A response in avoidance of the Daily Post’s Writing Prompt https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/press-it/

Welcome to Day 14 of the Great Advent Blog Adventure!  For today, the two topics I will explore are:

From the Christmas Postathon (https://4wallsnaroof.wordpress.com/2015/11/30/the-christmas-postathon/):  Christmas scents

And from the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories (http://adventcalendar.geneabloggers.com/):  Tell us about your favorite Christmas cookie (and share a recipe please!) as well as your memories of Christmases past.

Christmas scents, eh?  Well, there is nothing that smells more like Christmas to me than a fresh tree, which we just got on the weekend (see below).  Somehow it helps with the old Christmas spirit too, gotta admit!  It will help even more once it’s decorated.

As for a favourite Christmas cookie, I love gingerbread people (men, women, whatever).  And thanks to our local gluten free bakery, I can get excellent gingerbread people that I don’t have to struggle to make myself!  I also love their sugar cookies with frosting and sprinkles (they come in all shapes for Christmas).   Oh hell, it’s really just an excuse for me to buy cookies!

And now, here are some pictures of our new tree and some kitty action shots.

“The Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories (ACCM) allows you to share your family’s holiday history twenty-four different ways during December! Learn more at http://adventcalendar.geneabloggers.com.”

A response in avoidance of the Daily Post’s Writing Prompt https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/hate-to-love/

Welcome to Day 13 of the Great Advent Blog Adventure!  For today, the two topics I will explore are:

From the Christmas Postathon (https://4wallsnaroof.wordpress.com/2015/11/30/the-christmas-postathon/):  Wrapping paper or gift bags?

And from the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories (http://adventcalendar.geneabloggers.com/):  Tell us about school activities during Christmas and your memories of Christmases past.

Wrapping paper or gift bags?  Both, but mostly gift bags because I am impatient and always late with wrapping things (usually Christmas Eve late).  I’m also not very good at wrapping things in paper (which is not helped by my impatience to get it done).  I do love bows, however we can’t leave any gifts lying around with bows on them (well, even without bows on them) because the cats think they are cat toys.  I remember one cat we had years ago, Bailey, would steal all the bows and hide them – most of them we could never find.  We finally found a little pile of them when we were cleaning out the Regina house for our move to Victoria.

As for school activities, I do vaguely remember annual Christmas pageants at my grade school. By now you understand that all of my younger memories are pretty vague.  I think we just all stood up and sung Christmas carols for parents and family.  I also seem to remember making Christmas crafty things in class.  Glitter comes to mind.

Speaking of glitter, here are some pictures I took yesterday as we were driving around in the rain running errands.  For some reason I am liking taking pictures of lights (Christmas and otherwise) through the car windows in the rain.   Guess it’s good that I am liking something about all the rain we’ve been having!

“The Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories (ACCM) allows you to share your family’s holiday history twenty-four different ways during December! Learn more at http://adventcalendar.geneabloggers.com.”

A response in avoidance of the Daily Post’s Writing Prompt https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/flawed/

Welcome to Day 12 of the Great Advent Blog Adventure!  For today, the two topics I will explore are:

From the Christmas Postathon (https://4wallsnaroof.wordpress.com/2015/11/30/the-christmas-postathon/):  A special holiday outing you looked forward to as a child.

And from the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories (http://adventcalendar.geneabloggers.com/):  Many people are passionate about fruitcake and its role during Christmas time. Tell us all about your like or dislike of fruitcake and your memories of Christmases past.

This will be a short post today.  Aside from those trips I spoke of in an earlier post (and the Vegas New Year’s Eve fireworks),  I can’t think of a “special holiday outing” from childhood.  And as for fruitcake, no.  Just no.  This makes me feel badly today because the guys who rescued Jasper just gave us a Christmas cake (a friend of theirs makes them).  It’s in our fridge.  It was very nice of them to give it to us.  Yes it was.  It’s in our fridge…

Ok, enough of that.  Here are some pictures from our Groupon date last night (Kevin had a groupon to a restaurant, so we went!)

A little Christmas scenery…

The obligatory fish tanks in the seafood restaurant

The wine (it was nice – we will have to try and find this ourselves)

The best part of the mean:  the lobster bisque (it really was good!)

The steak and lobster tail main course.  It was ok – the garlic butter was yum (it was garlic butter!).

Dessert – good but rich.  Half of it is in the fridge right now (it will be gone by tonight).

Kevin drew a happy face in the chocolate sauce (he likes drawing happy faces in sauces he likes)

Now I’m hungry again – must be almost lunch time…

“The Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories (ACCM) allows you to share your family’s holiday history twenty-four different ways during December! Learn more at http://adventcalendar.geneabloggers.com.”

A response in avoidance of the Daily Post’s Writing Prompt https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/if-i-ruled-the-world/

Welcome to Day 11 of the Great Advent Blog Adventure!  For today, the two topics I will explore are:

From the Christmas Postathon (https://4wallsnaroof.wordpress.com/2015/11/30/the-christmas-postathon/):  Favorite Christmas outing this year

And from the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories (http://adventcalendar.geneabloggers.com/):  Tell us about if and how you incorporate church activities into your Christmas celebrations and your memories of Christmases past.

Favourite Christmas outing this year?  Not sure yet.  We haven’t had any”outings” related to Christmas yet, but I am sure some will come (some fun, some stressful).  I think I am going to see gingerbread houses with mom and dad and my soon-to-be-visiting brother and sister-in-law…  I’ll report on that after it happens!

As for church, we used to go to church on Christmas Eve.  I used to sing every Christmas eve at the RCMP chapel (non-denominational, inclusive, and just a nice non-preachy service) in Regina – Oh Holy Night was the annually requested song.  I miss those days.  Nowadays I look for the It’s a Wonderful Life broadcast on Christmas Eve.  No church for us.  And let’s just leave it at that.

And now, some fun photos from yesterday.

The rainbow that appeared between rainstorms – it was only there for about 5 minutes (I got so lucky!)

And sleeping Elliot…

“The Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories (ACCM) allows you to share your family’s holiday history twenty-four different ways during December! Learn more at http://adventcalendar.geneabloggers.com.”

A response in avoidance of the Daily Post’s Writing Prompt https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/life-line/

Welcome to Day 10 of the Great Advent Blog Adventure!  For today, the two topics I will explore are:

From the Christmas Postathon (https://4wallsnaroof.wordpress.com/2015/11/30/the-christmas-postathon/):  Have you sat on Santa’s lap?

And from the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories (http://adventcalendar.geneabloggers.com/):  Tell us about your family’s Christmas traditions and your memories of Christmases past.

I spoke to the traditions (or lack thereof, or to be more honest, a lack of my memory of any real Christmas “traditions” from childhood) yesterday.  As for Santa, I have been told I did sit on his lap, not necessarily happily when I was very young.  I mean, who makes little kids sit on a stranger’s lap and ask him for presents?  It’s a pretty weird tradition in our “be scared of everyone we don’t know” culture.  But like the traditions, I have forgotten any specific time when I may have sat on the lap of someone with a beard in a red furry suit.

Speaking of laps, here is Elliot on mine.

“The Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories (ACCM) allows you to share your family’s holiday history twenty-four different ways during December! Learn more at http://adventcalendar.geneabloggers.com.”

A response in avoidance of the Daily Post’s Writing Prompt https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/pick-your-gadget/

Welcome to Day 9 of the Great Advent Blog Adventure!  For today, the two topics I will explore are:

From the Christmas Postathon (https://4wallsnaroof.wordpress.com/2015/11/30/the-christmas-postathon/):  A tradition you enjoyed as a child.

And from the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories (http://adventcalendar.geneabloggers.com/):  Christmas crafts.  Making things by hand…me?

I don’t really remember any specific traditions that I looked forward to every year from when I was a child.  I remember every other year we would travel, either to Las Vegas (my aunt and uncle and cousins lived there) or later to Florida (to my grandma and grandpa’s – on my mother’s side), and since in those days I lived in a place of cold and snow in December, the years we had green Christmases were kind of fun and memorable (especially the fireworks New Year’s Eve in downtown Vegas!).  Were those traditions?  Probably not really, but those are the Christmases I remember the most from childhood.

As for crafts, I remember vaguely trying to make gifts at one time – needlepoint and the like.  Lasted about one year.  Mom is always crocheting blankets for us, but my skills on the crafty side are pretty much non-existent.

And now, kitties relaxing.

“The Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories (ACCM) allows you to share your family’s holiday history twenty-four different ways during December! Learn more at http://adventcalendar.geneabloggers.com.”

A response in avoidance of the Daily Post’s Writing Prompt https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/pour-some-sugar-on-me/

Welcome to Day 8 of the Great Advent Blog Adventure!  For today, the two topics I will explore are:

From the Christmas Postathon (https://4wallsnaroof.wordpress.com/2015/11/30/the-christmas-postathon/):  Holiday traditions you have with your family.

And from the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories (http://adventcalendar.geneabloggers.com/):  Christmas Shopping.

Ah here we go.  I’ve answered neither of these yet.  Excellent!

So, let’s start with Christmas shopping.  That’s probably the first time I’ve ever said anything like that before.  I don’t like shopping, including Christmas shopping.  The only thing I like about it is when I find the “perfect” gift for someone, but that usually happens when I’m not shopping at all, if it does.  No, Christmas shopping is not fun.  It’s stressful and tiring.  But I don’t do it much anymore because the only people I buy gifts for now are my parents, and that’s usually taken care of now by deciding on some cool gift certificates for places they like to go, but might not if they didn’t have a gift certificate.  For them, practical, but fun, and for me, pretty minimally stressful.

Now, for traditions.  Christmas morning: stockings and presents after breakfast, and Christmas evening: dinner.   These are especially important to mom, so we keep them alive.  Kevin’s family used to do dinner, church and Christmas presents on Christmas eve so it worked out great – his family Christmas eve and my family on Christmas day.  Then Boxing Day in my PJs all day (MY tradition!!)

And just to make sure I have a picture here somewhere, here is a picture of a tradition on the street behind our house.  The neighbourhood trees all with huge Christmas decorations on them.  Don’t know who started it, but it’s pretty cool!

“The Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories (ACCM) allows you to share your family’s holiday history twenty-four different ways during December! Learn more at http://adventcalendar.geneabloggers.com.”

A response in avoidance of the Daily Post’s Writing Prompt https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/sorry-im-busy/

Welcome to Day 7 of the Great Advent Blog Adventure!  For today, the two topics I will explore are:

From the Christmas Postathon (https://4wallsnaroof.wordpress.com/2015/11/30/the-christmas-postathon/):  Baking cookies or another holiday treat.

And from the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories (http://adventcalendar.geneabloggers.com/):  Christmas Television and Movies.

Well, now I see the one disadvantage to deciding to post on two topics for two different Advent Adventures.  I have already covered both topics (no baking, I love all the classics).    I peeked, and for tomorrow i think we will be ok…

So, instead, here are some of the sights of Christmas in Victoria yesterday as we were out and about.

Rain drops obscuring views (in this case, of the old strip club that’s now boarded up).

A ferris wheel, because it’s Christmas (ok??)

Capital iron (lit up, but you can’t tell because it’s not dark yet) and an upside down Christmas tree inside Capital Iron.

The fish store all lit up

And, a sleeping kitty.

“The Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories (ACCM) allows you to share your family’s holiday history twenty-four different ways during December! Learn more at http://adventcalendar.geneabloggers.com.”

A response in avoidance of the Daily Post’s Writing Prompt https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/strike-a-chord/

Welcome to Day 6 of the Great Advent Blog Adventure!  For today, the two topics I will explore are:

From the Christmas Postathon (https://4wallsnaroof.wordpress.com/2015/11/30/the-christmas-postathon/):  Church Bells

And from the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories (http://adventcalendar.geneabloggers.com/):  Santa Claus

This will be short today.  Church bells – I like them.  It helps that I don’t live so near a church that I hear them all the time.

Santa Claus:  The big kahuna.  Yup – I’m good with him!  Although I prefer the so-called legend of Pi Natale who “…unless children leave him a stick of butter he steals one of their toes.” (sorry, watched the Saturday Night Live Christmas special the other night and am remembering John Malkovich reading the Night Before Christmas.  This legend is, according to those there Interwebs, NOT true.  Sigh…).

Elliot and Jasper are wondering when the Advent Adventure will be about them.  I keep telling them, it’s always all about them!

A response in avoidance of the Daily Post’s Writing Prompt https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/this-is-your-life/

Welcome to Day 5 of our (well, my…) great Advent Blog Adventure!  For today, the two topics I will explore are:

From the Christmas Postathon (https://4wallsnaroof.wordpress.com/2015/11/30/the-christmas-postathon/):  A TV special or movie you look forward to seeing each year.

And from the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories (http://adventcalendar.geneabloggers.com/):  Favourite Christmas recipes.

I’ll start with Christmas recipes.  This one is hard for me since I really don’t have any.  Of course, the traditional turkey with stuffing and mashed potatoes, but that’s not just for Christmas (and it’s unlikely we will be doing that this year since there will only be 4 of us for Christmas dinner).  As for baking (which I know is usually what people think of for “traditional” Christmas recipes), I don’t bake.  I used to bake Christmas cookies and all sorts of things, but since going gluten free I just don’t any more.  People always ask if I miss it, and the truth is I don’t (I miss “regular” break and pizza sometimes…).  We have a great gluten free bakery in town and I get my fix there every once and a while.  But the truth is, I am fine with not being able to shove more calories inside me at this time of year 🙂

On the other hand, what TV specials or movies do I like?  All of them.  Well, all the classics.  Charlie Brown, the Grinch, many of the sketches in the Saturday Night Live Christmas Special, Elf (not exactly a classic, but feels like one now), It’s a Wonderful Life, Holiday Inn (NOT White Christmas – that is NOT the original), Little Women, Scrooged, all the Christmas Carol versions, and of course:

I’m sure I’ve missed some good ones – what are you favourite movies??

And here is a video treat for you: