to keep the girls (namely Leigh) away from it.  I don't know if we will ever have a tree. 

But I do love the idea of making ornaments and doing decorating with the girls, so my plan is to hang garlands around windows and bookshelves and the china cabinet, and to decorate those with ornaments.  So this year is really my first year  of decorating our house for Christmas.  I'm kind of nervous.  I hope it will look nice.  And I can already hear all my friends and family telling me that it will and does.  Don't you love the voices in your head of all your friends?  I don't need to talk to them in real life ever because I already know what they will say.

I had planned on having my Christmas cards and shopping and decorating done by mid-end November, but so far I haven't done any shopping or decorating.  But my cards are very close to being done so that is something!