39?! It is serious list-making time!
One of the first traditions in our family is making our Christmas cards. The year when my daughter was born I wanted to somehow include our new addition in the card. I painted four cardinals in a wreath (two parents, a growing boy and a new baby daughter). This painting has since been framed and comes out of storage at Christmas to be hung in the front hall of our house. At this point I have only visions of this years’ card. Hopefully, this weekend will be the time to get those visions tested on paper!
This weekend the four of us will also be taking our annual trip “downtown”. This trip is, in our kids' eyes, primarily to get a new piece for our growing Christmas village. For my husband and I it officially starts the season. We will begin at the Eaton Centre, a large shopping mall in downtown Toronto. The glass-ceilinged mall is not what draws us there. We could get the Christmas village addition at any department store. But, it has now become a tradition to look at the decorations, watch the children sit with Santa, and take some photos of us at the fountain.
We make a stop next door at The Bay, an old, Canadian department store in a historic, red brick building. Every year they have windows along Queen Street decorated with Christmas scenes. From there we decide whether to go east or west to shop at some wonderful, independent shops that can only be found “downtown”. And, of course, we stop for tea/coffee and a sweet indulgence.
Once home, with our son's exuberance, we start to pull the Christmas decorations out of storage. By the end of the night he will have set up this year's Christmas village. Hopefully, by the end of the weekend, I will have Christmas card production well under way.
