Merry Christmas!!!

It's Christmas - it's definitely a WHITE Christmas. I've been outside twice already to shovel the driveway in bits. I've spent about one hour and I'm almost done. I figure another half hour because I haven't cleaned the cars off yet. Ah - the joys of living in Canda! And who were all those people who wanted a white Christmas? The darn snow is so slippery and just as I was about to call it quits for this session, I slipped. I fell right down - no chance of stopping myself. I was between the car and the garage door with a shovel in my hand. Hit none of those!  Lucky!  I guess I was getting tired and time to take a break - oh I should maybe put on something else than rain boots!

On days like Christmas, we always (well I do) reflect back on Christmas past. How excited I was as a kid to see what Santa brought me. My first Christmas away from my family many, many years ago and then all those Christmas Days with M. She was the most disciplined kid I had ever seen. Even though she was allowed to open her stocking - nope, she sat on the sofa anticipating the moment until everyone was assembled. It was so cute!

Of course, I remember the stress of trying to find the right thing and then spending well into the night on Christmas Eve wrapping presents. The biggest problem I have with Christmas is that so much of it is about buying presents and once the presents are open, what then? Although I see DH did buy me something. DAMN him! Well his present is that he doesn't have to shovel the driveway today! Oh - I did take a picture of the present I bought for myself, but that will be for later this week. Sorry. I've learned that even with my new computer that I had better shut it down each night as I'm such a heavy user that it bogs down in memory when editing pictures if I don't clear the memory every once in a while. Good habit to get into anyway - just before bed, shut the thing down. 

And have you ever noticed that EVERYONE regardless of their religion, culture or background (well maybe not everyone) are wrapped up in buying gifts, stocking up, baking, decorating. Why can't we have those good thoughts and feelings all year round instead of cramming it all into a couple of days?

I'm not Scrooge, but I didn't buy one present this year (except one thing for each of the girls). I didn't bake and didn't buy any goodies. DH bought the fixings for Christmas dinner which he will make tomorrow. I didn't wrap one present and you know what - I didn't miss any of it. I've had a very stress free couple of weeks. 

My biggest stress was the radio! My favorite station insists on being the Christmas music station in the city and thus starts to play Christmas songs on the day of the Santa Claus parade which was on November 20th! Yes - NON-STOP Chrismas music. I was in a panic for a bit but as it got closer to the date - I managed to stomach it softly playing in the background!

However - I did hang up some Christmas quilts! Why not - I have them and this is the only time that people wouldn't come into your house and wonder why you have Christmas quilts up - like if it's the middle of summer for instance. I do have several others but realized I didn't get pictures of them. 

Old-fashioned Santa quilt

Modern Christmas tree quilt

Christmas with the animals

Santa on a bike pillow

I do have a wreath on my front door!  I'm sorry that I didn't get a chance to send out any cards. I will be better next year.  But a HUGE thank you to everyone who sent me a card. I appreciate your thoughtfulness and your kind words!

I had a couple of errands to do yesterday and I headed out very early - just after 8:30 AM. All the shops I needed to hit were open so I was in and out of all of them without hardly a wait anywhere. I was home by 10:30 AM. Where I had the most amazing day ever!  I'll give you a break today on reading about my frenetic self even though it is Motivational Monday. I'll save that for tomorrow where there will be a few more things to report - yep - can't help myself - I've been up since 5 AM and besides shovelling the darn driveway, I've been sewing up a storm!

Have a Merry Christmas and enjoy your family and friends!

Have a great day!

Ciao!!!