Our Cheeks Are Nice And Rosy

The Santa Claus parade took place this evening downtown & I watched from my shop window while sipping hot chocolate. It was adorable in all sorts of ways & made me think of watching the parade when I was a little girl (since I've lived in this city my entire life). The float for Santa hasn't changed in my whole lifetime, nor the lifetime of my coworkers. It was all very nostalgic & sweet. I even ate a candy cane today, with my hot chocolate. I love this time of the year.

What are some of your favourite holiday memories?

This year will be all about making memories & less about consuming. This is our last holiday season sans bébé and we will enjoy it together, being thankful for what we have and the family that we are about to start. I hope that we can create traditions for our family around the holidays that don't involve manic spending & stressful shopping sprees. I want our child to grow up in a family where the holidays are all about quality & not quantity. Presents? Yes -- but not the towers of gifts that my mother worked so hard to give me. I am grateful for everything she did for me as a child, but she stressed so much & I wish that she would never have to feel that way. I'm so thankful that my close circle of friends and I are all starting to make this kind of a switch in our holiday thinking. Handmade vs. purchased, green & eco friendly products -- love, family & friends instead of spending, stressing & all of that worrying. Who needs it? I would much rather enjoy what we have, give meaningful gifts (even if this just means spending time with loved ones) and to make the holidays a stress free time. Ahhhh. All of this is putting me in a fabulous mood & I think I'll be off to enjoy my tea, which I'm certain has finished steeping by now.

Have a lovely, snowy evening. It's been snowing here for almost an entire day & I love how everything outside is sparkling right now. This is the part of winter that I adore.

ps. By some miracle of the earth we now have internet at our new apartment! Ah, what a relief. I'm pretty sure the boy made a rather forceful phone call to the company which sped things up (since they'd already made three mistakes with our move order). However, I don't care how it happened -- I'm just glad that it did.