A Christmas 2023 Summary (We Stayed Healthy!)

We have this fun family tradition of always being sick on Christmas. And when I say always, I am giving in to hyperbole. It has only been 12 years out of the last 14. Forgive me for taking some liberties with my math.

Shall I rephrase my opening sentence? It feels like we are always sick over Christmas.

And this year we were healthy.

Turns out this makes a significant difference in the festive environment in our home!

I have lots to say and I’m not quite sure how to organize blog posts to say it all so I am just going to write – maybe it will take me two posts to recap our Christmas and maybe it will take me twelve (don’t worry, it won’t take twelve; hyperbole again).

I’ll start by recapping the events, then maybe follow up with another post on gifts given and received, share all the details of our annual scavenger hunt (how we do it, the clues from this year, and the surprise at the end for the kids!), and then round things out with highlights and notes to Future Elisabeth of what worked/what didn’t?

I’m going to try something a little different for the overall recap and use time stamps as my guide! Kae has done this on some travel posts, and I’ve been inspired by Birchie’s recent Week in the Life series.

CHRISTMAS ADAM

For YEARS I have claimed Christmas Eve to be my Favourite Day of the Year, but I think that title has now officially passed to Christmas Adam (thanks again to Colleen for adding this term to my vocabulary).

Christmas Adam is relaxed and festive, and I know Christmas Eve is still to come. And this year Christmas Adam was basically a PERFECT day. Really, that is what I’m looking for from Christmas. Perfect days. (Is that too much to ask?) Of course no day is “perfect” but goodness December 23, 2023 came very close.

9:49 am – A wanted to braid my hair. I was dressed in comfortable clothes. I had a coffee close at hand. Sure. Why not?

9:56 am – L deep cleaned the kids bathroom. He took this job VERY seriously and spent significant time capturing before/after shots with my phone (and even a video of the spotless floor that was shaky enough to be straight out of the The Blair Witch Project). The mirrors might have been a bit streaky and the toilet not a whole lot cleaner than before, but I didn’t touch a thing. Clean enough is clean enough.

John, my FIL, and the kids did errands downtown while I prepped Christmas Adam supper (seafood casserole). I usually make the casserole in the afternoon right before putting it in the oven, but getting it ready in the morning and storing it the fridge ready to bake was THE BEST DECISION EVER. I also made up a double batch of unbaked cheesecakes.

After I finished my cooking prep and cleaned up the kitchen, I called Joy to see about an impromptu walk. She was available and the weather was perfect – crisp and clear. We walked around a local trail system – an outdoor area with water and evergreens which felt naturally festive.

2:14 pm – Friends came by to give the kids gifts. As always, they had incredible items. A very fun sling hockey game for L, along with a Pokémon shirt, video game sweatshirt, and candy. For A: hair items, a dice game, a cube calendar and the softest boot socks ever. Oh, and gourmet hot chocolate bombs for both! The daughter of the family (25) came along to tell us she has just gotten ENGAGED. When we met this family I was pregnant with A and over the years their daughter babysat our kids. And she’s getting married now? What time vortex am I living in? Where did those years go? It was a perfectly lovely, laid-back visit.

The kids wanted to watch Home Alone so they did that and called me down for the last 30 minutes (aka: The Traps, aka: The Best Part of the Movie).

We were sitting down to supper by 5:30 and it was DELICIOUS. (My best seafood casserole yet.)

6:24 pm – We played a rousing game of Just One. It is a new family tradition over the holidays and involves so much laughter. My dad hates games and even HE enjoys Just One.

We rounded out the night with a Hallmark movie (Christmas Island which everyone loved because of the familiar Nova Scotia backdrops).

I went to bed happy and contented.

CHRISTMAS EVE

After another leisurely wakeup, I prepped Christmas breakfast (a cinnamon coffee cake I’ve had every Christmas morning my entire life; the dough can be prepped 24 hours in advance), topped cheesecakes with cherry/blueberry preserves, made donair sauce for lunch, and ran the dishwasher.

9:29 am – I sat and watched A rearrange gifts under the tree by recipient.

Then it was off to church. I love church so much, and church at Christmas is extra special.

12:30 pm – Christmas Eve is the birthday of one of L’s friends who happens to be travelling over the holidays. L played Happy Birthday on the keyboard while the rest of the family sang and I texted the video to the mom!

Lunch time, which John was entirely responsible for this year (other than the donair meat/sauce I had prepared in advance). I sat on the couch and FLIPPED THROUGH A CHRISTMAS MAGAZINE.

12:40 pm – Festive selfie.

12:44 pm – I snapped a picture of A’s nativity scene. Friends had given her a little homemade kit with icing, candy, and graham cookies. It took her the better part of an hour to put this together (including colouring all the figurines) and it has graced the top of our water cooler ever since!

After lunch, cleanup, and a short rest, we went for a Christmas Eve walk. It was lovely to get outside and move our bodies. Our first stop on the walk was this giant teddy bear inflatable. When L was a toddler we would walk by this almost daily so he could babble from his stroller. He loved/loves this Christmas decoration so much. So, yup, my Mama heart swelled many sizes snapping this picture of my walking, talking 9-year-old hugging that same inflatable he loved as a non-verbal pint-sized toddler.

2:21 pm – Big hugs!

We got home in time to change back into church clothes and head to my parents church where my mom was singing in a cantata and my dad was doing readings. It was a short and sweet. We used to attend this same church so it was wonderful to see old friends. We were home by 5:30 and as we were pulling into the driveway new friends came to surprise us with a Christmas card and festive chocolates!

5:44 pm – While supper cooked, the kids opened – and hopped into – their new (thrifted) jammies and we opened our new tree ornaments.

5:56 pm – Then the kids + my mom played Christmas carols and we sang for the better part of an hour. It was a Norman Rockwell evening.

6:14 pm – L got tired of singing and made various Christmas-themed LEGO creations instead.

Supper, another Hallmark movie (Heidelburg Christmas which was a HUGE hit)…

9:11 pm – …and then I brought up the stuffed stockings. Having stockings already prepped was amazing and I hope to do this every Christmas for approximately forever.

I was in bed with the lights out by 9:30 on Christmas Eve!!!!

CHRISTMAS DAY

I was still holding my breath about family wellness. I’d made both kids pinky promise the day before they would not get sick and they held up their end of the deal!!!

7:10 am – The kids were awake and excited, but we all showered, and then I made a coffee for me and hot chocolate for the kids (those gourmet chocolate bombs they received Christmas Adam).

7:17 am – Inside and out, the atmosphere at our house screamed FESTIVE.

7:35 am – I had coffee and read my Bible (finished Exodus) while the kids watched an episode of Is It Cake.

Note: A whole sheet of gold stars to the kids for their behaviour these three days. They were just…so happy and content and well behaved. They didn’t fight, they were patient about waiting for grandparents, etc.

Around 7:45 am my parents had arrived and we settled in to read the Nativity Story from Luke 2 and started into the stockings.

7:50 am – Stocking time! A Star Wars hat ($2) and mini-stick and soft puck ($1) got our thrifted gifts off to a good start!

So fun.

9:15 am – I took a final picture of A’s adorable Christmas countdown. She has started back at 364 days…

While breakfast cooked, the kids played with their new things and I cleaned up all the bags and wrappings from stockings!

10:38 am – A chocolate bar L had picked out and wrapped for my FIL.

Then it was Christmas gifts which we do one at a time – it was almost noon before we finished. In addition to opening main gifts one at a time and slowly, we also add Bible verses to some of the tags which serve as clues so this REALLY extends the anticipation. I told L he didn’t need to use the verses and he didn’t (*sob* – I had come up with some great clues), but again everyone was just so happy with their gifts and everyone enjoyed watching others slowly opening things.

11:44 am – The last gift (per tradition) was the annual scavenger hunt which starts with a present that contains MANY wrapped layers, culminating in a tiny slip of paper with the first clue. The kids were SO excited to get started.

Lunch was sandwiches, veggies, and crackers…

3:22 pm – …and then we headed off to Halls Harbour – a local coastal oasis – with some friends who don’t have family in the area. It was a bit chilly so we didn’t stay a long time, but it’s nice to get out of the house on Christmas Day.

Supper was meatballs, rice, peas (my new go-to Christmas Day meal), and CHERRY CHEESECAKE FOR DESSERT. This may have been the best unbaked cheesecake I’ve ever made; I had seconds, and it was a very happy present for my taste buds.

One thing I’ve noticed in all the Christmas magazines is the elaborate table settings people have for Christmas. Do actual people do this? We light candles, but we also ate Christmas breakfast and supper off paper plates and drank out of a plastic multi-coloured IKEA cups. Oh, and for Christmas supper I WAS IN MY PAJAMAS.

I did laundry, we watched another Hallmark movie (Our Christmas Mural – another hit), and then I collapsed into bed.

Which brings us to today – Boxing Day in Canada.

9:03 am – When I left my bedroom. I’d been awake for a while, but 9:03 am for an exit is a Christmas gift to beat all gifts.

Tonight we’ll have our turkey/stuffing/veggie supper, with more cherry cheesecake for dessert and thus will conclude the formal traditions for Christmas. It was a wonderful festive season and I will be back with more specifics another day.

Phew.

Your turn. Did you household stay healthy this year? What was your highlight from Christmas 2023? What’s your favourite day of the year? I think mine is now Christmas Adam! Are you “fancy Christmas dinner table” or more “PJs and plastic cups”* like I opted for this year?

*Fact: I can do some things – but not all things – without burning out. So things like scavenger hunts and verses and Christmas Day adventures to the beach are my “things,” which means I need to feel ZERO guilt about showing up to the dinner table in my PJs instead of Christmas finery.