Christmas

 

    As I was reflecting back on past Christmases this year, I had mixed feelings.  I felt bitter and disappointed when I thought about missing out on sharing Christmas with my mom and brother for a number of years or the fact that my dad worked several Christmases so that he could support his family (I am grateful for his hard work, but still, disappointed he couldn't have this holiday off).  But I do have plenty of happy memories of Christmas like going Christmas shopping with my family and finding a nice present for each person in my family that was $5 or under and going to a  candlelit Christmas Eve service with my grandparents.

  While not everything is perfect or fair in life, I know I can be happy and create my own happiness.  And yes, I think this Christmas was hard for me to prepare for because I knew that I wouldn't have my family around.  And some days, I really was sad about not having my family around me, but other days, I tried to focus on the meaning of Christmas or on what we would have instead of what we wouldn't have.  I set up our tiny Christmas tree around Thanksgiving, hung the lights on my window, and put our Advent calendar up.  The Relief Society in my ward had a really cool activity early in the month where we learned how to create Christmas center pieces.

The flowers are fake, but the greenery is real.  The white pine unfortunately dried out really quickly.  

I thought it would be great fun to make little Christmas presents for my primary class, so I made rice krispy treats with drizzled chocolate and sprinkles on top, and I also made salt-dough ornaments.

I used semi-sweet chocolate chips for the topping.  I added a little bit of coconut oil to the chocolate which made the chocolate very spreadable.  

I have made salt dough ornaments in the past, but the recipe wasn't that great.  But I found a new recipe at mommypotamus.com that I really like.  I bought a couple of acrylic paints--a mint green color and a light purple with glitter in it-- from the store, and I used some of my water colors, too.

Stars are my favorite shape, and I have recently learned that I find birds to be fascinating creatures.

I had a lot of fun painting and watching Jane Eyre.  

Unfortunately, church was cancelled the Sunday before Christmas because of an ice storm, so I couldn't give the items to our kids (I gave them cookies the following week, though!).  I ended up giving treats and ornaments to the families that invited us over for Christmas.  Greg and I had a fun time playing a game with the Arseneault family on Christmas Eve, and we ended up staying a bit longer helping our friends wrap presents from Santa. When we arrived home, we opened up our presents as is tradition in Greg's family to open presents on Christmas Eve, and we talked with  Greg's family briefly at 1 a.m. our time.  Fortunately, we were able to sleep in. The Skogstad family had us over for Christmas dinner, and we had a lovely time playing with their daughters and their new Christmas toys.  I also was told I looked like a princess with my paper purple crown.

I am really sad that I didn't go Christmas caroling this year, but alas, I couldn't really sing due to my cough.  I hope to make caroling a tradition because I love to sing and I love Christmas music.  However, I was able to complete a couple of projects that didn't require talking or singing over the Christmas break.  ; )

Here is my new infinity scarf.  I really wanted a purple scarf that would go with my new coat.  

The pattern is simple: double, single, double.

Our family is "set in stone".  I had actually created a water color similar to this before, but it was a rough draft.  It's hard to create something from scratch, and I really want to improve my technique.

  Here is snowy, grey Canada on Christmas (view from my back door).  I loved that we had a white Christmas, and it snowed on Christmas day, too!  

 One of our Christmas presents this year was sausage.  I wish I had a better picture of it, but anyway, the Arseneault family shared a pig with another family and this is one of the beautiful things that came from their pig.  I ended up chopping up the sausage and put it in spaghetti as recommended.  I've never tasted a better dish of spaghetti before. Someday, I hope to own a pig and name it 'Bacon'.  

Another one of our Christmas presents!  Free new dining room chairs!  I'm so happy I don't have folding chairs at my table any longer.  I came home one night after work, and I noticed these chairs next to the garbage bins (one of the many trash donations from our neighbors that are moving), and I thought, "These are perfect!"  What a wonderful Christmas miracle.

I love that each year ends with a celebration of Christ.  I think Christmas is placed perfectly in our calendar.  I'd love to hear from you.  How was your Christmas?  What did you do for the holiday?