I’ve heard a lot of people saying they aren’t feeling the Christmas joy this year, and I totally get that. It’s hard not to think that it has something to do with the current political climate, which seems to deliver scary, bad news every day. The fact that it’s been unseasonably warm and rainy in Ontario might have something to do with it, too. I know that even though I am officially Done My Shopping, I still feel like Christmas is a long way off.

I mean, I haven’t even felt much like listening to my Christmas music CDs, even though they are all loaded in the van. What is UP with that, I say?

So I thought I’d reverse the trend by doing a post on things that are making me happy this December. Not necessarily Christmas-y things, but things that bring me joy, and that make me happy for the upcoming break, and maybe will make me want to hum a Christmas tune or two.

Lettuce

I love lettuce so much. It’s becoming a not-so-jokey joke around here that the kids are going to give me a big bowl of lettuce for Christmas. Frankly, I’d be delighted. Green Leaf lettuce from the Farm Boy is the shizzle. I can go through two heads a week – I’d go through more but I’m already embarrassed to buy so much lettuce each week. I’m actually sitting here writing this with a big bowl of lettuce next to me for snacking.

The other day I was out running errands and I was starving and one of the places I had to stop was the Farm Boy, so I bought myself a Green Leaf Lettuce and ate it in the car. That’s how much I love lettuce.

Advent Calendars

I’m really happy I didn’t do the activities calendar with the kids this year. Yes, I think it means I feel a bit less festive this year. But it has made things a lot less hectic around here, and I have to say, the kids are really enjoying their actual get-stuff advent calendars, so bribery success achieved!

The older two have LEGO calendars (City and Star Wars) and they love them, but the youngest has a Tsum-Tsum calendar and it is THE BOMB. Tsum-Tsums are little Disney characters in weird plastic pellet form. The youngest is obsessed with them – for Christmas this year she is getting Tsum-Tsums, Tsum-Tsums, more Tsum-Tsums, and also a Tsum-Tsum display case which is probably already too small for all her Tsum-Tsums. I was worried the advent calendar would have a lot of duplicates in it but so far, due to Christmas theme-ing, it’s just been awesome.

It was sort of stupidly expensive but if you are into these little guys, it’s worth it to try to grab one now (maybe on sale?) and catch up, or save it for next year. I haven’t seen it in stores around here but I ordered one online at Amazon.

Tea

Meanwhile, I have my own advent calendar – a David’s Tea advent calendar, that my family gave me for my birthday in November. You get a little tin of a different tea each day to try.

I also thought this calendar was a little expensive but it’s been worth it. I really look forward to a new kind of tea each morning at breakfast, and my middle daughter made me a little chart so I can record the tea of the day and my review/rating of it. Plus, the packaging is so great – the quality of the outer box, the inner boxes, and the little tins is so good that you could keep it and use it again next year, filling the tins with whatever treats you like. In fact, I am going to do this, and fill the tins with a variety of candies for my husband, who is feeling a little left out of the advent calendar festivities.

I wonder if there’s a Facebook group where David’s Tea advent calendar owners can discuss the tea of the day. Maybe I’ll start one.

Christmas Cards

I still plug away at the Christmas Cards every year, even though the number we receive in return is dwindling. I like to think that people enjoy getting our family newsletter and I have to admit, putting it together is more for me than anyone else – I love looking through our past annual newsletters and seeing how the kids have changed, or what the year’s highlights were.

I love getting them, too – both for the news and the beauty. My mom in particular sends us lovely, fancy cards from Papyrus each year, one for each member of the family, and they are proud ornaments on our mantle. The one she sent to me this year is mostly white with a tiny gold tree on it and it seems so peaceful and simple and gentle, it makes me happy.

My New Author Site

I decided to make some big plans this year for my writing. I still consider myself a dabbler, but I want to pull together some of my short stories into a self-published book sometime in 2017 so I figured I better have a website for launching it.

You can check out my new author site over here. If you sign up for the mailing list there, I’ll notify you when the book comes out (or if anything else I write gets published).

I have to say, I’ve visited it a LOT in the past week or so. I really like it.

Happy December, everyone!