our first noel...

Christmas was a big deal in my house growing up. In fact, the entire month of December was something to celebrate. My Mom and I would spend every weekend baking Christmas cookies, building gingerbread houses and filling our house with the holiday spirit. It was fantastic! Traditionally, in honour of my French heritage, we would celebrate Reveillon, which meant staying up late and celebrating once the clock hits midnight. Usually we would attend midnight mass and then come home to tons of food and open gifts by firelight until the wee hours of the morning. We would then sleep in late on Christmas morning and have a huge brunch once everyone crawled out of bed. It really is a wonderful way to celebrate!

One of my favourite memories of Christmas was the year that we lost all of our power late on Christmas Eve. We ended up sitting around dozens of candles and our fireplace, and spent the entire night surrounded with the sounds of our own laughter and joy. It was so magical and memorable. The power came back on during the night and we awoke to several feet of snow and more peaceful souls. I think that everyone should try spending a Christmas without power!

Over the past decade though, Christmas has been a very different experience for me. Once I moved to Ottawa and my Mom moved to B.C., the holidays were a bit sporadic and the concept of resting really didn’t exist much anymore. I would usually work an additional job over the holidays and not take more than a day or two off and the month of December was spent studying for exams and the Christmas spirit was left to those with more time on their hands.

Once I met Steve, the joy of Christmas was reintroduced to me by the Smyth Family. In all honesty, spending Christmas with them is like spending Christmas in a Bing Crosby movie! One year in particular, all of the “kids” (that’s us!) sat in the living room wrapped up in blankets, surrounded by the giant Christmas tree and the stockings hanging over the fireplace. We sipped on ice wine that we had all received as stocking stuffers and we watched slides from thirty years earlier. I will always remember how happy I was at that moment…how content I felt and how blessed I was to be in such a place.

Steve and I have spent the last five Christmases together and each one has provided its own funny story and adventurous tale of holiday travelling and family visiting! This year though, is our first year in our new house and this means that we are in the midst of starting our own Christmas traditions! So exciting! First on the list…finding the perfect Christmas tree!!

I haven’t had a Christmas tree in about twelve years and the prospect of having one this year has left me boiling over with excitement for too many weeks now! We were originally going to just go and buy a tree to bring home until our good friend Danelia invited us out to her property in Wakefield to actually go and cut down a tree! Really, how National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is that?!?!? So that’s what we did! On Saturday morning, we put on our snow pants and drove the forty minutes out to her beautiful piece of land and began the hunt! We strapped on some snowshoes and headed out to the woods with her furry friends, Qete and Temu, by our side. After a gorgeous stroll by the water, Steve and I took one look and spotted our tree in the distance! It was lovely and I was so excited! Once the boys cut down the tree, we all headed in for some warmth by the fire and much earned hot chocolate!

But let’s be honest…no tree hunt is complete without a tree trimming party to follow! After getting the tree strapped securely to the roof of the car, it was time to head back to the Smyth house so that it could finally live out its Christmas destiny! We drank wine, ate lots of food, indulged in bite size Toblerones and quickly realized that what may seem small in the forest can be quite large in one’s living room!!! Sure, it may be “full”…but it’s ours and it’s the most perfect Christmas tree that ever was, complete with silver ribbon, energy efficient twinkle lights and stunning red ornaments (and of course, my Starbucks snow globe from Kelly!). So just like that, we are off to a beautiful start for the Christmas season!

We did have one slight oversight on our part though; Tugger! We underestimated just how unpredictable felines can be and it was less than twenty-four hours before our own fur ball finally had his way with the giant evergreen taking over his home. It’s now tied to the wall!