1 day: Kerrytown capers

It has been my family's tradition, since Curtis and I were little, to go to Kerrytown Market the morning before Christmas.  The tradition arose from necessity–mom had to be there early to visit Monahan's Seafood Market and pick up the oysters with which to make dinner–and slowly grew to celebratory proportions; now we go (not necessarily early thanks to order ahead availability) to pick up oysters, squid, and other last minute edibles, and also to eat and shop our way through the quaint and unique building of stores.  We end the morning with the quintessential Christmas picture by the holiday scene on our way out the door.  Thankfully, late as it was (5am this morning instead of midnight last night), Curtis's train made it into town in spite of last night's nasty weather, and today the tradition has continued.  Merry eve.

2 days: Christmas favorites

Before Calvin the 23rd was traditionally a date night for us, usually including a dinner out and a night at the spa.  Oh how things change.  Tonight we started what we hope will be a new tradition for our little family;  we ate a light picnic style dinner on the floor by the Christmas tree and fire, listened to all our favorite Christmas music, and read a few of our favorite Christmas stories.  What are some of our favorites?  We are very fond of the Time Life Singers and Songwriters Christmas set, Stevie Wonder's Christmas album, and James Taylor's Christmas album.  As for books, Calvin's picks are "Room for a Little One" and the story out of his Children's Bible.  And, now that Calvin is in bed, Jon and I have broken out our collection of secular TV specials of years past, like Rudolph, Frosty, and, of course, "A Claymation Christmas".  It may not be a night at the spa, but it is relaxing, very cozy, and very full of spirit.

7 days: let's try that again

Calvin enjoyed his first interview with Saint Nicholas so much that he's been asking for a repeat occurrence ever since.  That or maybe he thought better of asking for an African Wild Dog (his new favorite song, after all, is "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas) and wanted another chance.  Since we were going to be in the mall today for lunch with a friend, and since you know I never pass up a photo opportunity, he and I walked (or, rather, I walked and he ran) to the center of the building to meet with the man in red.  Again, no sign of uneasiness on Calvin's part, and, again, no hesitation in his answer either; this time, though, he asked for a train.  And not just any train, either, but a train with "an engine, and a sleeper car, and a box car, and a passenger car, and a flat car.  yeah.  Oh, and a sleeper car.  Yeah!"  in his most authoritative tone, complete with hand motions.  Forget the SLR camera, I should have taken the video recorder.

9 days: all wrapped up

This has been a hard one for me in past years - I really love wrapping gifts, but it has always been an event of major procrastination.  This year I decided that Christmas Eve was not going to be spent scrambling around with scissors and tape.  What's the point of finishing the shopping before advent if we allow the wrapping to get in our way?  So Calvin and I have been wrapping a couple packages a day all month long and today we placed the last package on the pile, making us all wrapped up for Christmas.

10 days: and they're off.

Our Christmas cards, that is.  Never mind that I started working on them back in mid November, or that I had intended to send them off the first week of December, especially since we have a new address this year, today we mailed the huge pile and they should mostly make it in time.