What's New Link up: December 2018 Recap

Happy New Year!!!!

Eventually (tomorrow probably), I plan to share 2018 highlights in general. Today, however, I'm linking up with Kristen today to chat about what's new and share my December in a nutshell! Go check out her post and everyone else's and send her some love and sunshine at the start of this new year. :)

Every year, December is our busiest month, closely followed by September. This year was the busiest yet (though I see next year being even worse with two children in school). I had a mix of personal fun events and children's events and family events and work was busy and WOW. Luckily, we really slowed down and I was off from Dec 21 until today which is my first day back at work. The downtime (relatively speaking) at home was a blessing and we spent a lot of time as a family just hanging out, which was wonderful.

We got our Christmas tree the first weekend in December (Dec 1) and it is still up, so I really need to take it down tomorrow/Saturday because it is SO dry now. The first full week of December was busy, we had parent/teacher interviews with Molly's teacher, which went well, and then we had Molly's first ever piano recital, which was so well done! She did a great job playing her three Christmas songs and we were proud of her confidence. The other children all played recognizable songs and it wasn't too long overall so it was nice. :) We also had a first fluke "snow storm" day in which the power went out so we all stayed home - it was weird and unexpected.

The following week, I got to go hear Louise Penny speak about her newest book with 600 other people in Halifax with my mom! It was a great event - she spoke a lot about her career as a writer, her relationship with her late husband, and Three Pines and Gamache. It was perfect. We got to meet her (again) and got a picture with her and get her latest book signed. It was so fun and really special. I am a huge fan so I was overjoyed at meeting her again, especially on the last stop of her tour and in my city! :)

Unfortunately, the rest of that week involved all of my immediate family members coming down with a stomach bug (luckily I dodged it but I got very little sleep caring for sick kiddos), but we all recovered quickly. Molly had her school Christmas concert which Brian actually had to miss because he was sooo sick. Her concert was awesome this year and my in-laws (retired full-time teachers) said that it was the best they'd ever seen. There was one hilarious kid who was way more into his class's song than his classmates and his enthusiasm brought me tears of laughter so that was fun :) It was great!

Later that week I was privileged enough to attend a songwriter's circle put on by my work for free with my dad. It was a great night out with some well-known local/national singer-songwriters and some great stories and laughter. As you can imagine, I was exhausted after that week and took the next week a bit slower :)

We wrapped up all of our extra-curricular activities and slowed down a bit for the holidays - although I was still doing Christmas shopping on DECEMBER 23 this year and that was unnecessarily stressful - will do better in 2019!!!! We had a postal strike here this fall so I ordered less online and that contributed to this last-minute stress. Anyway, it all got done, we all got sufficiently spoiled, our house is full of new toys/puzzles/gadgets and we have eaten more treats in the past two weeks than we probably did the rest of 2018...so there's that. We got to see almost all of our friends and all of our family except some of my aunts, uncles, and cousins and my brother who lives out west. We had lots of fun days at home in our pyjamas and some evenings out with friends. The break was wonderful and special this year and I tried my best to soak it all up.

My girls both got Lego sets from Santa and us and some other sets too. They are hooked on Lego!! I also made them Harry Potter robes and Brian 3d printed them wands that light up so they can dress up :) It was so fun! My mother in law made them beautiful mermaid blankets which they love, and we got some puzzles and board games. Brian bought me a surprise gift - a new HP netbook which will make blogging & online activities a bit more fun in 2019 :) 

For New Year's Eve we had one of our favourite couples over for some board games and appetizers for supper and it was great. We get a great view of fireworks in the horizon off our deck and that was fun at midnight even though it was freezing out! The next day was a tough one after being up late with our friends having heated debated about weird topics but we alternated some adult naps with parenting and it was all good ;) Brian spent the majority of the last 4 days of the break working on a 1000 piece Hogwarts puzzle that "Sirius Black" left for all of us for Christmas <--- my older daughter was super stressed and puzzled about that little joke. Haha.

We are heading into the new year rejuvenated and ready to get back into a routine. I am dying to declutter again and I will slowly pick away at it. I am also doing the Dedicate 30 Day Challenge with Yoga with Adriene. 

I'll be back tomorrow like I said with my highlights of 2018 :) And back to chat about the books I've been reading lately next Tuesday for Show us Your Books!!!!

What's new with you? Anyone do anything fun over the holidays?!

5 on Friday - 5 days till Christmas!!!!

ONE

Molly met Santa last weekend. We got a few good pictures, but I like this one of her being serious. Super cutie patootie, but I’m biased. Last year, she was NOT a fan of Santa…haha.

PS: This is Molly last year at Christmas time...she was so little!!!

TWO

Loving this Christmas song lately, among MANY others which I hope to share with you all ASAP (the post is written up, but I need time to add links!)

THREE

A few years ago, I made an “ugly” Christmas sweater and won a contest. I may or may not have worn it this week again, with the baby belly and all. It’s pretty festive, eh?

FOUR

I made a family variation of this recipe last night to bring into the office today, and it has mostly been devoured already. Yum, Christmas crack. We also have Christmas music blasting in the hallway today, and a lunch out including a Secret Santa exchange. Can't wait for holidays to start (this afternoon!)

FIVE

It looks like we will have a White Christmas in Halifax this year. Although we are also expecting A LOT of rain on Sunday the 22, so maybe it will all melt. Hard to say…haha. You just never know what you’re going to get in Canada this time of the year!!

Merry Christmas, everyone!! xoxo

A Traditional Heather Christmas

Today I'm linking up with Holly and Amy for a post that I had meant to write about anyway one of these days! I love talking about Christmas traditions and hearing about others' traditions. For me as a child, and even now, Christmas is one of the most special times of the year. I still can't really pinpoint why, but as an adult, I find that Christmas is a time to show those around you how much you care about them. I don't necessarily mean that you buy everyone you know a gift, but I personally like to send out cards, and exchange greetings with people, and try to let people know how much they mean to me at this time of the year. 

With our favourite little toddler, this Christmas is going to be a GREAT one. It is our first year in our house, and Molly's first year understanding the season (to an extent - I still think she will be scared of the mall Santa). We are starting some fun traditions with her this year!

My Childhood Christmas Traditions

Nativity Scene

We had a wooden nativity scene growing up that we would have out during Advent. The manger that had baby Jesus was empty until Christmas Day when Jesus was born, but my mom had little pieces of straw (yarn) that we were able to put in the manger if we did a nice thing for a sibling or someone else. This encouraged us to be mindful of preparing for Jesus, and it is one of our favourite memories of Christmas. The Wise Men also didn't show up until after Christmas, which we always thought was funny (but actually true, haha) ;)

This week we are going to buy this for Molly:

Little People Nativity Scene via Sears.ca

Advent Wreath

We also had an Advent devotional that we (tried to) do every night as a family. We would gather around the wreath with the number of candles lit, read a little bit, and sing a song and pray together. This was really special and I am grateful to my parents for taking the time each night to do this with us (I'm sure we didn't actually get to it EVERY single night, but most!)

St. Nicholas Day

The Feast Day of St. Nicholas is today, December 6, and as children we had a tradition of laying out a pair of shoes outside our bedroom door on December 5 and receiving a book and sometimes some chocolate on December 6. There is more about this tradition here, but it is kind of a fun one, and my mom sent Molly a Christmas book last year and this year to celebrate :) (I wonder if she will understand the shoe part this year?!)

Real tree

We always went to a tree lot (or once or twice went to a forest) to pick out our tree in mid-December. This was a fun family event, and I remember always wanting to get the loneliest looking tree (my mom disagreed, obviously). We also usually got hot chocolate or candy canes on this outing :)

Christmas Eve with family friends

On Christmas Eve each year, we went to church at 7 pm and then celebrated with some family friends who we grew up with. We would always put together and outrageous "Christmas play" of the nativity story, and we had a great meal (usually slow cooked during church!) and each opened one gift. It was always a really special way to celebrate the season. 

Wake up as early as possible

Our gifts from Santa as children were never wrapped, so my sister (in particular) had a VERY difficult time sleeping all night and often woke up at 4 or 5 am to check her presents and start playing. My parents would usually give in around 7 or 8 and I started wanting to sleep in a bit later at some point too, but my siblings would always wake me up ;) Now, I think it will be my husband who carries on that tradition...lol. We also usually had pancakes for breakfast while my mom got the turkey in the oven :)

Open gifts as a family

We all would sit around the living room and open one present at a time so everyone could see the present being opened. It was the youngest's job to "deliver" presents to everyone, so thanks for that, David! This was a nice way to really enjoy each other's company and show our parents the gifts from aunts/uncles and truly show appreciation for our gifts.

Family walk on Christmas Day

We probably didn't do this as very young children, and likely just played in the backyard instead, but at a certain point, we used to go for a walk in the snow (if we had snow - many years it was mild in Calgary!) after lunch on Christmas Day. It was a nice way to get some fresh air and spend time with the family. The above mentioned family friends often joined us and we talked about what Santa brought us, etc :)

My Newer Traditions as an Adult

Since this will be my first Christmas season (sort of) without my parents and siblings, I won't be partaking in as many of the above traditions, but we are starting some of our own now. For starters, here's our Christmas card for this year:

Exchanging ornaments

The first year that Brian and I were dating, we bought each other ornaments for the tree as a little Christmas gift. We have decided to keep this tradition and do it every year. This year I am making Brian's ornament out of clay. I usually try to pick something that represents him a bit, such as a baseball ornament. 

Christmas movie night

Brian loves to watch Home Alone over Christmas, and I love to watch Love Actually, so we usually fit both of those in at some point. 

Crockpot Christmas breakfast

I made THIS RECIPE at my in-law's last year for Christmas, and I think I will make a different breakfast casserole type of thing this year. We will be waking up in our house this year and then heading over to the in-law's house at some point in the morning so that my hubby can reap the rewards of opening TWO stockings...haha.

Church on Christmas morning

With a 2 year old, it doesn't really make sense to go to an evening mass for Christmas, so we'll be bringing Molly on Christmas morning this year. Last year, she was having a meltdown at church time after not sleeping all night, so Brian and I went alone and that was a-okay. haha.

Christmas MUSIC

This is an obvious one, but I like to listen to almost nothing but Christmas music over the holidays. Brian isn't as big of a fan but he puts up with it!! Haha. I have a whole post drafted with a playlist to share sometime ASAP.

We are doing an Advent calendar with Molly with stickers in it instead of treats (or she would just eat all of the treats at once and be sick!!)

Does anyone have any fun Christmas Eve traditions? I am looking for something fun to do with hubby at home this year after Molly goes to sleep. My aunts and uncles all get together, and last year I went to that alone, but I think I'd rather spend the evening at home with hubby this year. 

YAY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Five on Fabulous Friday :)

For some reason, this Friday took forever to arrive!! Which is strange, because it was a short week with the holiday on Monday. Hmm. Well, happy Friday anyway!! Here's my 5 for this week.

Check out Darci's blog for all the other posts in the linkup!

ONE

I may or may not have started listening to Christmas music a bit this week, and then felt incredibly homesick. This will be the first Christmas season in my life without seeing my parents, who are staying out west this year while we stay here on the east coast. While I believe I am old enough to handle it, I’m sure there will be a few “sad” moments. HOWEVER, I can’t wait to decorate our house with some fun toddler decorations and get a real tree and have an amazing time here with our little family of 3 and Brian’s family. Bring on the Christmas spirit!!!

Source

TWO

We had some of Brian’s good friends over for supper last night, including an adorable 2 month old baby and another little 8 month old! Molly loved them both and cried when they had to go home. I think she’s going to be a great big sister! ;) Here's all 3 of them decked out in their Halloween animal costumes!

THREE

We got to see Baby #2 this week at our 20 week ultrasound! Looks like all is well and we are still going to wait until baby is born to find out the sex!! It was pretty exciting to see the little bean moving around in there!! Apparently the baby is about 11 inches long now, so s/he will probably be tall like Molly!

FOUR

I heard about this adorable story on the news today…Miles, a 5 year old battling leukemia, made a wish to be Batkid for the day and Make a Wish and the city of San Francisco are making his wish come true. So for today, San Fran is Gotham City!! How cool is that? 

FIVE

I am really getting into the groove at the new job and feeling more at home here. I think I’ll be sad to leave it in April to have the baby, in some ways. At least for now, it feels good to be settled in and we are back into a pretty decent routine at home too, so my stress level has gone down considerably in November (SO FAR!) haha.

And…an extra bonus:

My husband’s co-worker passed on this link this week…AMAZING photos! Check out the whole site!!! In the spirit of the season (ha, ha)…here's one on snowflakes!

Happy weekend, one and all! xo