after

weeks and weeks of clinging symptoms I finally felt well enough to get out and see friends. How fortunate that this was the weekend of the holiday party for Peanut's set of friends and incidentally mine as well.

We trekked to the north shore and into our friends home while light and fluffy snowflakes drifted down and settled on our cheeks like fairy kisses. I know, I know it's a little cliched but I'm leaving it as it is. I like the idea of fairy kisses anyway.

Last week I listed all the things we had done to celebrate the holidays and here's an update:

We baked sugar cookies and butter tarts. (my grandma gave me the super tasty recipe she uses for hers which my great grandma called toffee tarts)

We decorated our gingerbread house, and made more paper snowflakes.

We went out to do some holiday shopping (we limit our time doing this though, shopping in the crowds is too much stress and takes away from enjoying each others company. We went to the local Ikea for a new sheving unit for the living room, a bedside table to pile my mountain of books on and a storage unit for the Peanut's art and craft supplies. These are our gifts to ourselves this year and we can't be more pleased with them.

And of course we attended the Christmas party I mentioned above.

On deck this week:
Stanley Park Bright Nights Train ( a favourite of the Peanut's) more baking (as I type this shortbread cookies are scenting my house), a gingerbread man decorating/ play date with our good friends and a little more shopping (this time at some local businesses) I'll also be attending the public Yule ritual on Saturday this will mark the first time I've attended a public ritual other than for Samhain, usually we're heading out to Alberta to visit family around this time so I'm very excited to add this onto my list of activities.

My posts lately have been a little on the word heavy side and super light on the pictures. I've been neglecting the camera in favour of being a part of the fun. I've taken one or two photos along the way and hope to post some here soon. Also I've been feeling the urge to go all lyrical on you but I'm trying to think of a pithy title to use, I'm open to suggestions.

We've been

keeping busy busy with holiday plans and activities. We've simplified our holidays a little so that we can focus on more family friendly activities, taking advantage of some quality time as a family as opposed to running into a crowded mall and stressing about spending and buying and buying and spending.

So far:

We stayed up past the Peanut's bedtime to watch the original Grinch. This was a big hit. All three of us snuggled under the purple afghan my grandma made for us, munched on popcorn and enjoyed the genius of Ted Geisel (Dr Seuss) and Chuck Jones. The best part was trying to explain to the Peanut why Max the dog was helping to steal Christmas. How would you answer that question?

We sat at the table with some hot chocolate, strips of construction paper and glue in both stick form and the glitter variety, to make a paper chain to hang our holiday cards onto. The peanut enjoyed this but found manipulating the strips into loops too challenging after the first five so we decided that I would make the chain and she would add a touch of glitter to each link. The glitter adds a little something something.

We went for a walk to the garden center and spent one of our mornings looking at fresh poinsettias, Christmas Cactus, Paper Whites and tiny decorated cedar trees as well as enjoying the decorated trees in the accessories department. there was a tree full of birds, nests and flower picks, one full of garden gnomes, frogs, snails and turtles and an ocean themed tree with shells and starfish.

We spent another afternoon with paper and scissors making snowflakes to hang in the window. This is something we're going to do again.

We set up the electric train and tiny village with the dancing bear music box.

And we braved the cold to watch most of the Santa Parade in downtown Vancouver. It was crowded and people forgot themselves and pushed in front of the Peanut's stroller making it impossible to stand comfortably and for any of us to see. We left fifteen minutes before the end and made our way into a nearby high end hotel to check out the giant gingerbread house and the castles, ski chalets and villages that were also on display.

on deck for this week:
Going out for lunch with Daddy at work, Decorating our own gingerbread house, baking gingerbread men and doing a snowman craft.

I've been making an effort to limit the time I spend on the computer and we've also made a commitment to make some of our gifts this year in addition to buying handmade and vintage for gifts. We're a little behind on the holiday gift getting for some on our list so we'll be focusing on that over the next week too. My posts will probably be a little fewer as the weeks go on.

How are your holiday celebrations shaping up? Are you planning a parties? Making your gifts or buying them? Is there a flurry of baking in your future? Are you making an effort to spend more quality time with those closest to you?