silent night

James and I celebrated Christmas today. Although in the past our Christmas dinners have often featured store-made lasagna, this year I decided to go the more traditional route: I bought turkey breasts (’cause we both prefer white meat), Stove Top stuffing, and gravy mix, and made mashed potatoes and steamed asparagus. For dessert, we had cookies (Christmas baking details forthcoming). We listened to Christmas carols old and new, read the Christmas story, exchanged gifts, and watched The Grinch and Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean on CBC. Very low key, very cozy. (btw, I recently saw ads for Cozzy Coverings, an Ottawa retailer of bedding, blinds, and drapes. My first reaction was, “Did they intentionally or unintentionally misspell ‘cozy’?”)

We miss celebrating with family; however, the cost for both of us to fly back over the holidays was too steep for two people who recently moved, bought a house, and furnished aforesaid house. Of course, I was fortunate enough to enjoy an early Christmas with my family near the beginning of December, although I didn’t nearly get to see all the friends I wanted to see while I was out there. On the other hand, most Christmases we’re driving between Rosenort and Dauphin, trying to squeeze in as many family and extended family gatherings as we can. So we’ve been looking forward to some down time to play video games, do Sudoku puzzles, reconfigure electronic thingies, watch movies, read, write, and bake. (Can you guess who’s doing what?) And we’re still plugging away, approximately one episode a day, at Alias; we’re close to finishing Season 4. (I’ve actually ‘cheated’ and read the plot summaries for the remaining episodes on the show’s Web site. Actually, I’m not convinced it’s cheating, seeing as how the show ended in 2006.) All in all, it’s rather nice to have no set agenda right now.

Well, I'm off to "sleep in heavenly peace," thanks to our new bedding ensemble, a Christmas present. (Thanks, Mom & Dad!)