Our Christmas

Our Christmas focused on family traditions and food. It was as wonderful as always, although we did miss family who could not join us this year. 

My husband's brother and his wife are traveling on a 4-week Asian Adventure. We've been entertained with their Facebook updates and photos from their travels, but we missed them at our family festivities this year. Their daughter (our niece) celebrated Christmas with her boyfriend's family near Goderich, so we missed her as well.

Our daughter and her family are starting their own Christmas traditions in Boulder, CO. They had their turkey dinner Christmas Eve. On Christmas day they opened gifts then ate home-made cinnamon buns for breakfast. For dinner, they ordered Chinese takeout, allowing lots of time to relax and enjoy the day with their kids. We miss them, but completely understand how difficult it is to get together when they live so far away.

Our Christmas started with my parents joining us for coffee and gifts around 10 a.m. (much later than when the kids were little). Our gifts adorned a table in our dining room this year, since we didn't put up a tree. It was suitably colourful and festive. My parents brought a gift for our dog who was very excited. She loved her new squeaky stuffy.

 

 

They also bought a fun gift for our son. A beer glass with the words:

And what to my

Wondering

EYES

Should appear,

But a big bag of

CHIPS

And a six-pack of

BEER!

Then they brought out the chips and beer. He loved it. 

 

More gifts were unwrapped. Everybody made fun of me for picking up the paper as the gifts were opened. I don't seem to be able to leave paper clutter, but everybody is used to my weirdness, so we laughed.

 

Our son tried out his antique wooden juggling pins catching on quickly.

After gifts, my parents went home. We walked to the Sifton Bog. The record-breaking mild weather was such a change from last year.

We were so pleased to see a couple of Santa's reindeer across the pond. 

 

Father and Son with Son finally taller than his Father.

Mother and Son with Son demonstrating his strength.

 We enjoyed walking in the Sifton Bog with all it's cool sights.

Back at the house, my husband did something in the garage involving his Audi TT and spark plugs. It kept him busy all afternoon, while I prepared our traditional turkey dinner.

Drinks, snacks and more gifts before dinner.

The table (smaller than usual) set and ready for the festivities.

We started with our Christmas Crackers. Lots of laughs, lots of food and good times with family. We thoroughly enjoyed Our Christmas.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours.

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Christmas Wrap Up

Christmas this year was much like other years with the focus on family, fun and food. In an effort to simplify, we have scaled back on gifts but still have plenty under our tree. 

My parents and son join us for breakfast and our Christmas morning is off to a good start with capuccino, biscotti and gifts. 

After breakfast and before starting dinner, we hike to the Sifton Bog Boardwalk. Last year it was cold and snowy, but this year it's mild and clear, a perfect day. 

Our dinner is relatively easy with everybody contributing. I cook the turkey, broccoli and brussel sprouts. My parents make a huge pot of mashed potatoes, my sister-in-law makes crockpot stuffing and my mum-in-law makes gravy, trifle and lemon pie. With so much help, we are able to relax with drinks and more gifts while dinner cooks.

Our family Christmas dinners include lots of laughs, lots of fun and lots of food. We all save space for my Mum-In-Law's Santa-adorned trifle. It has become a favourite family tradition.

We all had a bit of fun with a magnifying glass from my Christmas cracker this year. Who can resist making googly eyes? Funny how we all picked our right eye to enhance. I wonder what that says about us?

So to wrap up our Christmas this year, I have to say it was truly wonderful. Of course we missed our daughter and her family but I am happy to hear they are enjoying themselves in Brazil. I feel lucky to have such a fun and loving family both at home and abroad.

With such a simple Christmas, I managed to fit in lots of crochet time over the holidays. I am working on both a cowl and a big fluffy blanket. 

I decided to finally use some luxuriously soft and expensive hand painted yarn I bought a couple years ago. I am making a cowl using this pattern but my yarn is finer so the cowl is too short to loop around the neck.

I love the colour and can't wait to see how it turns out. I might make another in the grey/green colour only longer for looping next time.

I plan to keep going until all the yarn is used up. As you can see there is quite a bit left so I think this cowl will be warm and cozy once it's done. I'll be sure to share a photo but it might be awhile yet because I also started working on a big fluffy blanket this week.

On Boxing Day I couldn't resist buying Lion Brand Homespun Thick and Quick yarn on sale at Michael's for $7.99 a ball, a significant savings from the original price of $12.99. I bought 6 balls each in Dove and Pearl to make a fuzzy ripple blanket for my son. I don't enjoy working with chunky yarn as it tends to snag and stitch details are lost in the fluff.

My son loves fluffy blankets so that's why I'm doing it. I decided to follow the same ripple pattern I used to make my Cosmic Rays Ripple. It looks completely different but still very nice and of course totally cuddly with such chunky yarn.

I'm hoping to finish this blanket by Saturday but I also want to write a year end review and I'm running out of time. Wish me luck.

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