Sunday, December 29, 2019

Thankful Part 3

This is the last of the 30 Thankful Prompts that were making their way around the blog world.

Thankful Part 1
Thankful Part 2

21) The best thing I tasted yesterday was the breakfast that Christopher made (avocado toast with alfalfa sprouts, and fried mushrooms; it was even better today with a poached egg on top).

22) I love going online to research.  I have an insatiable curiosity and love of learning, so I am constantly looking things up and read about things I wonder and question, and that just leads to more questions, and more learning.

23) I'm grateful for the way these things feel: my marriage, my home, my body, my mind - healthy, happy, comfortable, fulfilled, and full of love and gratitude.

24) Yesterday I felt supported when Christopher listened to me.  He is the best listener, and I always bounce ideas off of him.

25) When I look around my home I am grateful for the simplicity of our lives.  We don't feel the need to replace or upgrade anything, unless absolutely necessary.  We replace items only when they break, so basically, everything in our house (and the house itself) is the first of that item that I've ever owned as an adult.  Even our TV is almost 13 years old, but it still does the job!

26) When I look around the world I am grateful for acts of kindness big and small that show there is still good in the world, scientific progress, and the beautiful planet that we call home.

27) I love that I have the ability to daydream about travel.  I know this is a luxury that not everyone has, and I appreciate that my life allows for this adventure, as it is so important to me.

28) I love it when I see animals in their natural habitats.

29) The nicest thing I have felt on my skin today was a back scratch.

30) I am grateful that I am learning new things every day.  I get so bored if I don't feel like I am learning something.  Learning is a lifetime project, not something that stops when school ends.  That being said, I am quite sure that I am not done with school ... I don't know if I ever will be.

Your turn!   
Choose a couple (or all) of the prompts above and put your answers in the comments.

Christmas 2019

Christmas seemed to come so quickly this year.  I didn't ever feel fully ready for it, whatever ready means.  On Christmas Eve we got together with my family at my sister and Riley's home.


We enjoyed a delicious turkey dinner with all the fixings.


Mmm!


After dinner, we made our way back to the living room where the kids opened some gifts, and we visited over dessert.


Once home again, we watched The Grinch, ate some baking, and then nuzzled into bed.


Christmas morning always starts out the same way.  We put on a pot of festive coffee and get the Christmas music and TV fire going.


It's usually still a little dark outside when we move to the couch, and start opening our stockings.


After stockings, I got some Pilsbury cinnamon rolls into the oven.  I usually make homemade cinnamon buns for Christmas morning, but we were heading out of town on Boxing Day, and I didn't want a bunch of food around the house that wasn't going to get eaten.  Last weekend we tried some Pilsbury cinnamon rolls that were terrible, but these ones were the Cinnabon ones, and they were much better (although still nowhere near as good as homemade).

After handing out gifts and taking turns opening, it was time for breakfast.


In the afternoon we went over to Christopher's parents' house. They had a huge spread of snacks downstairs, and so many more upstairs.  They cooked a turkey and had buns, croissants, etc. to make sandwiches.  There were also dips, shrimp, sushi, and so much more.


Our nieces entertained the whole family with their Bluetooth microphones.  It was fun watching a four and five-year-old requesting Red Hot Chili Peppers songs to sing along with, lol!  They are definitely related to Christopher!  We had a really nice time with family and probably would have stayed much later if we wouldn't have been getting up early the next morning to hit the highway.

On Boxing Day we drove to Saskatoon for more family time.  We visited with my mom, and that evening went to my Auntie Cathy, and Uncle Darrel's house for a really nice visit, and some hot turkey sandwiches.  It was so nice seeing them, and their beautiful home, which brought back some memories from Christmases as a child.  On the 27th we spent the day with my mom and then drove back home that evening.

This weekend we have nothing at all to do, and we are enjoying just being still.  Yesterday Christopher made avocado toast with sprouts and fried mushrooms for breakfast.


Miso soup and oranges on the side!

After breakfast, we spent the rest of the day in our comfy clothes on the couch, while nibbling on snacks here and there.


We went to bed early and caught up on the sleep we had been lacking over the past few days.  This morning we had the same breakfast as yesterday, but this time topped with a poached egg.


It was so good!  I always forget how good alfalfa sprouts are with eggs.  I've been avoiding eggs a bit lately, but I ate every bite of this breakfast.

Today we might straighten up a bit, and put away the mess from Christmas ... or we might just read, write, and watch more TV (we started a bunch of new shows yesterday, watching the first episode of each to see what hooked us), and I'll worry about the mess when Christopher is at work this week.

Have you cleaned up from Christmas yet?  
How long do you leave decorations up? (I usually take everything down by New Year's Eve, as I like to start the new year with a clean space.) 

Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Festive Weekend

This past weekend we planned to get festive with snacks, Christmas movies, and a whole lot of relaxing.  December is a really rough month for Christopher at work, and his alarm has been going off at 4:30 a.m. for way too many days, which means both of us (but especially him) are not getting the sleep we need.  We purposely avoid taking on anything extra in December, because it's just too much, and we don't want to end up sick or miserable.  We give ourselves permission to order in if we don't feel like cooking (we did that twice in December), and to just snack in the living room instead of having a full meal at the table.

On Friday evening we pulled together some easy snacks for dinner and headed straight to the couch.


Not long after eating, we were falling asleep.

The next morning we made this coffee:


Lit this candle (I am a sucker for nice candles, and this one was a thoughtful gift):


And then we prepped a snacky breakfast.  We had little hashbrown cups, Pilsbury cinnamon rolls (they weren't good), hardboiled eggs, and fruit.


We put on a movie, and just nibbled all morning.


Christopher also got some maple brown sugar salmon going in the smoker.  It smelled amazing in the cool air.


We basically didn't leave the couch all day, and it was absolutely glorious.  We read, watched shows and movies, and snacked.

Our lunch was this plate of crispy wings with hot sauce for dipping:


In the evening we ordered the best ginger beef (from Peking House - thanks to some friends for the recommendation!), and mixed vegetables.  We ate a bit and then had some cheeses and crackers, etc. later on.


Dessert:


It was the perfect Christmasy day in our cozy little home.


We couldn't make it through all of Saturday Night Live, but we tried!

The next morning we ate some of the salmon that Christopher smoked.


In the afternoon our friends Matt and Alissa had us over, along with another couple, Fanta and Keith (and their absolutely adorable new addition, Zachary).  We visited over so many delicious cheeses, meats, olives, drinks, desserts, and pizza!

 
 

It was so, so wonderful, and exactly what we needed.  Matt and Alissa live super close to us and are planning on moving, but we are hoping they'll move even closer!! 😉 (Neighbors?)

Christopher was up very early for work again today, but his boss was making all the couriers breakfast, which is really nice.  I had a yogurt bowl and some leftover hashbrown cups, and now I'm going to get to work on a batch of cabbage rolls to take to my sister's place tonight for family Christmas with my side. 

How are you spending Christmas Eve?  
What month is the craziest for you at work? 
(September and June are always a blur for me!)

Saturday, December 21, 2019

Baking Last Weekend

As usual, I went overboard with the Christmas baking.  I think this year there were 10 lbs of butter in our overflowing cart, but it's so worth it!

I made the following:

- caramel corn
- snack mix
- shortbread
- cinnamon twists
- oatmeal bars
- butter tarts
- chocolate mountains
- Nanaimo squares
- peanut butter blossoms
- white chocolate candy cane cookies
- peanut butter marshmallow squares
- chocolates

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

After making all of these treats in one day (and more than one batch of some), I was ready for the couch!  Christopher isn't much of a baker, so he helped by washing dishes and doing quality control.

We ordered Thai food when the baking was done, and it was so delicious!  I didn't even get a chance to snap a picture.  I was really hungry!

The next day we did some deliveries, and then settled into the couch with snacks.


All week we shared a plate of baking with our TV show before bed.


Did you do any Christmas baking?  
What is your favourite type of Christmas baking?