December is a very festive month where I live. The earlier sunset time brings on lots of lights in the city. The cooler temperatures and the occasional snow flurries make us wonder if we'll be having a white Christmas. The window displays at the banks, office buildings, and stores are fantastic to look at. There are several holiday fairs to visit as well, like the Swedish Christmas Fair that I wrote about here.
For many years now, my family and I intentionally keep a very simple holiday plan, focusing on being together, having lots of free time, and sharing sensory experiences. We stay away from buying material things that we do not need.
Today I’m sharing my list of five simple pleasures for the holidays, and linking up with several other bloggers who also have fabulous holiday plans. Thanks, Leslie, for coordinating the link-up.
My five simple pleasures for the holidays:
1. Make donations to help those in need. We usually donate money, non-perishable food items, clothing, and/ or winter accessories.
2. View the various light displays in the city centre. There are many to view near where I live. I hope to capture some of the fantastic light displays with my camera, and if the pictures turn out well, I'll post them on my blog.
3. Listen to choirs singing joyous seasonal music. It's always so uplifting to hear the amazing vocals.
4. Taste freshly baked goods with chocolate or ginger or cinnamon flavour. Sometimes we bake them at home, sometimes we buy from the local bakery. They seem to bring warmth to the season.
5. Enjoy a big family gathering and dinner on Boxing Day (December 26). This gathering usually includes my parents, my siblings, their spouses, their children, and my family. We pick December 26 since it's a statutory holiday in my province, and to avoid schedule conflict with Christmas Eve or Christmas Day parties. We rotate the hosting duty annually among the siblings and co-ordinate the food items that every family unit brings to the gathering. It's our happy time to chat, share news, eat, drink, laugh, and take pictures.
The above five activities always make us feel good and create warm family memories.
Your turn...What five fun activities do you do for the holidays?
Your Boxing Day celebration sounds perfect. I appreciate how you divvy up cooking responsibilities so that all the work is shared.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea to add sampling cinnamony, chocolaty, and ginger flavors this month. One of my autumn activities was to sample all things pumpkin. Need to follow your good lead this month.
Where do you go to hear carolers? Our church has a more modern music service which we don't particularly enjoy and I have no idea where else we might hear tradition Christmas carols.
Thank you for the mention and for joining in the fun of this simple little link up series.
Boxing Day here is usually when the retail stores slash their prices. We choose to stay home and have a family gathering instead of shopping. My City has an annual Christmas concert at City Hall, free for everyone. The local choirs are amazing. This weekend I also plan to attend a C. Dickens A Christmas Carol dramatic readings and choir signing at a local church. Thank you, Leslie, for stopping by.
DeleteI am in total agreement with your 'top five', Natalie. They are a perfect way to celebrate the holidays!
ReplyDeleteGlad you agreed, Donna. I gravitate towards low stress and low cost experiences. Thank you for your comment.
DeleteI'm with you on listening to choirs or other singing lovely holiday music. One of my favorite pleasures for sure, but such a 'given' I didn't add it to my list. So far we have tickets to three concerts, ranging from jazz to classical, and I'm so looking forward to each one.
ReplyDeleteI'm so envious you have all your family close by, Natalie. That is a priceless treasure for sure.
Love your concert music choices, Tamara. Having my family close by is something I always appreciate, and more so around holiday time.
DeleteI love your 5 Natalie and your family celebrations sound perfect for this happy and joyous time of year. When I was growing up we would always go to our Uncle's place on Boxing Day and have a big family celebration. Creating memories is what it is all about isn't it?
ReplyDeleteSue from Sizzling Towards 60 & Beyond
My siblings and I want our children to be close cousins so we plan these family gatherings and some vacations together. So far they seem to work. Thanks, Sue, for stopping by.
DeleteYour 5 sounds fabulously perfect. Boxing Day for us is recovery Day & also the start of the Boxing Day cricket match coming out of Melbourne. We lounge by the pool, eat the kilo or so of prawns we always hold out from the day before, and chill out.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great Boxing Day plan you have! Thanks, Jo, for commenting.
DeleteLove this!! Simple pleasures indeed! But they make your holiday spectacular! Merry! Merry!!
ReplyDeleteLooks like your list and my list of five have something in common. Merry, merry, indeed! Thanks, Katie, for visiting and leaving a comment.
DeleteHi Natalie! Thank you for sharing some of your "simple" holiday pleasures--especially from your part of the world. I believe that those "simple" pleasures are what we all crave and want FAR MORE than all the stuff. Thank you! ~Kathy
ReplyDeleteHi Kathy! Thank you for visiting and leaving a comment. I was reading your "rightsizing Christmas" post and nodding in agreement. Sometimes I feel outnumbered in my "keeping it simple" approach to the holidays so it makes me happy to know that I'm not the only one. Glad to have you join in on the fun link-up.
DeleteHi Natalie,
ReplyDeleteI like your top five. Mine are:
1. Sugar cookies - with icing. And empire cookies - same idea but with raspberry jam between the cookies.
2. Boney M's Best Christmas Album Ever - because it is!
3. Decorating for Christmas, especially my fabric Santas, several of which were made by a friend.
4. Made for TV Christmas movies - warm and cozy.
5. Relaxed, warm, cozy times with friends and family.
Thank you, Karen, for stopping by and sharing your list. Now I've got to look up and play Boney M's Best Christmas album. Relaxed, warm, and cozy feelings are the best.
DeleteSounds lovely. My favorite things about the holidays are the Christmas music, the lights, the special goodies, the gathering at my mothers on Christmas Eve, and visiting with family at Christmas Day Open House we host every year.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Christie, for sharing your list. We're lucky to be with our family at this special time of the year.
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