Christmas Approaches

I read Mary's blog today, and figured I should do my own Christmas post.  She did a great job describing the nostalgia of my Christmas childhood (she and I are less than two years apart in age, so our childhood Christmas experiences are basically identical), so if you want more details on that, visit her blog by following the link I provided on her name.

On one of my days off near the end of November, while Avril was at work, I pulled the Christmas decorations out of the storage room.  The boys were pleased and helped me set out the decorations.  Our nicest decoration I would have to say is our bronze tea light nativity set.

Since we've been married, I've been gradually trying to get Avril to be okay with an artificial tree.  Don't get me wrong; I love real Christmas trees.  It's just that the fuss of getting them perfectly into the tree stand, keeping them watered, and constantly cleaning up the needles gets tiresome.  Last year, while I was working in Edmonton, Avril's parents bought us a Christmas tree.  It was a nice tree, but it wasn't a Nova Scotia spruce, which is what I usually buy, and Avril had an allergic reaction to it.  So she was much more willing to get an artificial tree.  So, again while she was at work and I was home with the kids, I went out and bought an artificial tree.  I set it up and put the lights on it, and waited until later in the evening to put the rest of the decorations on it.  The boys gladly helped, and Avril came home (later than I expected, which is why we started without her) and helped us finish.

Like Mary, I inherited some old decorations from Mum to add to my own tree.  Among my favourites are the first egg with my name on it:

...and the egg with my six-year-old face in it:

Unfortunately, there was a casualty this year.  I unwrapped the ceramic toy soldier I painted when I was 12 and found it cracked.

I plan on gluing it together again, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Hannah's favourite decoration is anything she can reach.

We have to block off the tree so that she can't wreak havoc on the tree, the decorations, and the presents beneath it.  She's wily, though, so we have to watch her like a hawk when she's in the living room.

Besides decorating, we're always sure to do some baking during the holidays.  Aside from homemade marshmallows, my favourite Christmas baked good growing up was sour cream cookies, and I try to make them at least once every December.  The boys always insist on helping, which is fine by me.

I have pretty good baking skills, especially for a dude, but I can't decorate worth crap.  Remember the cake I made myself for my 32nd birthday?  That's what happens when I mess with icing.  So when it came to decorating the cookies, I let Avril take the lead.

Avril brought with her some of her own Christmas traditions, including making chocolates.  One evening while I was at work, she and the boys melted some chocolate and poured it into little paper cups with peanuts, walnuts, raisins, and Skor bits.

So we've done some baking, we've decorated, and we've finished buying our Christmas presents.  Now we just get to sit back, listen to Christmas music, and wait for Christmas.

Also, just because, look at how pretty my little girl's eyes are: