merry christmas to all

It's Christmas morning and I'm warm and happy, relaxing with my family at home. We ate our traditional breakfast of croissants and home made strawberry jam, and opened the few presents we have under the tree. Now that the kids are grown up, we don't have a lot of presents, preferring to direct our giving to charities that are important to us. Alex's Christmas gift was a new windshield for his car, when the old one cracked two weeks before Christmas. Fiona's was a much-needed new pair of dancing shoes for school. We will open our stockings later today with my parents, when we go to their place for supper.

The lead-up to Christmas was a bit unusual. Fiona's journey home from university was more difficult than planned, with a canceled flight, and a late-evening arrival in Seattle, instead of Vancouver, then a 2 day lag before her luggage arrived. Alex worked a lot at the movie theater. Dreary weather and Christmas season movies make it a busy place this time of year. Still, Fiona and Alex found time for their annual stocking stuffer shopping trip before Christmas.

I had a couple of vacation days at the end of last week, then one day back at work on Saturday, to support an event at the recreation centre. It turned out to be a blessing. After the event, I had a couple of hours to tidy up some projects that otherwise would have dangled into the new year. Now I'm on call for Emergency Social Services over Christmas. This is my first holiday rotation, and I'm hoping that all will be quiet for the firefighters, the families and me!

Andy and I attended Christmas for a Cause, the annual benefit show put on by some young musical theatre artists in our community. Each year they raise funds and awareness for homeless people. This year, they put on a great show and raised over $3 thousand over two nights, which they donated to Union Gospel Mission and First United Church. The music helped us find our Christmas spirit, and it was great connecting with theatre families who we have grown to know and love over many years.

Last night, our family attended Christmas Eve service at our church. This has been our tradition for a dozen years now. We volunteer as greeters, and help with lighting the candles through the church for everyone to sing Silent Night together at the end of the service. After church we popped over to our neighbours' house for a visit, drinks and laughter. Over the years, the kids, who used to play in the basement, have grown up and migrated upstairs to join the adult conversation. It's the one time every year that we see them all together, and that's very nice.

I baked pumpkin pies last night (one for tonight, one for the neighbours' last night). Today I will make some spinach ball appetizers, and Andy will make his mashed potato casserole to take over to my parents' place. That's all we have to do. I think we'll watch It's a Wonderful Life or Miracle on 34th Street before we go out. The tree it lit, the house is warm and fragrant with good food smells. The cat is enjoying her Christmas treat: "finicky eater hairball kitty snacks." All is well.

question: what makes your Christmas bright?

mompoet - happy at home