Hope you all had a...

holly, jolly Christmas!!!!

Okay, okay...I know that Christmas has come and gone and that we are now well into the swing of Boxing Day/Week.

Hmmm... Boxing Week....(does that seem as weird to you as it does to me? How did one day become a week?!?! And when did it become about getting more for ourselves and not about giving to others?!?!)

...but I am at my own house for the first time in days, with my own computer and my photos saved on the hard drive, so I want to post a few Christmas-y things.

My Christmas was quite lovely really.

As many of you know, we are now living in two houses. We spend time at our house and, are also simultaneously, living with my Mum. My daughter says it is kind of like divorced families where the kids go back and forth between houses but, in our case, it is the adults who go back and forth!!! (Well, we sleep there the most, but the good egg does sleep there at least 2 nights a week. Thank you!)

My good egg and I did up our Christmas tree a few days before the big day. It used to be that we would put lots of basic ornaments on it but now that she is 17, we mostly put her ornaments on! I started buying an ornament (or 2) a year for her when she was born. Each ornament signifies something about her life over the previous year. She now has a very large shoe box filled with ornaments about her life. She pulls them all out and organizes them chronologically and we enjoy a trip down memory lane as she puts each one on the tree. It is something I look forward to doing with her each year (her dad is a wee bit Scroogey and doesn't do the tree with us!)

Some of her ornaments are childhood memories of favourite shows. While others are of things like taking skating lessons or learning how to play the violin. One is of a woman singing and symbolizes the years she spent in choir. This year we added two new ornaments to the tree. Both from Disneyworld this past summer.  One day she will want to take the box of memories away with her to put on her own tree and I am not so sure that I am going to be able to let her!

                                    

So, as is our tradition, we spent Christmas Eve in our own home. Our little family of three has a tradition of eating a picnic in front of the Christmas tree and then opening all of our gifts to each other afterwards. The menu never varies. Shrimp cocktail, crackers, cheeses and pate. Simple and easy. Oh, and wine...can't forget the wine!

 This year, we had a real fireplace for the first time...ever! It was really, really lovely to sit and enjoy a glass of wine (a red given to me by one of the parents in my class AND my first sip in 10 days as I finally, finally finished the second round of penicillin for my now gone strep throat!) and open the gifts my hubby and daughter had gotten for me.

One of my favourite gifts  is the Pandora charm my good egg got for me. It is this one...

and has matching hearts that go together to make a bigger heart. On one heart it says mother. On the other it says daughter. I love it!!!! The thing I love about the Pandora charm bracelets is how each charm acts as a visual reminder of something or someone near and dear to me. I can look down on my wrist and literally count my blessings.

Then we headed back to my Mum's house and slept there. We had a lazy morning with my sister and brother (with their children) coming over around 2pm for an afternoon of gifts and family time. Then off my brother went to continue with his Christmas and the 6 of us left had a turkey dinner. I let myself eat wheat (how could I turn down my sister's homemade stuffing?!?!) and, unfortunately, suffered for it. Oh well. Live and learn, right? I have not been very good about being gluten free over the last week or so and, boy howdy, can I ever tell! It is back on the straight and narrow for me!

Mum did very well over the holidays, all things considered. This was the third Christmas without Dad here in person. Plus, she had her 83rd birthday two days after Christmas. When you add the stress of the holidays to all the moving out, moving in and cleaning that has been going on around her house the last two weeks, I am amazed that she has held up as well as she has. There were a few tears here and there but, overall, I think that she enjoyed the time spent with family.

I know it is very hard for her to get up and continue on each day knowing my father is no longer with us physically. I just wish that she could feel him all around us the way that I do. He is here as much as he ever was, just in a different way. I know because I see signs of him all the time.

And on that note, I am going to say a belated Merry Christmas to all. I hope that your loved ones were with you as mine were with me (both in person and in spirit!)

Cheers!