I think it was one of the best activities on our advent calendar so far.
After dinner last night we lit a couple of our DIY glass lanterns, bundled up, and walked around the neighborhood delivering Christmas cards to a few of our neighbors.
It was a great feeling. It was ever so cold. Our little lanterns, with their tiny Ikea tealights, gave off just the right amount of heat to warm our chilled fingers. As we quietly slipped the envelopes into creaky mailboxes, Mark was at home setting up the telescope in the backyard.
We arrived back home to a crystal clear view of a waxing moon, as seen through the eye of our telescope. (It’s a good one, it actually tracks the moon as it moves through the sky.) Each of the girls had a good long look, especially Sarah, who took the whole thing rather seriously.
“I’m going to be there someday,” she said. As she moved away from the telescope, across our backyard moonscape, she did one of those “there’s no gravity” wide-legged walks across the snow.
“I’m on the moon,” she yelled. “I’m on the mooooooon!”
One of the tealights in one of the lanterns had blown out. I held the remaining one in my hands and looked down into the flame. I could smell it burning. The melted wax formed a shiny puddle underneath the wick. The heat from the glass warmed my frozen hands. It felt like a dream.
We’ve been enjoying our family advent calendar very much, although I haven’t been photographing and writing about it as much as I thought I would. Sometimes I just don’t feel like lugging the camera around, you know what I mean?
Interestingly enough, the advent calendar idea has also inadvertantly served as a giant month-long organizer. By spacing out a bunch of Christmas-related tasks I am actually saving myself from doing it all the week before, like I normally do. Go me!
The tree is up and the living room is decorated. Yay. Today we’re going to start on our Christmas cards. Speaking of which … I grabbed an older photo of the girls and uploaded it to the Real Canadian Superstore website and ordered a stack of 4 x 6 prints for our Christmas cards. They were only 19 cents each (!).
Last night I trucked my butt over to Carlingwood to strike a few more things off my list. Specifically, I wanted to pick up some Christmas p.js before they disappeared (stuff like that happens in Ottawa – ever try to buy rubber boots in the Spring?). The Children’s Place has cute sets, with matching slippers and housecoats. (Frig, I just realized everything on the website is half price! Jeez.) ETA: I just realized it’s a US site and they don’t ship to Canada. Duh.
Sarah got a red pair of jammies. Emma got pink. This is the gift they’ll be opening on Christmas Eve.
I went to Bulk Barn to buy reindeer poop (a.k.a. chocolate covered raisins) and almonds for my superfantastico spicy almonds recipe. I almost choked when I saw how much four or fiveish big scoops of blanched whole almonds cost.
But what I spent on nuts was saved on tins! I bought three very cute Christmas-themed tins at the dollar store. (Why did I only buy three?) These will come in handy as we get closer to Christmas. I’ll fill ’em with the almonds. It makes a nice little gift to bring to Christmas parties.
Anyway, yes, by the end of it I was totally pooped out.
Today: writing work (a mini-deadline is staring me in the face), the usual domestic duty (HOW DOES THE HOUSE GET SO g.d. MESSY?), the aforementioned Christmas cards AND the girls and I are making Rice Krispie squares. Phew.
So what’s new with you?
