8 days to go!

A little view of Christmas chez moi. As the day itself draws closer, I've confirmed something important about myself—I cannot live in a house with large amounts of Christmas baking. I'm looking forward to bringing a bunch of it to the office on Friday and sending some more with the Husband to his office. Then we'll STILL have some, which we'll bring up north next week. And then?

A baking moratorium. For at least a little while.

Oh, I'm monkeying around with the blog a bit, which you've probably noticed. This isn't the final form, but I like the more neutral template for the moment. We'll see what 2010 brings. Another new look AND a baking moratorium.

The Gingerbread Forest

The Husband and I devoted some time this past weekend to creating our very own gingerbread woodland creatures.



Check out the moose! He's our favourite:



And a whole forest full of yummy, yummy animals:



Ready for Christmas!

Oh Christmas Tree

Ah, how I love a Christmas tree! They're so beautiful. And sometimes they are perfect design elements that carry a home's style into the holidays.



But that one's not mine! This one is:



The Husband and I bought it on Thursday evening, started decorating it on Friday night and then finally finished it off this morning. As you can see, it's slightly wonky, with a few branches sticking out much further than the others, and it lacks a certain overall design aesthetic. But what it does have is a whole bunch of history.

These apple ornaments were the very first ones I ever bought for myself, my first Christmas away from home back in 1996:



I bought my angel that year too, from a very country-chic store. I certainly wouldn't describe our apartment as country-chic in any way, but I'm still drawn to the simple apples and the homey angel with the paper hair.



The first year that the Husband and I were dating, he took a two-week trip to Scotland in the fall. One of the gifts that he brought home for me was this little plaid Santa:



The second year that we were dating, he took me to The Bay at Eaton Centre to see their big Christmas display, which they call Christmas Street. He bought these ornaments that day and he gets excited about them every year when we bring them out.



Two years ago I asked my mom what happened to all of the ornaments that hung on our Christmas trees during my childhood, since both my parents remarried when I was in my twenties. Turns out that she had many of them tucked away, so she sent them across the country to me. Included in that precious parcel were all sorts of German wooden ornaments from our years overseas, such as this little Oktoberfest guy:



And some elaborate crafty ornaments we made almost 30 years ago that involved blown eggs and some fancy decoupage:



Those old ornaments are probably my favourite, because they bring back that feeling of childhood Christmases with my original family. (Not that I don't adore all of the new versions of my family, but there's something special about remembering where you started.)

And finally, we have the ornaments supplied by the fantastic guy I chose for a husband:



Nothing says Christmas like the dark side of the Force!

Now for the money shot:



Ahhhhhh, Christmas.

Holiday bits and bobs

Phew! I finally buckled down tonight and finished all the cards. By the way, if you were at the wedding, you're getting a hybrid holiday/thank you card. Hope that's okay! There was just no way I could conceive of doing thank you cards AND holiday cards for everybody.

Speaking of cards, check out this charming holiday stationary:





These holiday options come from Rifle Paper Co. They also make personalized calling cards with a little illustration of your face. I'm putting those on my wish list for Santa. (By the way, most of my own Christmas cards came from Zellers. I got them on sale at the end of last December...)

Another fun thing that I found on my blog rounds are these clever cheat sheets for gift buyers:



How cute, eh!? You know, when I worked at La Senza while I was in high school, a man once came in with a wallet-sized version of something like this, with all of his wife's sizes on it. I have never forgotten that smart man! Oh check out Made in England by Gentlemen to download your own cheat sheets. (The Husband did note that the boy's cheat sheet should include things like what size of TV he would like and electronic things like that. Little does he know that I'm totally buying him a sweater!)

One more thing for all of you looking for an adorable, homemade, Canadian gift for someone special (or your special self):



My super-talented, crazy-smart, beautiful friend makes, names and sells these little bunnies at craft shows around Toronto. Check out her blog to find out when and where. If you think these are awesome, wait until you see the rest of her stuff!

And now I'm going to do some household tidying to prepare for the soon-to-be temporary addition to our little home: our Christmas tree! Luckily a little lot selling trees has sprung up less than 100 metres from our front door, so we won't even have to vacuum pine needles out of the back of the car. Stay tuned for a post with pics!

Left to my own devices

I may have inadvertently spent too much time alone this weekend. Not on purpose, but the Husband headed out of town and I had enough stuff to do that I didn't make any plans. I expected him home this evening and planned to bombard him with all of my need for human interaction. Alas, snow squalls up in Owen Sound mean he's going to sit tight until tomorrow morning. So the solitude continues.

Thank goodness for my blog!

Okay, so the big excitement of the weekend was the first batch of professional wedding photos! So far we only have the online web gallery, so I can't post any of the pics here. But you can see them all yourself if you click here and then use the password: Archeos.

I have LOTS of favourites! And I kind of wish I could turn 072 into a mask to just wear around when I'm having an off day. Tell me which ones are your favourites!

The crazy part is that we'll be getting EVEN MORE in a couple of weeks, when we get all the digital files and our proof book. Can't wait! I'll be sure to post some then.

I did a fair bit of movie viewing over the weekend, including this one:



I watched it while I was doing the Christmas baking, because I wanted something festive. I didn't expect much, but I was entertained! Although, I have this vague recollection that there were reports that Vince and Reese didn't get along during filming, so I couldn't help but look for cracks in their performances.

In order to bring some artistry to the weekend, I finally watched this:



Marion deserved that Oscar, I tell you! An incredible performance. But what a seriously sad life that poor Edith Piaf had. I felt a little guilty getting entertainment out of her pain.

I also became one of the zillions of people to see this:



I'm still completely on the fence about this whole phenomenon. Maybe I'm just too old? Although, I generally love all things produced for tween and teen girls. I also really enjoy Amanda Bynes, which is why I was so disturbed to see this:



She used to be cute and funny. Now she just looks cheap and slutty. Poor Amanda!

Anyway, in addition to a variety of chores, some exercise and a flexing of my creative muscles, I also ate more of the baking than I intended to and made this fantastic soup. All in all, a pretty good December weekend! But next weekend will definitely involve other people!

Sugar and spice and everything nice

Growing up, my mom did a ton of baking for the holidays. She would start in October, filling our basement freezer with mincemeat tarts, shortbread, Nanaimo bars, cookies and more. Unfortunately for her, my sweet tooth knew no bounds and I would routinely dip into the frozen supplies, depleting her stash and occasionally leaving her a little short when company arrived. To this day I have a soft spot for frozen baked goods.

Today, with the Husband up north, the house to myself and the holiday spirit humming within me, I took a page from my mom's book and baked up a storm. I baked enough that my cat, hungry for some attention, took it upon herself to pull a soup bowl off the ottoman, breaking it.

I baked enough to make quite a mess. Here's a shot I snapped when I was already half way through the clean up!



I made my mom's famous Nanimo bars. (I haven't perfected how to make them pretty yet. But they taste fantastic!) I confess that the Husband and I made these two years ago, and when the chocolate on top refused to cut nicely without breaking, we deemed them not worthy for presentation and ate the WHOLE PAN ourselves.



Chocolate chip butterscotch bars. This was a new recipe and they turned out pretty damn delicious, if I do say so myself.



And my first go at shortbread. I don't think I'll use this recipe again, but they have Toblerone pieces in the, so how bad can they be?



Next week, with my lovely Husband, it will be time for sugar cookies and gingerbread! We got some awesome cookie cutters as part of a very generous wedding gift and we can't wait to use them.

Oh! And don't fear for our figures! We have a few holiday events to attend, so all of this is being baked so we can spread it around. After all, that tropical honeymoon is fast approaching...

It's a good thing needles don't bother me!

Warning! If you have very strong feelings AGAINST vaccinations, just do yourself a favour and don't read this post. Seriously, Jenny McCarthy and company - just look away!

Okay. Welcome to the rest of you!

I am in the process of becoming a human pincushion.

It all started with my first trip to see my new doctor, who is clearly very pro-vaccine. In our delightfully thorough first meeting, she asked all sorts of questions that my last doctor never even touched on. (He also made me cry once, but that's another story.) The topic of chicken pox came up and I was all, "Ya, I'm pretty certain I never had that." And she was all, "Well, for some people it's just one pock and they don't even notice. Let's take some blood and find out if you're immune." The blood test was very clear - I have never, ever, ever had chicken pox. And not only is it bad to get as an adult, it's REALLY bad to get if you're pregnant. So I made an appointment and got a needle in each arm. One side for chicken pox and the other for measles, mumps and rubella. (Also things I never had.) On the way out I am prompted to make an appointment for early in the new year because I need a booster to complement the first shots. Sigh.

While I had an audience with my doctor, we had the whole H1N1 discussion. I had debated with various people about whether or not to get the shot. I didn't have a strong feeling either way, to be honest. I also have a pretty wicked immune system, if I do say so myself. (And I maintain that it's because I'm not fanatic about germs and stuff. Germs happen. I avoid eating spoonfuls of dirt, but other than that I don't stress too much.) But the doctor sort of talked me into it, so I'm headed in next week to get both the regular and the H1N1. More holes in my arms.

THEN the Husband asked me if I thought we needed any shots for our upcoming honeymoon (42 DAYS!) and so I asked my doctor's office about that. They said I should get the Twin RX vaccine for Hep A and B. It involves two shots fairly close together AND a booster. Holy crap!

So, if you see me out and about and I have a slight glow about me, it's just because I'm slowly, but surely, becoming bionic with the help of modern medicine.