From us to you, Merry Christmas!

It is my sincere wish that everyone in my friendship circle, be they close or acquaintance, has a wonderfully restorative, peaceful, family-filled holidays that finds smiles on your faces, love in your hearts, and the magic of Christmas in your souls. Joyce and I would like to thank everyone who has gifted their blessings to us through your kind deeds, words and thoughts. We live a privileged, fulfilling, and joy-filled life and we have our many relationships to thank for it.

The holiday season during this continuing pandemic is in full swing, craze-filled mode right now. One of the multitudinous privileges of retirement is being afforded time to take care of the holiday's To-Do list at record pace while avoiding the crushing crowds that are typical of a Canadian last minute rush. We are snuggled up on the couch, hot mug of tea in the right hand, some sweet, sinful treats in the left, enjoying the glories of our successes. 

Our kids will be joining us this year in our new-to-us surroundings, and I'm ashamed to tell that it will feel a wee bit awkward to be enjoying the happiness that comes with spending a Christmas morning with loved ones yet not being in the living room that featured the previous 30. Many of our family traditions were lovingly created there, and we're doing our best here in the "sunny south" but the re-creation efforts have been subtilely modified to fit into the landscape of condo life. 

One of those traditions is the Hide-A-Gift game. When our kids were quite a bit younger, we always hid one much desired gift then set them on a quest that required deciphering a set of clues to the whereabouts of their stealthily concealed treasure. As the years rolled by, the seconds it took to author the clues turned into minutes, the complexity of the clues elevated, and the screams of glee were replaced with adult-like giggles. Try as they might to give all outwardly appearances of calm, their facial expressions betrayed their youthful giddiness, a look of accomplishment accompanying the joy of a quest well conquered. 

Besides, I really like writing the clues!

Another family tradition includes the shameful excess of culinary delights like Christmas Eve h'ordeuvres, fresh baked cinnamon buns and Christmas Morning Wife-saver. The h'ordeuvres are not homemade ... we let others enjoy the joy of preparations ... but we certainly enjoy a wide assortment of sinful decadence while raising a glass of cheer in accompaniment. The buns were traditionally "fresh" from a tube thanks to the Pillsbury Dough Boy, but more recently our Uber talented daughter has applied her incredible baking skills to the task and our tastebuds delight in her home-made goodness. For those that have never heard of Wife-saver, it is a egg and ham casserole that my mother discovered in The Best of Bridge cookbook many, many moons ago, and has become entrenched in the holiday celebrations of each household in our family. Even though she now lives alone, my mom makes a pan in full expectation that at least one of her boys will drop in on Christmas Day to enjoy a piece and, very likely, take a huge To-Go portion. What's not to love? Eggs, bread, cheese, ham, butter ... all the staples of gluttony! HaHaHa!

It's a straight shot to the pancreas, that's for sure, and that's not counting the Holiday baking!

This will be the first of hopefully many Christmases with our children and their loved ones. It's most definitely the first one of Maddi & Chris' married life, and it's the first one that includes Keaton's beau Jessica. We're a pretty unique lot, so I hope that she's well prepared for it! Joyce and I will be pleased as peacocks to be hosting our now extended family in our place, but I'm sure there will be Hollywood-like flashbacks racing through our brains of those cherubic Christmas morning faces from early in our marriage. 

Maddi & Chris will make the trip down south for Christmas Eve and stay overnight for the morning's events before heading off to Chris' side after lunch to share their presence on the big day. Staying over means that the black tornado of attention, M+C's puppy Remi, will be coming for his first sleepover as well. Don't let that bundle of cuteness in the photo fool you! With apologies for language, the grown version of Remi is the epitome of an attention slut, demanding a constant barrage of belly rubs, ear scratches, and chest pats. It will be a first in many, many ways! Even though our condo is technically a two-bedroom unit, our second bedroom is a cycling "pain cave" plus storeroom, a direct consequence of our retirement-inspired downsizing, so we'll be rearranging things to allow for an inflatable air mattress. Maybe there's even a tent fort in the making?

It might sound like that's a complaint ... definitely NOT ... but it will be different!

Keaton and Jessica live in Guelph and will be arriving on Christmas morning since they're spending Christmas Eve with Jess' side. They'll make their arrival in the morning and the events outlined above will be punctuated with laughter, smiles, and maybe even a hug + kiss for the parents! Some people make statements about KP's demeanour, pointing out how quiet he is, or how he doesn't reveal a lot of emotions, but I will tell you there are a normal amount of emotions inside that outer shell, something that seems Jess has had a positive influence on with her upbeat, bubbly personality. They will be heading out around the time Maddi + Chris will because they have some other visiting to do.

I'm a Christmas loving guy. It's my favourite of all the holidays. I'm as giddy as a school child right now!

Merry Christmas or happy Hannukah, Ramadan, Festivus, or Kwanza ... whatever your family observes.