DECORATING FOR THE SEASON

by today my way - Monday, December 15, 2014

It's never too early for a festive fun. It's never too late either although that calls for a serious conversation as what should be a priority at this time of a year. But we made it and nothing else matters! All twenty five presents wrapped up way before the unwrapping was due (I'll tell you about my crazy idea of opening one present a day later. With photos. And a hot chocolate!), festive cards piled up on the side of my desk, Christmas decorations showing up day after day in various of places yet there was no tree to get creative with, no helping out with activities that could speed up some serious sick days around here. I don't really remember who started it but a couple of well known viruses were on rotation since the end of November - with colds, eye infections and a chicken pox generously gifting all of us with our own allocation of spots. No way we were looking forward to get festive while our bodies didn't feel the urge. Until now, until this very week, this very snowless time. Some people may have seen all shades of fairy lights by now, I'm quick to announce we're not far behind!

As the season is in full swing, I tried to jot down a couple of Christmas traditions we refuse to skip each year as a family. Please do share yours, it's never to good to add some extra special activities to our list. Here's what we've enjoyed so far:

visiting holiday markets in our area
driving through town checking all the work that went into the Christmas decorations which makes sense only after dark
watching Christmas Carol or any themed movie on afternoons no one wants to feel too involved in anything
getting a real Christmas tree and decorating it together
visiting Santa in his grotto and witnessing series of kids' tantrums along the way
taking endless turns riding on a carrousel situated right in the heart of the town center secretly never wanting to get off
designing personalized calendar and having it professionally printed and delivered before the old one runs out
there's no magic without hand-made ornaments and decorations
preparing 25 little gifts to be opened on each day of December leading to a Christmas Day. New this year. My personal favourite.

And this year I'd love to add visiting ice skating rink since all of us fall under the right age to fully enjoy it and pull it off fairly effortlessly. So yes, it feels like Christmas now. xx