Happy Holidays!

This year marks my first ever Christmas alone in Ottawa with no extended family with whom to celebrate. My mother-in-law is out west, and my parents will be celebrating the big day with my sister and family in New Brunswick. We were hoping to be with them this year, but distance, weather, money, and career commitments all threw various monkey wrenches into the works.

But before you grab your tissues . . . don't go feeling too sorry for me.

The 3 Things, the Crafty Dad, and I will be spending a quiet, relaxing, and joy-filled Christmas day at home on our own this year. There will be no traveling, no (undue) stress, no time constraints, and no pressure to create a perfectly spectacular holiday meal. Yes, we will eat Christmas dinner, but because it will be just the five of us I will roast a simple chicken and prepare our favourite potatoes and veggies. It will be delicious, and I can be certain my three children will eat it.

We will spend Christmas Eve entertaining a few friends and their children, slurping back festive drinks, tasting delicious appetizers, and enjoying a bowl of hot, steaming taco soup before tucking our 3 Things into their beds so that visions of sugar plums may dance in their heads.

See? Not so bad at all. So while I will miss all our extended family, I am eternally grateful to have such a loving, caring family. I am blessed to have three fantastic, healthy, and vivacious children with whom to share every moment of my life; a husband who cares deeply for all of us and is an actively involved and amazing father; a good home to live in, food to eat at every single meal, and the prospect each and every day that, indeed, tomorrow will bring more of the same.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all!