a week or so ago, I cleaned all of the various bits and pieces off the front of the fridge…
put the container with the 24 magnets on it ready for Advent… my daughter sent them to me years ago… they covered two muffin tins and each held a tiny treat as they were opened daily during Advent…
then I put them away carefully🤪… and I didn’t find them until last year, lol… I am happy to use them this year, especially as I still knew where they were…
I think I might start with the 24th and then count back until Christmas;-)…
added ornaments to the drawers in the table… they look good…
spent a while deciding on where the tree should go this year… for the last few years it has been in the window, but I felt like it was time for a change…
dug out the tree and set up the space for it… added extra lights and fluffed the branches…
next I brought up the bin of snow people… after some thought I emptied some of the squares in the dining room wall and added the snow people… it was fun deciding which ones went together…
took the pottery pieces that came off the shelves and put them into the bin… it was very heavy, so I slid it into the den closet… it will be safe there and saved me from trying to carry it downstairs…
found purple, silver and clear ornaments and listened to Christmas carols as I added them to the tree…
had a quiet day yesterday… spent time taking photos of ornaments on the tree and the orchids…
a friend dropped off the fixings for turkey dinner which I warmed up at supper time… it was a lovely treat and made for a relaxed and enjoyable meal… ended the day with hot lemonade in my new mug and gifted shortbread…
yesterday I took out the recycling and garbage… Friday is our usual pick-up day, but because of Christmas it was moved to Saturday this week…
I don’t put the bins out every week, but they were getting full and it was a beautiful day… bit of an issue getting over the mound behind the gate, but I managed okay, lol…
today, as I was listening to the trucks going down the lane I was thinking of all the people who don’t really get much, if any, time off while the rest of us are cozy and warm in our houses…
this morning the living room looked lovely and I enjoyed the serenity as I sat in the quiet and enjoyed the lights…
the Ottawa kids and I Skyped and we opened our presents together… following our usual pattern, in this unusual time, we opened the gifts one at a time… it was great fun… they liked all their gifts, which made me happy…
one of my gifts from them was all the fixings for my New Year’s Eve dinner… usually on New Year’s Eve we have steak and lobster, although for the last number of years that meal has happened on New Year’s day… there was beef carpaccio, lobster, truffle chips, olives, red peppers, cookies, a lovely glass of wine (with gold in it) and a festive cracker…
there were also gifts from a number of friends, filled with goodies… I am blessed…
a bit later the Winnipeg kids FaceTimed as they opened the gifts I had sent over… I didn’t do so good with their gifts as two of them had received the same gift from their parents, lol…
yesterday I peeled potatoes and turnip, made stuffing, and produced Thai Shrimp soup so that there wouldn’t be too much to do today… I had decided that, even though I would be here alone, I wanted a proper Christmas dinner… it was delicious;-)…
tonight, as I sit in the living room listening to Christmas music and enjoying the lights, flowers, and tree, I am remembering many Christmas Eve’s that have taken place in this house over the last forty-seven years…
once the girls arrived, our parents came here to celebrate the season…
when the kids were on their own and some had their own children, they came here for years… there were family members sleeping everywhere… had to be careful where you walked to be sure not to tread on anyone…
only in the last few years have we gone to the kids’ place which made it easier for everyone…