Christmas! Christmas always ends up being a very relaxed holiday. There's all this stress leading up to it, but once it's actually here everything slows right down. I celebrated the holiday at my parent's house outside the city. On Christmas Eve I spent the day helping my Mom get ready for family to come over, last minute decorations, organizing things in my room, and pitter pattering around. It was one of those days where I really didn't know exactly how all my time was filled up, but it was.
We use the same decorations every year. It's just easier that way. My mom hung the wreath from the second floor window and decorated the outside of the house right after Thanksgiving, but only had time to finish the rest of the house in the few days before the 25th. We actually only got around to decorating the tree after work on Thursday night.
On Christmas Eve my Dad came down with the flu. He didn't leave his room the entire day. Even when my family came over that night, he was out of commission. We don't have many yearly traditions, but one thing I starting trying do in recent years is bake scones for Christmas morning. Since my Dad was so sick and I knew wouldn't want to eat anything I skipped that this year. No baking for me this holiday.
My Mom made seafood bouillabaisse for Christmas Eve dinner. We somehow fell into the seven fishes tradition even though we're not Italian. We always have icebox cake. It's just a dessert we've been having for years and years. In between meals and before exchanging presents with all my cousins I made everyone some yerba mate. I'm beginning to feel like I'm a sales person for the product. They all seemed to like it!
Christmas morning was a little different this year. I feel like as the years go on things keep changing, even with our very loose traditions. I put my presents (newspaper wrapped) under the tree in the morning and went into the kitchen for breakfast. My mom made poached eggs with toast and I made myself some spicy cinnamon tea. My brother had to go out of the house for a bit so we decided to hold off opening gifts until he was back. I took advantage of the time and went outside to take a Christmas morning picture with Lua on the dock.
I got some amazing gifts from my family including a down coat which I really needed, new cookbooks, and a vintage stone belt from my Mom. The rest of the day was spent relaxing around the house. I ordered Sweeney Todd in the afternoon, which my Dad seemed to be really into. Not exactly a Christmas movie, but I've been meaning to watch it for so long and the opportunity finally came. My brother and his fiance came over for dinner. My Dad still wasn't feeling too well so everyone ended up having something different to eat.
I bothered Lua for a bit with some Christmas bows, hats and antlers. She was pretty good and only tried to eat them a few times. All in all Christmas ended up being just what I always want it to be. Quality time spent relaxing with family, sitting around the house, and staying in pajamas all day. I work with my family so it's nice to get away from that atmosphere on the holidays and be able to unwind together.
Many of the gifts I bought this year were from Etsy. Those that weren't were from responsible or local companies. I'm really happy that I was able to give people gifts this way. Everyone seemed very appreciative of the uniqueness of the handmade items, or the quality of the vintage pieces. Since I was also so happy with the gifts I gave I'm going to leave a list of the places I shopped for this year's Christmas gifts.
Clyde's Rebirth - Taylor House - Off the Beach - Nesta Home - Patagonia - Girls Can Tell - Movoeva - Chandi - Brooklyn Brew Shop - Kahili Creations - Shady Grove Sundries - Mayron's Goods - Sydney Hale
Whether you celebrated Christmas or not, I hope everyone had a lovely weekend relaxing and reflecting on the year that is so quickly coming to an end!
10 comments:
I love that you snuck away from the fam damily to take your Christmas shot with Lua...
Christmas changes a bit for us too as we get older, some kids have moved away and there are some health complications but at the end of the day, we celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday and as a family... and that remains the constant.
Lua has such a sweet face! It sounds like you had a nice relaxing holiday with your family, which is all that matters!
These pictures are lovely! I'm glad you had a nice Christmas.
I am also glad you eat icebox pudding. I seriously thought mine was the only family that ever had that!
xx, Katrina
http://sparkleisacolor.blogspot.com
Sounds like you had a lovely Christmas.
Can I ask where your 12 Days of Christmas glasses are from? My family used to have them, but I think we broke most of them by now. Were they from Burger King or the grocery store, or something like that? (My family got most of our glassware from those places!)
sounds like a lovely christmas--just like mine :) as i get older i appreciate spending time with my family so much more. they really are my best friends.
thanks to the link to chictopia's tweet about me! i will probably give in and join twitter at some point but my life is entirely too uneventful right now :)
Aw, it looks like you had a lovely little Christmas! I hear you, Christmas has been changing drastically for me each year, and this year my family was split in 3 across the country, but at the very least we ALL had SOMEBODY, and no one was alone, so we have to be thankful for that. Happy Holidays, love!
Your dad is a true trooper to watch Sweeney Todd when he wasn't feeling well!
Love these photos!! Glad you had a lovely holiday! And your breakfast picture looks so tasty! xo
This looks like a lovely Christmas! The photo of Lua in her Santa hat makes me so happy. :)
oh i love how wonderfully christmassy these photos are! so classically holiday. :)
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