This just happened- Tom and I laughed.

After needing major futon time last night as a cold invaded my system, and having a mediocre night sleep wise, this morning is off to a good start!

Got to the drive clean testing place a bit early( after getting a bit turned around in the back roads of Vanier), and headed off for a short coffeewalk to a nearby bakery.

Recommended by the staff at McConville’s, the Maison Baguettes on Montreal Road was a place I have walked past over the years, and now I know I will pop in again. Simple coffee and muffins that are crispy on top as they are freshly baked, makes me happy. Wifi too.

As I was happily nomnoming away, my cell rang and my car was ready 15 minutes early. Yay! And it passed. Double yay!

And after pulling into my driveway with but of revving- there be snow speed bumps :-), I got out of the car and looked down to see my earring. Lost almost a month ago, it is not an expensive piece, but a lightweight pretty piece that I had worn to dinner chez Deepali and Ashish in December.

It had fallen out before the evening began and waited patiently through multiple trips before creeping back out from under the seat to be spotted.

While I still have a dry cough settling in and a busy day ahead, I think a good start deserves an immediate dose of recognition!

So thanks Universe for the good start to today!!

This holiday season has been an amazing blend of fabulous friends in intense doses interspersed with quiet downtime with Tom and Sprocket. It’s been exactly what we both have needed and it’s not quite over yet.

December 31st and while I am still officially on a break, I have found I am already doing my traditional housecleaning of transition. AS I finish up one block of time/segment of life/ session of work, I automatically take some time to tie up loose ends.

Even before we go on our summer holidays, I clean the house as much as I can so that when I am ready to come back and start work again, it’s waiting for me, ready to get started without any major distractions holding me back.

This Yule/New Year felt like we really needed that down time, and I was so happy to have a few days here and there to ourselves to just be { nap/ watch movies/spontaneously try new things and just relax}.

This past weekend, we both hosted and visited, so today I already slept in 2 hours, Sprocket has just jumped off the bed now – that’s a 3 hour sleep in. And we are grateful that we have a few invitations to choose from for gathering with our amazing friends tonight, but we may need another quiet night.

So, may your NYE be exactly what you need, may 2013 bring you everything you manifest with your thoughts and deeds, and may you all keep posting your goals and achievements on your blogs, Facebook and twitter with gusto- alongside lots of food pics and nature shots!

Now back to changing my calendar to 2013, paperwork for TAV Creations and enjoying another quiet day out in the Byward market , if I get there!  If not – there’s a futon  and some company waiting for snuggling! And those Thank You notes I still owe oodles of people!

With all of the work on my plate, the events, shows, parties and such, 2012 Christmas season has been even more of a pain than previous years.  The frenzy of trying to squeeze it all in during a one month period reminds me that I need to focus on getting it in during the year, not just now.

We don’t give gifts for Xmas, we donate to charity.  Throughout the year, I get mail outs from those charities asking for donations to be spread out during the year, not just at that one hyped up time of year which is Christmas { my words, not theirs}.

And they are right – so plan 1, when I finally get around to making our donations { we use CanadaHelps.org } on behalf of family members for holiday gifts, I will be looking at setting up a monthly plan, or at least scheduling in my own calendar to make the donations on a more year-round way.

And seeing folks over the holidays is fun/stressful/superficial/whacky and full of contradictions. We want to see people and this time of year, we are programmed to schedule in that time to go to parties and re-connect o a social level.  But we cannot attend every event and can get very crazy trying.  And when we are there, it’s loud, distracting and again we are trying to squeeze in those quick catch up conversations with everyone we know, so that we only really get that soupçon  of connection.

So that’s plan 2 – make time for double date nights, fifth wheel nights { this would be the mix of couple and singles,just to be clear}, girls nights, guys nights, etc. throughout the year.  We had already begun doing this in 2012, and while again, we cannot attend every event, if we know there are planned out multiple options, we will at least get in 4-6 visits outside of regular channels, as opposed to just one whacky party!

Cards…

I did not get cards out this year – I might, after I finish my work load this week. I will try to go digital at the very least and bombard emails/twitterfeeds/facebookwalls etc with some adorable imagery of the season sending greetings of joy to all of you.

Or I may just sleep.

In my “week off”, we will travel and host, and see cultural events and visit with family – just like everyone else.  And in that brief period of time, I hope to catch up with my husband and new doglet. Cause we’ve had a busy 2012.

So, Christmas, don’t be hurt, don’t be offended.

Yule barely got a toast from me this year, and it’s closer to my heart.  It did get a Cherpumple, though, so I guess you can feel a bit left out as you’ll be getting the leftovers…yes, Cherpumple does seem to freeze okay – must be the preservatives in the cake mixes and store bought pies.

The remaining half will emerge when we host my family – Bwahaha!

So, Merry Christmas to all of you who have the spirit at this time of year.  May we start to create a balanced approach and keep it going throughout the year, instead of the standard collective manic burst for the rest of the month followed by the post Cherpumple Coma.

Thanks to everyone who joined us today in spite of the whacky weather! Cherpumple, Grinch, conversations, folks squeezed into our cozy apartment and lots of amazing food!

We hope to spend more time with all of you in 2013, as we totally realized how much we want to chat with you all in more depth !!