Christmas Chronicles

A very strangely exposed family Christmas tree shot.  We'll get a better one later, when the light isn't so harsh.

Christmas and Solstice have been (mostly) successfully pulled off once again!  It was with much regret that we  said goodbye to the heaps of magic bestowed upon us during December... the solstice fairies are gone for another year, Starlight disappeared on Christmas Eve, and Santa made his much-anticipated scheduled appearance.  I, however, *might* have given one ever-so-slight sigh of relief come Christmas night, when I was responsible only for tidying up and hauling my very tired body off to bed.

I have compiled a few photos to share, detailing likely exactly what you would expect from the lead up and execution of Christmas.  Twinkling tree, colourful presents, PJ-clad kids, and even a little snow in the days that followed. With every expected picture, however, comes a slightly more nuanced reality....

Trimming the tree!

Ah, the magic of tree decorating!  I adore getting out the decorations every year, and seeing them displayed so beautifully amongst the fragrant branches and glimmering lights.  This year was no exception. In fact, it was oh-so-much more satisfying owing to the fact that we waited until the last minute to get our tree, which means we paid $5.00 (FIVE DOLLARS!) for a $35 tree. (I'm sorry - my genetic pre-disposition did not allow me to leave that particular fact out of the story). That IS the real savings, folks.

Anyway, this year, we very successfully trimmed the tree, and then Juniper and I whisked ourselves off to a local production of Mary Poppins, the musical.  When we got home much later that evening, we walked into the immediate aftermath of our very first Christmas tree calamity -- only minutes before, the entire tree had toppled over and crashed to the ground, depositing water, needles and (a few broken) ornaments all over the place. I have no pictures of that particular event, but the tree has remained upright since then, so hopefully it was the first and last time that happens.

Truth.

Christmas Eve was slightly more subdued than usual, owing to the fact that Juniper was not feeling well.  She had a headache and body aches all day (or as Linden would say, head eggs and body eggs), which I'm sure was some version of what Linden had suffered from a couple of days earlier.  There had been plans to make some cookies for Santa, and execute some last-minute gift-making, but in the end we just put out some chocolates, and Juniper wrapped up some "treasures" she found lying around the house.  That works too, I suppose.  She did, however, leave the above note, warning santa about the lack of available space for leaving presents.  I'm not entirely sure why she felt the warning necessary, but he wrote a note back, which thrilled her to no end.

The boys making Christmas breakfast

Christmas Morning involved everything we've come to expect:  a decadent breakfast, followed by a flurry of stocking and present opening, and then some devoted playing with all the new stuff.  It was a very strange beginning, though -- Linden woke up and came into our room at 7-ish (as you might expect), and then I had to spend the next HOUR AND A HALF putting him off while Juniper slept, and slept, and slept.  For the first time in my life, I actually had to go wake her up at 8:30am, so we could get started with the festivities.  On any other day of the year, I would have just let her sleep and enjoyed the quiet, but - of course - that was not to be.  The plus-side was that she had slept off whatever had been ailing her, so she was able to enjoy Christmas day to the fill extent.

Presents!

As the note to Santa suggested, the kids had a relatively obscene amount of presents to open this year, which met with no complaints.  There was a snow-fun theme that seemed to emerge (sleds, snowshoes, x-country ski gear), which will be incredibly awesome at some point in the near future, but was relatively anticlimactic in the 17°C weather.  Here's what you don't see on this smiling face: one grey front tooth.  That's right - Linden's little face-plant into the front steps has resulted in a legitimately (and perhaps permanently) grey tooth.  Hopefully it won't abscess or cause him any more trouble until he loses it at some later date, but we'll just have to see.

Down to work on Christmas morning

Juniper got a lot of reading and writing-related gifts this year, including a lockable journal (an absolute necessity for a young girl, let me assure you).  She spent much of Christmas morning much like this picture - either studiously writing, or reading one of her many new books.  What you don't see in this shot, however, is the aftermath of a "game" she instigated playing with Linden, entitled "I'm going to cut your hair!"  Apparently, it involved wielding a pair of scissors, and "pretending" to threaten to cut the other person's hair.  When it was Linden's turn in the lead role, however, he took the game to the next (inevitable) level, and took a nice healthy chunk out of the back of Juniper's hair.  So much for her plan of growing it all out.  Sigh.  I guess she'll just have to sport some very lopsided layering as the growing out progresses.

Oh my goodness - we got snow! (sort of)

And finally, there was a light, sticky dusting of snow yesterday, which meant some very joyous (and wet) sliding in the backyard.  It is not what you would call prime outdoor fun conditions, but it was certainly a taste of the wonders yet to come this season.

I hope you all had a very merry last week as well!