There are so many things I love about this time of year.  Once the gifts are bought/made and under the tree, I feel as though the stress is gone and I can just enjoy.  Well, aside from the guests, cooking and keeping everyone happy and healthy.  Then the holiday is completely stress-free!

Just for fun, I thought I’d share a few of my favourite things that I love about the holidays.  So here we go!

1.  I LOVE sitting in the dark beside the glow of the Christmas tree.  There are a few special ornaments and decorations that make me smile each year they come out.  I love my fat Santa!  My hubby bought him for me the first year we were married.  And he his just the cutest! (Santa’s not bad either…haha!)  And then there’s my little cardboard Santa troop.  My first Christmas after I moved from home I didn’t have very many decorations to put on my tree.  So co-worker had given them to me.  They still make me smile.  Even more so now that the kids have taken to placing them ALL ON THE SAME TREE BRANCH!  They know how much that bugs me.  (I’m a bit of a Monica Geller when it comes to my tree decorating!)  But this year I have just decided to….let it go.  Haha!  (But I did turn that side of the tree to the back so I don’t have to see that branch every day.)

2.  And when it comes to decorating….I like to spice up EVERY room.  And what a better excuse to decorate your bathroom??  My toilet paper tree is a big conversation piece whenever my sons friends are over.  I swear they think his mother is nuts!

3.  And if it looks like Christmas…it might as well smell like it too!!  I admit, I can get lost in Bath and Bodyworks for a good hour or so smelling all the various scents in there.  But I was so happy with their holiday selection this year.  This is one of my favourites.  And while I think I’m a relatively decent cook; and I CAN bake.  When it comes to Christmas baking…I am just no good at it.  I don’t know if it is the added pressure or what.  But I currently have about a 5% success rate at ANY recipe.  So now my house SMELLS like baking!  And all I have to do is wash my hands.

4.  And if it LOOKS like Christmas, SMELLS like Christmas…it must SOUND like Christmas.  These are a few of my favourite Christmas albums this year.  As well as a multitude of OTHER songs of course.  I usually have a playlist going on the computer of all my favourites.  I have found that I seem to really like the song “Little Drummer Boy”.  It makes me laugh when my shuffle lines them all up and I have various artists singing the SAME SONG over and over.  Haha!

5.  I am so happy to have a flexible schedule for this alone.  I LOVE to participate in the school’s craft days!  The little ones made Christmas ornaments and the bigger guys made gingerbread houses.  It’s so neat to see all the kids creativity go wild.

6.  CAUGHT YA!  Even kitties get excited about Christmas!  I swear they think I put this stuff out just for them.  So many new toys to play with when they think no one is watching.  If she could read, she’d know that present is NOT for her.  Haha!

7.  And while I am NOT a big fan of COLD.  I do love how pretty the snow is when it’s mild and the flakes are so big and fluffy.  I have been very excited to have had a couple of brave families to run out in the snow for their family photos this year.  I hope to have more opportunities in the new year.  Nothing is prettier than a nice white blanket of snow. 

Well, it will be 2014 before we know it.  I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season…and I can’t wait to hear from you in the New Year!!

– Kim