Friday Favourites

 

We are rolling right along through December. 

We have our Christmas party tomorrow so this week we were getting ready for that.  We made some cookies.  Q was a great helper. 

I met this beautiful sight when I walked to work on Tuesday morning.  You know what they say “pink sky in the morning, sailors take warning” and we did get some snow that afternoon. 

Q had his school holiday concert, instead of singing his class played their stringed instruments. They did a great job and looked spiffy. 

I posted our decorations yesterday.  

I got to go to the Leafs game on Thursday, in a box, which is always a treat. 

I dropped into the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, my favourite decor in the city. 

Christmas Decorations

Welcome to our Christmas home! Our house looks the best at this time of year.  I love seeing what people have for decorations, everyone has their own style, and I need this post as a reminder to myself of where we put everything! This year we had a couple of new pieces of furniture so we needed to move a few things around.

We did a something different with the front lights this year and got an inflatable.

Our snowmen found a home over by the TV.

I have this Christmas cactus that is doing well but no signs of any flowers.

Let's Look - Best and Worst Gifts

 Linking up with Shay and Erika for Let's Look Wednesday.

This month we are talking about best and worst gifts we have received. 

I really don't think I can say what my worst gifts were because in all instances, even when I've had to return something, the giver was making an effort to get me something they thought I would like, and it's not their fault that it may not have been exactly what I wanted. I think ranking something as "the worst gift" is unkind.

As for the best gifts, I used to share some of my favourite gifts received and then I got away from doing that because I didn't want someone to think I didn't appreciate their gift even if it didn't take top ranking. When I look back I always appreciated books and cookbooks, cozy things like touques, blankets, and sweaters, and new "toys" like airpods, Apple watch, and a laptop. 

Gifts are great and it's a fun part of the Christmas holidays but as I've gotten older, it's not the opening of gifts that is my most favourite part of the day, it's the food and the people we are with.  

Here are the other things I posted for this link up over the past year:
January - Goals for 2025

February - Marriage

March - Sunday Reset

April - Maintaining Friendships

May - Wellness Routine

June - Travel Bucket Lists

July - Things I've Changed my Mind About

August - Juggling Family Schedules

September - Teenage Life

October - Saying No

Looking forward to linking up with Shay and Erika next year too!

Weekend Recap

On Friday afternoon I needed to take the car in to get the snow tires on.  The tire place is at the top of Roncesvalles so I took the opportunity to walk down there to do a little local Christmas shopping.  I was successful at getting a few things off my list. I got a sausage roll for a late lunch as I waited for the streetcar. 

That night we celebrated one of our favourite Christmas traditions - Home Alone Night.  We had pizza, Pepsi, and ice cream sundaes while we watched the first movie and half of the second one.

Everyone wanted to sit right next to me.

Lonely Dave at the end.  He's fine with it, haha!

We were very productive on Saturday and Sunday.  I finished our Christmas cards and got some gifts in the mail. I picked up the liquor store order for our party and bought some additional items at Bulk Barn for cookie making. 

In the afternoon we all tried on our ski stuff and got our bags organized.  We won't have time to go skiing yet, but we are ready. 

We went to our friends' house for dinner that night. 

Q trying out the drum kit.

On Sunday we got up to watch the last F1 race and were pleased that Lando pulled off the championship win! I went to church and got groceries.

We finally finished decorating the tree with the addition of the star.

Not quite tall enough to do it alone.  E did the job.

Cookie making and movie watching to round out the weekend. 

We actually got to bed somewhat early which was needed by everyone!

Sharing Our Lives - Staying Connected

Happy Monday! Thank you for joining us today where we Share our Lives with you.  My co-hosts are: Adrienne, Dara, Jen, and Joanne.  We are here on the second Monday of each month.  If you have a blog and posted on this topic, please link up with us below.

Today we are writing about how we stay connected with our kids and significant others. 

I am lucky because my kids and husband are all here with me all the time.  I know some people need to be apart for work reasons or their kids are older and have moved out. We do a lot of things together all the time so staying connected is easy.  We are all busy though so even though we are physically together, I do try to make intentional efforts to make our time spent together, quality time.

- Greeting E at the door when he gets home from school, to ask how his day was and see if he need something to eat. 

- Reading with Q in bed before he goes to sleep.  

- Calling and texting Dave throughout the day to check in.

- Watching the same TV shows as a family.

- Eating dinner at the table together

We covered lots of fun topics this year:

                                                            January - Saving Time on Chores

February - Tips for Falling Asleep

March - Day in the Life

April - Creative Outlets/Free Time

May - Celebrating Birthdays

June - Unique Things About Where I Live

July - Favourite Vacation Memories

August - How I Take a Break

September - Seasonal Activities

                                                                    October - Go to Snacks

November - Reading Habits

I won’t be a co-host next year but the other girls will continue on and I will join up with them when I can.

Thanks for joining us here all year!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Friday Favourites

Happy Friday!  You know the holiday season is heating up when I have a full Friday Favourites post from our week.

I did some work on our Christmas cards at the start of the week and got half of them sent out.  I will finish up the rest this weekend. 

We went Christmas tree shopping on Monday after school.  The place we go closes at 6:00 and with something happening every other evening this week, Monday was our only day to go. It was cold there and we didn't spend too much time picking something out.  

Figuring out the right height.

Q loves a photo op!

Tree home and up. We let it sit for a night and the started decorating it the next day.

Q wanted to lay by the fire one morning after he got up.

Unfortunately on Tuesday the city came to do some water repairs for the house across the street and needed to dig up part of our driveway.  We have a very nice concrete driveway and they said the would patch it with asphalt and the city would have up to three years to redo the concrete. I am now on a mission to get this repaired sooner than later, but an annoying Tuesday afternoon. 

Q doing a little twirl in the Christmas tree skirt.

I love Spotify Wrapped time!! I was not surprised by my first song, but I am surprised Defying Gravity didn't make it in the top 5 since I usually played it back-to-back with All Too Well.  My Spotify listening age is 33 which I assume was skewed by K Pop Demon Hunters. 

Dave went to his work Christmas party on Wednesday night. A festive venue at Harbour Queen. 

Meanwhile I was with a group of moms putting together some shoeboxes for the Shoebox Project. Each box is worth about $50 and has personal care items, socks and mittens, and some little extras like make up and candy. 

E’s school had a Winter Arts Night last night. We were a bit late for the arts sale but did catch the music and drama performances! 

Have a great weekend!