Arts & crafts.
Not very wintery at all.
Weird reindeer on stilts playing a ukulele, as is traditional for Canadian Christmases.
MORE CHURROS PLS.
Worn out from all the Christmas cheer (or possibly the Christmas beer).
Upon opening her gifts Gwen immediately changed into some of her new clothes and shut herself inside this toy gingerbread house.
Cheers-ing with dessert forks.
Christmas bits & pieces…
Taylor said it didn’t feel very Christmas-y this year, and I kind of have to agree. The weather was not really wintery at all, and not having Sym home definitely dampened the Christmas fun, just because Gwen doesn’t really “get” it yet (or maybe she does but just can’t tell us. WHO EVEN KNOWS). Last year Sym was with us on Christmas and the year before we had a much bigger do for Mini Christmas. Next year I’m sure Gwen will be all about it AND Sym will be here so it’ll be the most Christmas-y ever I think.
One thing I wanted to do this year was go up Grouse Mountain for the Peak of Christmas. It’s just nice, a quick 20 minute drive from our apartment and a gondola ride up a mountain and you’re in a winter wonderland! We didn’t end up going though, partly because Gwen’s been sick and a little miserable and partly because there isn’t even much snow on the mountain yet. You can see it from here and the trees don’t have any snow on them at all. Instead we took Gwen on the Christmas Train in Stanley Park. She liked the train well enough, and she LOVED eating churros, but after that when we were walking around looking at the lights she had her biggest meltdown ever. Taylor and I think the crowds of people just became too much for her, so we brought her home for soup & sandwiches and then bed.
Because Gwen has proven herself a pre-Christmas present opener we had all the gifts stashed in our room and only moved them under the tree after she’d gone to bed on Christmas Eve. Then, when she woke up on Christmas morning we changed and dressed her in her room and then came out into the living room, all dark except for the tree lights, and I think she appreciated the magic of it. She certainly appreciated opening her gifts! She got a lot of things, from all our family but we also went a little overboard on her gifts this year. I found so many good deals though, I couldn’t help it!
After a small power struggle with Taylor over whether to have ham or roast beef for Christmas dinner, logic prevailed ie I won and it was roast beef again. Every year I mess something up and this year it was the Yorkshire puddings, I was meant to cook them at 450° and I accidentally turned the stove up to almost 500°. OOPSIES. They weren’t burnt, just very very well-browned. Everything else was perfect though, and I think I may have achieved my greatest mashed potatoes yet; the trick is to leave half the skins on the potatoes and mash them with butter, sour cream and LOTS AND LOTS OF BACON FAT. Honestly, I’m never mashing potatoes without bacon fat again after this.
Now that Christmas is over and the mess from it is (mostly) cleaned up it’s time to start planning for our New Year’s Eve Feast and then the next major holiday ie MY BIRTHDAY. It’s just 6 weeks away and I only want two things: this chair and this cat*.
I hope everyone is having a happy holiday season!
* After Claire passed in September I really felt like I didn’t want to get another cat but then yesterday my brand-new, haven’t-saved-any-weird-words-to-it-yet tried to autocorrect “Christmas” to “Christmeows” WHICH IS OBVIOUSLY A SIGN I MEAN COME ON. So I looked on Petfinder and found that lil moppet and now I’m obsessed. The only problems are a) she’s at an SPCA 650km away (although they would transport her if I got approved for adoption) and b) we’re only allowed one pet in this apartment and currently have two and a half and Taylor for some reason thinks maybe we shouldn’t get another? WHATEVER, MAN.
That pic of the two of them reading? DEAD.
They were just extra extra cute today.
Haha Christmeows. It is indeed a message! A Catty New Year for you!
Some of those table photos are great!
Every time I wear one colour from head to toe, I think of you. Especially if it is grey. I’ve been growing my roots out since Summer and am very confident about it and kind of surprised about my confidence but looking at your photos lately I realise it is your beautiful hair that makes me feel this way.
A very shallow Christmas message this, I realise! 😉
X
Thank you!!! I love my hair this colour, I just wish it would GROW FASTER ALREADY