It’s almost time! In one more day, we pack up our car (and our Tugger!) for the long drive back home for Christmas! I can hardly wait! Every time we drive home, I find myself lost in a daze of Christmas bliss and wondering what new and funny stories will come about from a week of family sharing a house together for a week!!!
We celebrated Christmas with my Dad this past weekend in our new house, around our first Christmas tree and in front of our new fireplace. We were suppose to volunteer at a senior’s home that we go to every year together but this year, due to a variety of illness (on the part of the seniors, not us!), the building was under quarantine and we were given the day “off”. So instead, we picked up Dad and took him to all the places that he can’t otherwise get to because of the bus strike. With all of our Christmas shopping already done, it was actually a lot of fun walking amongst all the other frenzied shoppers and enjoying the liveliness of the pre-holiday rush. Starbucks in hand, we walked from store to store and picked up a few things while soaking in all the pretty decorations. It was actually a really nice afternoon!
We then headed back to our place for a big dinner, dessert and exchanging gifts. It was so delightful to sit around the fire and just chat while being surrounded with torn up pieces of wrapping paper everywhere. My Dad brought his dog, Simon, to our place and you could even see the beauty of Christmas peace between Simon and Tugger as they enjoyed a harmonious evening in each other’s company.
The whole night got me thinking about memories of Christmases past. I’ve enjoyed so many wonderful holiday seasons with friends and families that to pick a favourite would not be easy but there are a couple that stand out more than others to me and every time I think of them, the biggest of smiles crosses my face!
Despite my parents being divorced, two of my favourite Christmases were ones that the three of us spent together. One year, when I was about ten years old, my Dad came to London from Ottawa to spend the holiday with us. Mom and I had created not only a beautiful gingerbread house that year…but an entire gingerbread village fully equipped with an ice skating rink and Christmas trees galore! It was awesome! Well, that is until the next morning when we woke up to realize that the cat and dog had conspired to systematically pick apart our hard evening’s work and consume every last bit of it. Monsters!
That year, one of my gifts had been the game of Jenga; a game that can get rather intense and loud given enough time! After opening gifts and filling our faces (on Christmas Eve, because that’s how the French do it!), we opened up the game on the kitchen table and to this day, I don’t know how many hours went by spent stacking little wooden block on top of little wooden block. It was insanity! And the roar that would go up around the house each time the tower fell was enough to leave us doubled over on the kitchen floor in laughter! It was, by far, one of my favourite family memories ever…the three of us, united in laughter in the middle of the night, playing Jenga. Thank you Hasbro!
My second favourite Christmas memory was another year that my Dad came to London to visit. I must have been about thirteen or fourteen and my Dad had given me the Super Mario Bros. 3 game for the Nintendo that he had given me the year before. My Dad, who is not much of a video game person, said that we could crack open the game early while we waited out the hours of Christmas Eve for midnight to come along. My Mom had gone for a little nap so my Dad and I used it as a perfect opportunity to test out the new game. Pretty soon, there we were…just the two of us insanely trying to beat dragons and hop around on dinosaurs to collect eggs and such. Most hilarious of all was our belief that if we physically moved our arms around faster, that would, in turn, move our players around the screen faster!!!! Skewed logic, I know…but it made sense at the time!! With all the excitement of moving from one level to the next, we actually ended up missing midnight and it wasn’t until my Mom awoke from all of the ruckus that we noticed the time and that there was a tree full of presents yet to get to. It’s rare that something could pull a teenager away from the countdown of opening presents, but computer animated Italian plumbers on a quest to save a Princess can do it!
{It seems the moral of the story here is that games create joy!!!}
That’s what I just love about Christmas…you collect the most random of memories that carry you through a lifetime. They infuse every year that follows with a joy that makes every thing else that much better.
So, as we pack our bags in preparation for another Christmas adventure, I wish you beautiful memories of your own and laughter that brings you to tears.
At the risk of sounding too cliché…
We celebrated Christmas with my Dad this past weekend in our new house, around our first Christmas tree and in front of our new fireplace. We were suppose to volunteer at a senior’s home that we go to every year together but this year, due to a variety of illness (on the part of the seniors, not us!), the building was under quarantine and we were given the day “off”. So instead, we picked up Dad and took him to all the places that he can’t otherwise get to because of the bus strike. With all of our Christmas shopping already done, it was actually a lot of fun walking amongst all the other frenzied shoppers and enjoying the liveliness of the pre-holiday rush. Starbucks in hand, we walked from store to store and picked up a few things while soaking in all the pretty decorations. It was actually a really nice afternoon!
We then headed back to our place for a big dinner, dessert and exchanging gifts. It was so delightful to sit around the fire and just chat while being surrounded with torn up pieces of wrapping paper everywhere. My Dad brought his dog, Simon, to our place and you could even see the beauty of Christmas peace between Simon and Tugger as they enjoyed a harmonious evening in each other’s company.
The whole night got me thinking about memories of Christmases past. I’ve enjoyed so many wonderful holiday seasons with friends and families that to pick a favourite would not be easy but there are a couple that stand out more than others to me and every time I think of them, the biggest of smiles crosses my face!
Despite my parents being divorced, two of my favourite Christmases were ones that the three of us spent together. One year, when I was about ten years old, my Dad came to London from Ottawa to spend the holiday with us. Mom and I had created not only a beautiful gingerbread house that year…but an entire gingerbread village fully equipped with an ice skating rink and Christmas trees galore! It was awesome! Well, that is until the next morning when we woke up to realize that the cat and dog had conspired to systematically pick apart our hard evening’s work and consume every last bit of it. Monsters!
That year, one of my gifts had been the game of Jenga; a game that can get rather intense and loud given enough time! After opening gifts and filling our faces (on Christmas Eve, because that’s how the French do it!), we opened up the game on the kitchen table and to this day, I don’t know how many hours went by spent stacking little wooden block on top of little wooden block. It was insanity! And the roar that would go up around the house each time the tower fell was enough to leave us doubled over on the kitchen floor in laughter! It was, by far, one of my favourite family memories ever…the three of us, united in laughter in the middle of the night, playing Jenga. Thank you Hasbro!
My second favourite Christmas memory was another year that my Dad came to London to visit. I must have been about thirteen or fourteen and my Dad had given me the Super Mario Bros. 3 game for the Nintendo that he had given me the year before. My Dad, who is not much of a video game person, said that we could crack open the game early while we waited out the hours of Christmas Eve for midnight to come along. My Mom had gone for a little nap so my Dad and I used it as a perfect opportunity to test out the new game. Pretty soon, there we were…just the two of us insanely trying to beat dragons and hop around on dinosaurs to collect eggs and such. Most hilarious of all was our belief that if we physically moved our arms around faster, that would, in turn, move our players around the screen faster!!!! Skewed logic, I know…but it made sense at the time!! With all the excitement of moving from one level to the next, we actually ended up missing midnight and it wasn’t until my Mom awoke from all of the ruckus that we noticed the time and that there was a tree full of presents yet to get to. It’s rare that something could pull a teenager away from the countdown of opening presents, but computer animated Italian plumbers on a quest to save a Princess can do it!
{It seems the moral of the story here is that games create joy!!!}
That’s what I just love about Christmas…you collect the most random of memories that carry you through a lifetime. They infuse every year that follows with a joy that makes every thing else that much better.
So, as we pack our bags in preparation for another Christmas adventure, I wish you beautiful memories of your own and laughter that brings you to tears.
At the risk of sounding too cliché…
From our family to yours…
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
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