Getting Ready for Christmas

I love Christmas ~ it’s my favourite time of year! Christmas is almost here now and I think I’m just about ‘ready’.

We cut the Christmas tree on the weekend and decorated it – it’s the most beautiful tree yet! I say that every year, hehehe. My son Darin and his family (Amanda, Kalia, and Livi), son Taylor, son Melvin and his girlfriend Cass, daughter Nellie, daughter Kristi and family (Mike, Jasmine, Josh, and Benji), and I drove out to our favourite Christmas tree farm (support local farmers!) to cut our trees. The weather was unexpectedly mild, about +2C, after a day of freezing rain ……. which meant that the farm ‘roads’ through the fields were sheer muck! I almost got stuck going uphill a few times but my trusty 27 year old Honda Civic just fish-tailed her way through the mud until I drove along the side on the grass. The extra weight in the back a.k.a. Melvin, Cass, and Taylor helped. We found a really nice perfect tree within 10 minutes! After we loaded the trees onto our vehicles, we went back to Darin and Amanda’s for hot chocolate/tea and chili. Of course a family gathering wouldn’t be complete without some Board games – this time it was Codenames and Catan, of course! The next day, Taylor, Nellie and I decorated our tree in the living room. We bought a fake tree after Christmas last year for downstairs – it’s pretty nice…… for a fake tree.

Family Christmas Tree Cutting

Last week, Nellie and I went shopping for all the baking supplies and stocking stuffers. This year, I’ll have four children home for Christmas morning: Nellie, Taylor, Melvin, and Marty. You’d think they would be too big for stockings now that they are in there 20s and 30s, but, oh no, they still need to wake up Christmas morning to find that Santa had remembered to leave their stockings full of goodies! Tradition.

Decorating our Christmas tree

I still haven’t baked all my Christmas goodies yet because it’s too early. I bought a second-hand little freezer last week for the extra stuff but we’ve already filled it with meat, bread, butter, etc and there’s no room now for tins of baked goods! I’ll need something to do on Sunday anyway…..

Chocolate Coconut Macaroons

Marty is coming home for Christmas this year!! He arrives tomorrow and we couldn’t be more excited! We’ve been busy setting up the downstairs for a better video gaming spot. We also managed to clean off the Red Maple table for Board games or Melvin’s desk top he’s planning on bringing. Taylor bought Nellie a PS4 for Christmas and thought he’d better give it to her early so they could ‘try it out’. Nellie plans to paint the entire room downstairs next spring to freshen it up a bit. We were planning to get a larger TV for there next spring but I made my very first (and probably last) Black Friday purchase of a new 50″ TV when I saw this incredible price. Of course I couldn’t hide such a huge box until Christmas, so I just told them ‘Merry Christmas’ when I asked for help picking up the box at the store. Now I anticipate I’ll have a nice quiet space to myself in the livingroom while everyone else is downstairs playing video games!

Three generations searching for the perfect trees

 
We started watching all the Christmas movies weeks ago and we’re almost through most of them. When Kristi was down last, we watched the movies I taped off TV from the 1980s (commercials and all – the best part!) – “Disney Christmas” with Hughy, Louie, and Douie, “Chip and Dale”, Goofy and Micky and the best one – “Muppet Family Christmas”, my favourite! I put them from VHS onto DVD and my external hard drive a few years ago (all by myself, I might add). Nellie and I have also been watching the Hallmark movies on W network too. But I’ll save the best for last and watch “Christmas Comes To Willow Creek” on Christmas Eve, a tradition I’ve upheld – Chris and I used to watch it after the kids went to bed and I feel that he is still here with me in spirit

The presents are all wrapped and under the trees! The red poinsettia is on the dining room table. The special Christmas toys are out for the kids to play with. My Christmas village is set up in my bedroom on my fireplace mantle – away for the cats who think it’s a great bed!

Christmas Village

Tomorrow is also Melvin’s 24th birthday! My baby!! We’re all gathering here for supper tomorrow to celebrate Melvin’s birthday and Marty’s arrival. That will be dinner for 14, a pretty normal family supper around here! Have a Happy Birthday Melvin!