Five things that are making me happy this Christmas

I have to tell you, I love the (relatively) new category I’ve added of “5 things.” On days like this when I’ve got a handful of half-baked ideas that just won’t come together, or when I feel like chatting with you but can’t get organized enough to assemble a coherent post, I can always crunch them into a ‘five things’ post.

So here we go, five things that are making me happy about this Christmas season.

1. If it ain’t done by now, it ain’t getting done. I call this my official Christmas tipping point, when the joy of the season and the excitement of anticipation finally eclipse the stress of of planning, organizing, wrapping, baking, and shopping. Time to release my inner child. Yay!
2. After more than a decade of asking for it, and trying to catch it on TV, I’ve finally got not just one but TWO copies of my all-time favourite Christmas movie, A Christmas Story. I PVR’d it last night on CBC, and my brother burned me a copy of his DVD yesterday. I tried a few years ago to share this with the boys but they weren’t old enough to appreciate it. I’m saving it for a special Christmas Day family viewing. Yay!
3. It’s super-quiet here in the office (I still *so* love this job, btw), and the crisis that had me and several of my colleagues in a panic for most of the past 24 hours seems to be on its way to being resolved. My dad is on the way for a tour of our broadcast studio and operations, and after this afternoon I’m on vacation until January 4. Yay!
4. My brother and his family are in town. The kids really love their cousins, and it’s wonderful to have family together at Christmas. They may have to leave a little earlier than anticipated, based on the storm that may or may not happen this Friday and Saturday, but I’m still happy just to have the gang together. Yay!
5. I really do love Christmas. This year was the most stressful yet as far as preparations go. I had a hard time initially coming up with the perfect gift for everyone, and plans kept shifting on me. But now it’s all good and the boys are excited as the presents begin to pile up under the tree and we’re down to just one or two more items on the advent calendar and it really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Yay!

Share the joy, what’s making you happy this holiday season?

Related posts (automatically generated):

1. Christmas thoughts It’s Christmas Eve, early in the morning. Today will be a chaotic day from end to end, and I’m almost reluctant to launch myself into it, knowing when the dust finally settles that Christmas will be more or less over. The boys and I are taking the bus downtown to my work (an adventure in [...]...
2. Traditions Can you stand yet another blog about the Christmas season? No? Too bad! Now that I’m (mostly) done my shopping, and spent a frantic Sunday afternoon whipping up shortbread cookies and peanut brittle by the metric tonne, I’m feeling a little more relaxed and ready to enjoy the holidays. I think this is going to be [...]...
3. A Christmas Traditions Meme I was stuck in traffic recently (please let this ridiculous transit strike end soon!) and this meme presented itself to me. Most of it was originally scribbled on the back of a coupon for dog food, braced on the steering wheel of the car while Lucas snoozed in the car seat behind me. [...]...
4. Holiday review I’m back! Sorry I haven’t posted anything. I’d like to tell you it’s because I was doing something exciting, or was somewhere exotic. I can’t even tell you I was busy revelling with family and friends. Nope, I was just too busy doing nothing to blog. Ah, sweet nothing. Can I tell you a secret? In the last [...]...
5. Christmas coffee tea cups It’s not the snow that does it. It’s not the Christmas lights. It’s not the parades, it’s not the Christmas muzak in the malls. I do love all those signs of the season, but it really doesn’t feel like Christmas until you get that first festive paper cup from Tim Hortons. As I’ve previously lamented, I [...]...