I joined choir this week! We’re getting ready for the Christmas concert!

He said

Things got a whole lot more focused on Christmas this week. Even though the weather wasn’t convincing that the holidays were approaching, thankfully Danielle had a better command of the calendar, time and the need to be a little more planned than I am. Last weekend the Santa Claus parade was the last kick in the pants we needed. And then, the forecast this weekend was the icing on cake with a high possibility of much colder weather and our first layer of snow and accumulation for the season.

Thankfully – as is my refrain most every year – Danielle is much better at organizing and planning for things and Christmas is the one time of year her skill is showcased to the max. We’re already well into our Christmas shopping to the point where in a few weeks, things should be all but complete. This weekend we needed to sort out the decorations for the house. When the string of lights with antique Edison bulbs we’ve been using the past couple of years, started dying off one bulb at at a time, we new it was time to replace the strings as replacing the bulbs were sadly going to cost as much as buying 5 or 6 new strings of lights. So, it was off to Canadian Tire with their weekend sale to get new lights.

After spending years decorating the outside of the house in one colour of lights, we finally decided, at Emelia’s suggestion that we wanted go with the large multi coloured bulbs in a nod to the campy decorations of our youth. We were able to find the style bulbs we were looking for but in much more efficient LED bulbs as opposed to the incandescent energy sucking ones of our youth. We got home and I got the bulbs up on the house while Emelia and Danielle painted the star for the front our house a red that matches the front door. We got all that done just ahead of the first signs of snow and colder temps with a light dusting and bite to the air.

After that it was a trip over to Mom and Dad’s to get some of the outdoor decorations we store there to bring back to the house. That quickly turned into a to visit as well as an invite to stay for dinner and help Mom with some of her AppleTV and Netflix issues. We got in a good visit with Mom and Dad and around the time we sat down for dinner the snow really started to fall. Once we had Netflix all sorted out for them so they could watch the new series The Crown, it was time we to get Emelia home for bed. The ground now covered with snow, it was completely obvious winter had arrived. Thankfully the snow tires were already on both cars too!

Once we had Emelia to bed, Danielle and I settled in for a night on the couch while the cold weather did it’s thing outside our new, much more weather tight windows in the front room. We’ve started watching a new show on HBO called Divorce that is quite funny and had a pretty great star-studded cast. We burned off a few episodes before calling it a night and while we were fast asleep even more snow hit the ground.

By the time I was up for work this morning it was clear we needed to start finding the snow shovels, brushes for the car and getting the snowblower ready for another winter. As much as I would have loved to have all that stuff ready this morning, I was resigned to using my mitten lacking hand with the scraper to get the snow off the Mini in the freezing cold — not something I would recommend as a fun thing to do.

By the time I got home from work tonight Danielle was beaming about all the things that she and Emelia were able to get accomplished today and by the sounds of it we’re quite ready for Christmas aside a few here and there things we need to get done… Oh, well save the gifts that Danielle and I need to get for each other. But aside from that, I think this is probably the most organized, on budget and done early Danielle has ever had us. It feels pretty great considering it’s still a month away! If it were left up to me, we’d probably be celebrating Christmas in March!

So I sign off this week riding the coattails of Danielle’s planning and organization and feeling a lot better about the things that need to get done this holiday season. And I also know that I am in no way responsible for any of that great place we’re in.

She said

The weather this week until today was far from looking like 6 weeks from Christmas. Friday I had Emelia home with me with record breaking temps that felt more like September than November. But Mother Nature wanted to make sure we all knew that temps could change at a moments notice.

Now thankfully with the forecast all week suggesting this weekend winter was going to arrive I managed to get into winter prep-mode. What this meant was more purging of excess around here, more planning of daycare activities to prepare for the long winter ahead and more prep for the changing weather. All the winter gear was out and for the most part organized (other than the bin of winter mitts apparently – opps), the snow brushes for the vehicles were found and in their respective cars, the salt for the pathway was found and accessible and the shoves were sadly dug out of the shed and are ready for use. The last on the to do is to get the snowblower dug out of the shed and prepped for the season.

John had yesterday off so this allowed us to have a lazier start to the day, we got to make big breakfast and enjoy time as a family. Before we knew it was time to get Emelia packed for swim class and get along with our day. One big thing on the agenda was taking care of the lights for outside the house. We had some amazing lights that we had been using for a few years but sadly they were no longer usable so we had to get some new ones – cue the sale on Christmas lights at Canadian Tire and we were off. For years we opted for simple white ones, Emelia never liked them and wanted the multi colour ones – so we obliged.

Now admittedly I am not a Christmas person, so the idea of having the lights up and on this early seemed like insanity. But was worse was the suggestion of yet another year John and I (well mainly John) freezing our asses off putting up lights. So with mildish weather on Saturday before the snow came we put this into plan and got the lights up. We do not go overboard by any stretch, simple lights and some oversized Christmas decorations to add to it, add in a wreath on the door and that is the extent of it. The multi-coloured lights do look quite festive and Emelia is very happy. The rest of the decorations will be put up inside in a few weeks, I have a strong rule of not before December to having anything inside but have a feeling we will be pushing a bit closer to Christmas this year for the tree because our spazy and curious  kitten will reign havoc over the tree I am sure.

Today it was just Emelia and I, John sadly had to go to work and it meant a girls day for my girl and I. With Christmas on the brain we decided to get a few things done on that front. The annual Samko toy sale was in town this weekend and with that I was able to finish off our nephew’s birthday and Christmas presents, pick up some gifts for my two daycare girls who have birthdays coming up in the next few weeks, Emelia and I even managed to find a gift for the annual wish tree we help with at her school.

Feeling pretty accomplished we decided to try our hand at finding Emelia’s Christmas dress for the holidays and her upcoming Christmas concert. She had found a few over the last few weeks she liked so we peaked around and finally settled for an amazing dress at Walmart of all places, add in picking up her Christmas pjs we were flying on the Christmas to do list. I have managed this week to finish off all the daycare kids, Marshall, Zoe, some daycare birthdays and even took care of a few things for Emelia. Next week I am hoping to have the next chunk of the shopping done so that we can just sit back, relax and enjoy the holiday madness.

That essentially was the week, getting a ton done and hankering down for the long winter ahead.