ONE // Christmas Baking
Last year, I pretty much decided to not do any Christmas baking. I had been sick a lot in November and had to reduce my to-do list. One of the easy, time-consuming things to nix was baking. I like festive treats, but it was not a need. Besides, we had visited my family over the break and still got to enjoy plenty of my mom's baking. However, I was really looking forward to making my favourite treats this year, and I had the bandwidth to do it! It's always more fun when there's no pressure to do it. My husband and I each picked out our favourite squares (mine is the peanut butter confetti bar and his is the magic bar with a twist) and then I made some gingerbread and sugar cookies. I like both and wanted the variety. I even took the time to sit down and ice them! It's hard to beat a frosted festive cookie, right? The best part is getting to enjoy all the sweet treats during our break. Nothing compares to homemade!
TWO // Fondue Night
My poor aunt had a rough year last year and had to spend Christmas in the hospital. She's doing much better this year, but still can't really leave her home or have any energy to put into entertaining. I was chatting with her a week or so before Christmas and asked her what she wanted to do. She expressed wanting to do a raclette/fondue meal. Seeing as we were sticking around for the holidays and didn't have too many plans, I suggested we could make it happen! She was thrilled! We settled on Chritsmas day and I offered to go get all the ingredients. And just like that, we had Christmas plans. We hadn't had a raclette in years and really enjoyed it! But most importantly, we got to spend time with people we love and make their Christmas a little more magical.
THREE // Festive Pup
It was time for our little puppy's visit to the groomers. We've been on a much better grooming schedule these last couple years and it's made a big difference. Her fur grows quickly and is so fluffy that it gets matted easily. This meant she'd have to deal with knots that tugged and made it hard to keep brushed and tidy. The solution was simply a more rigorous grooming schedule. We got her in right before the Christmas break so she was all fresh and clean for the holidays. Doggies like to feel good and look good too, you know! She even got to sport her newest little sweater - a Grinch hoodie! She was ready to receive all the love and snuggles. I can't handle the cuteness!
FOUR // Holiday Puzzling
My mom got me this puzzle during the fall and I was saving it for my Christmas break. While I usually find the time to puzzle when the feeling hits, I do like having lots of free time to fill with puzzling. It's one of those small things that brings me great joy. Even just the prospect of doing a puzzle gives me that fuzzy feeling! This particular Christmas scene was a nice, calming puzzle to do. It was challenging because the colour palette is rather muted and there are a lot of greys. I find this particular challenge to be a usual one with winter scenes. Snow is a challenging element to deal with in puzzle form. I took my time and had comfort movies playing in the background. I thoroughly enjoyed this one.
FIVE // Mittens
Back in the fall, I got these upcycled mittens made from an Irish sweater at a farmer's market. It was actually a very hot day and it felt odd to be buying mittens, but they were just too beautiful I couldn't walk by the stall without stopping. I settled on this ivory knit style and absolutely love them! They are thick, fleece lined and so cozy. I had them tucked away until winter, but it's safe to say I can take them out and put them to good use now. One can never have too many mittens in Canada, ha! I didn't technically need another pair of mittens, but they were hand-crafted and I couldn't pass up such great craftsmanship. This sweater is getting a new life as my mittens and I think there's something really great about that.
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