Friendly reminder

Saturday morning, the first thing out of McPie's mouth: "Rabbits!"

First day of December. That, along with the major dumpings of snow we've been getting these past days, and the plans we've been making for pre-holiday travel for family visits, makes it obvious that the Christmas season is inescapably upon us.

Around this time of year, I usually go off on a rant about the pressure that comes at this time of year to do all sorts of STUFF (mainly, shopping, which I hate).

No rant this year. At least not yet. Last night I was treated to a friendly reminder of the softer side of Christmas.

We hosted a family dinner in celebration of the first Sunday of Advent. The Moms came over (the Advent dinner was actually their idea), and boy did we have a good time. Maman brought a beautiful spruce wreath for the table, for which I dug up some candles (not purple and pink for the traditional Advent wreath, but red was perfectly festive ), and Constance spent a long time setting a lovely table. McPie outdid himself in the kitchen, creating an incredible bisteeya, which we served with well-buttered basmati rice, brown sugar-rosemary carrots, and a beet, apple and cambozola salad. The kids were amazingly chipper (who am I kidding? they always are...) and ate their little faces off. One thing I've learned in the past few years: there is nothing so satisfying to a parent than when their children enjoy (and finish!) the food put before them. And last night, there were four parents who were appreciatin'.

With all the busy-ness of back to school, ongoing funeral stuff, then the Great Pneumonia Epidemic of 11/07, we haven't really had much of a chance to hang out with the Moms in a long time. (We had some good summer barbecues and garage sales together, but that was so long ago!) So it was great to have some time at last to catch up. We just had a super-relaxing time, chatting about our Christmas plans, which mainly involve all of us flying out to Nova Scotia to stay at the Farmhouse Inn for five days. The bulk of our planning involved two things a) how to minimize the need to Christmas shop, and b) how we can maximize the leisure aspects of the vacation.

What's not to like? And it even gets better.

Once we had digested our supper sufficiently to be able to contemplate dessert (piping hot country spice pudding, perfect for a snowy winter night), we dished it up, called the kids back to the table to partake, and we got out the Christmas songbooks. We sang practically all the songs and carols there were. I listened (with goosebumps) while they did some French carols, and I had to solo for "Up on the Housetop", which apparently nobody else knew. We were all totally into it.

I know you're thinking that's totally cheesy, but it was SO FUN. And very much anxiety-free, as Christmas should be.

If we weren't heading out traveling (for the inevitable pre-Christmas visiting) for the next few weekends, we'd be doing weekly Advent suppers. As it is, we'll reunite in NS on Dec 23 with a bigger family and more Christmas carols.

See, this kind of Christmas stuff I can get into. I know that some of the seasonal obligations are necessary, and I will get through it - primarily by remembering last night's joyful Season Kick-off , and looking forward towards the ultimate goal, 20 days from now, when it all pays off.