Restyled Homes

Our candy cupboard...chicken bones, peppermints, candy canes...they have to ask first, though...

Eleven more days till the big day...how ready are you?? For some reason, this season seems busier than other years. Perhaps it is the ages of my kids: they are involved in more, and even though babies and toddlers are more physical work, older children mean more time out of the house... running them here and there, juggling their schedules, just less time in general nestled in the comfort of our homes... I have reached a conclusion as to why this is such a stressful time for so many people, and it is not necessarily related to the work of Christmas: there are way too many mini celebrations surrounding the holiday! Every single group or team that children are involved in seems to feel the need to "have a party" to ring in the season! Hockey parties, mini concerts and recitals, skating shows with treats after, Sunday school parties, pre-school parties and concerts, school Christmas concerts, class parties, work parties (for us), the list goes on and on!! It's no wonder parents are completely overwhelmed!! When do families get to just sit in front of the tree, all snuggled up on the couch, watching a holiday movie or playing a board game together? What about a drive through nearby neighbourhoods to see all the Christmas lights on the homes? Sledding as a family, visiting grandparents, just when does this happen? Sure, we all get together Christmas eve and Christmas day...but I want more, and I suspect so do many other families...

Case in point: we usually put our tree up around the 6th of December. I figure, if I'm going to go to all that work, I'm going to have it up for a good while to enjoy! This year, however, my tree didn't get put up until the 13th! Not a tragedy, of course, but reflective of just how busy this month has been for us, and not because of things on my "list", which I take care of during the day. I don't drag anyone out shopping with me, I decorate mostly by myself (with a little help from Sophie...the only one interested...) but still, we did not have time in the evenings to get our tree up at a time when we could all be together at the same time to do so!! We are not even normally one of those families who meet and greet each other on the way in and out the door! We eat dinner together every night and our kids are really only in one or two things each; but with each having those things two times a week, coupled with hubby's hockey, we seem to spend our evenings coming and going! So, my point is, why does every little organization have to throw a holiday get-together?? It's not as if today's kids need more treats and celebration! Heck, most kids have way too much!! I say, why not take the money intended for the parties, gifts, and treats, and make a team/group donation to the food bank, Salvation Army or other charity? I'm not suggesting we do away with socializing all together, but let's leave it to school Christmas concerts, Sunday school concerts, and a class party so the kids can celebrate with their friends once (considering they are usually the same kids they see at their after school activities)?

This is what I found greeting me on my front lawn on our snow day last week: We love you Mum...spelled out in rocks. I'm a lucky girl...!

So, now that my tree is up, my Christmas cards are out, my decorating is done...I just have a few more things "to do" on my list. I have to bake for a cookie exchange tomorrow (which I am going to with Sophie and am so looking forward to...getting together with friends and my girl...on the weekend!), I will wrap next week, and I will do my big grocery order (which I intensely despise doing...), and the only shopping I have left to do is to finish getting the presents for the children whose names we took off the Salvation Army tree. A manageable list, which will leave plenty of time to focus on family and traditions and doing the things that make the holiday special. A little baking with the kids, staring at the tree, digging out our favourite Christmas video: Little House on the Prairie's Christmas...sounds ambitious doesn't it?? That's okay. I'll leave the heavy-duty socializing and party-hopping to someone else. We're checking out come December 21st!!

My little kitchen tree...note the miniature yellow-ware bowls and potato masher, ladle, flat iron, and more!!

Just a short post before I head off to bed in hopes of trying to shake this blasted cold!!

Here are my dining chairs...kind of like one chair, two looks...I ended up choosing the more subdued red and white version, since I have a fair bit of red in the room. I added the sparkly snowballs in keeping with my wintery theme which can extend well into January!

It isn't Christmas without a few nuts around, so I always do this "help-yourself" arrangement: three brown paper bags with the tops folded over, two filled with nuts and the nutcracker, and one left empty to put all the shells in. Easy, but looks good and entices you to snack...which, come to think of it, isn't always a good thing!!

Tree # 4 is a charming feather tree I decorated with these advent tags I picked up from the Wendy Addison collection. I paid full price after Christmas (they did not go on sale!!) and even though my mum and sister thought I'd gone mad, I still do not regret the rather frivolous purchase!! My favourites are the ones with the birds on them, and of course Santa himself. I love them so much I did not put them on the tree a day at a time. I simply hung them all at once, so I could enjoy them for the entire month.

The old Santa standing guard below the tree is from my mum, amd the box at the back is for vintage lightbulbs (of which there were none within...) and the little oval box is what the advent tags came in...all done up with a red, organza bow. How could I resist??

And finally, I took some photos of my baby girl all dolled up for her Christmas concert. Why can't they make outfits like that for adults? But wait: a poufy skirt like that would be murder on my hips...!!! Better leave well enough alone, and leave the fashion to Sophie! Please indulge my multiple pictures of her...I only have one girl, after all...