Rules to a 'no obligation Christmas'

In my last post I shared a bit of my struggle with the busyness of Christmas and mentioned I would share some rules I am trying to follow in order to achieve a more peaceful and stressful season.  Thus my rules to a 'no obligation Christmas'.

#1.  Admit it -  If you are a people pleaser like I am you have to admit to yourself that some of the ways you may pull back on Christmas may not be highly admired by family and you basically have to become okay with this.  For instance, we have decided Christmas Eve and Boxing Day will be family days in our household and we will avoid any Christmas parties on these days.  This new rule means we won't be attending a Christmas Eve celebration we have in the past and we also won't be attending any extended family Christmas gatherings on those days so as to avoid multiple busy days and evenings in a row. "You can't please everyone" they say and I am still learning and re-learning this one.

#2.  Compromise - So like I said above, if you are a people pleaser like me it may kill you to know a family member might be bothered by a change such as this so we have opened up our family days (to an extent) to close family members.  For instance, we attend a Christmas Eve service at our Church in Toronto and we have invited our family members to join us if they wish.  Other activities we may do on these days include: skating, a walk to look at Christmas lights, hot chocolate at a local cafe, basically any sort of Christmasy activity which does not take up the majority of the day, nor involve gifts and is more active in a low key sort of way. Family is welcome to partake in the low key festivity.

#3.  Shop Thoughtfully - I love gift giving, it's basically my favourite part of Christmas.  But sometimes I can go a bit overboard and buy an extra gift or two for a person when I've already bought them plenty.  This year Brett and I have decided to change a few things about the way we gift.  Firstly since we always do stockings to most of our immediate family we have decided that along with a few odds and ends we are going to write letters to that person as a more personal touch.  I'm not trying to go overboard with the sentimentality here but I think it will be nice to take time each year and think through why we appreciate those who are closest to us and to then tell them this.  I am hoping this will make our stockings a bit more special then something you quickly rip through to get to the good stuff.

#4.  Shop Early - Enough said!

#5.  Incorporate Traditions - I think establishing traditions help with the overwhelming nature of the season.  You know what to expect, you know when it will happen etc.  In many ways it helps organize Christmas and organizing helps alleviate stress.  We have always put our Christmas tree up the first week of December thus we know what we are doing on this weekend and since we also exchange a ornament each year we know we have be prepared by this date. Traditions don't have to be complicated they just have to be consistent.

So there it is!  I am hopeful that in sticking to my rules this year that this Christmas will be one of the best yet but with that said here is my final rule for myself.

#6.  Be Realistic and flexible - This one may be the hardest to follow for me but it is very much the most important.  I will often come up with an idea at the very last minute and kill myself to make it happen so this year I am going to try my darndest to be realistic in what myself and my family can handle during this stressful season and focus on the good stuff - family, friends, yummy food, giving gifts, Christmas music, Christmas lights, nativity sets, hot Chocolate, ah the list could go on and on.

The No Obligation Christmas

Well Halloween is over, the costume was worn and candy was collected, Kyla was a Starbucks Frappucino (you can check her costume out here) and she was a cute one at that, even cuter when she scored her dad and I free coffee at our local Starbucks! But now that the dust from Halloween has settled I will admit I have moved on to full out Christmas mode.  I am determined this year to be organized, deliberate and calm this Christmas season creating what I hope will be a stress free first Christmas for my baby girl and family.  So since Christmas is very much on my mind I thought I would share a little in my own journey to what I am calling the 'no obligation Christmas'.

I grew up celebrating only one Christmas and this was always on Christmas day.  December for me was pretty laid back; my Dad's work Christmas party, a few other family social engagements once or twice in the month but mostly my immediate family spent our December evenings and weekends watching Christmas specials, tobogganing, building snowmen etc.  Sounds pretty magical eh!?  It was, it really was and I have spent a lot of time thinking through why my Christmases in the recent past have been filled with stress, fatigue and a general sense that the month and holiday season was moving too fast.

I know part of this reason is that I have grown up and suddenly I am the one who has to shop for presents and organize social engagements with friends and family but I can't help but wonder if I could do something more deliberate to slow Christmas down so as to experience a little more of the magic I did when I was a child.

This past Christmas seemed to be the worst as I was planning a major event at work and was almost 8 months pregnant.  I was so tired by the first week of December and was an awful wife by the time my husbands birthday came around not really having time and energy to pull off the usual festivities that coincide with a birthday in the Potter house (we celebrate birthday week in these parts). Christmas came and went, I honestly can't recall much of it, and by New Year I was spent.  I remember sitting on my couch depressed that I could not partake in wine as the bell dropped and basically immediately went to bed exhausted from what had been a long month.  Once the Christmas season had past and we had recovered my husband and I began to think through what kind of Christmas we wanted to celebrate once our very ripe at the time baby would arrive.  We talked a lot about how we had lost the anticipation of Christmas and that giving had become more of a chore then out of love.  We both desired a Christmas season filled with family time and activities which would remain special to this time of year. So now that the Christmas season is upon us we are beginning to think through how we can make this happen.  Lots to think about indeed!

Stay tuned for my next post:  Rules to the 'no obligation Christmas'.

Fall around these parts...

The past two months have been quite busy, too busy actually and along with this our laptop is on the fritz which means my posts have been few and far between.  So since I have the shortest amount of time on our other computer, (my husband has taken the baby out) I will be brief.  Here are a few things I have been working on and a few upcoming events in Toronto I am very much looking forward to.  Hopefully a longer post will come soon!

Reasons why homemade Halloween costumes are awesome:

1. They don't cost much - Kai's first Halloween costume cost $6.50
2. They can get you free stuff - for us it was coffee which basically is the same price as the costume itself therefore the costume in the end didn't cost a thing.
3. You can get really creative, let's face it inanimate object costumes are awesome!  A few of Kai's runner up costumes were a bag of popcorn, a garden gnome (I still really want to do this one year) and a peanut; this list could go on. So why not plan on going homemade next year - could be fun and you have a whole year to prepare!

Reasons why homemade Christmas gifts are great too:

1. Again they don't cost much - I better not say what I am making this year but last year I ordered mini calendar Pdf's off of etsy and they were seriously cheap.  I printed and cut them and then attached a bit of yarn and mini clothes pegs so they could be hung up in an office or even magnetically on the fridge.  These little puppies were good for everyone - co-workers, mums, the in-laws as hostess gifts etc.  If you want to really get fancy you can design them yourself - whoa, really homemade!
2. Nothing says homemade like edible gifts cause really who doesn't like Christmas cookies!  Just make sure to bake them fresh, they are better this way no matter what any website might say.
3. You can start making gifts early like me (currently working on a few) and save yourself the hassle and pure terror of Christmas shopping at the mall.
4. If you can't think of any ideas we now have Pinterest to help us out!

Events to check out this month:

1. This weekend is the Day of the Dead celebration at Harbourfront which my husband and I have really been looking forward to.
2. The Santa Claus Parade is coming up on November 18th and since it is Kyla's first Christmas we will be making an attempt to be festive, yet not freeze, while waving to Santa.  Here is a great article with a few helpful tips to help you and the fam enjoy the show.

August picks of the month

Two very neat places we stumbled upon this month are definitely worth a mention and are my picks of the month if you are down in our neck of the woods (Queen St. E.).  The first pick opened recently quite near our home just east of Woodbine and really tugged at my inner child heart strings.  One night Brett came home from running an errand and mentioned he had somewhere to take me the next day as a treat and so the next afternoon with baby in her Bjorn we went for our walk and wandered up Queen, I had actually forgotten we had a destination in mind until Brett suddenly piped up.  There is was in all of it's glory, a tiny storefront dedicated to a childhood favourite - milk and cookies. MooMilkBar is what I would define as genius!  Now the only downfall I see for this fun after school gathering is that there are no seats so it is for sure a snack on the go or snack to bring home kinda place but regardless their cookies were great!

Number two on my list is a place we came across when mattress shopping - not a fun experience so it was nice to stop in for a tasty treat to make up for the confusion which ensued while laying on beds.  Tori's Bakeshop was just the right spot.  This eco-friendly, all-natural organic bakery is gorgeous and their treats are awesome too!  If you are looking for a relaxing yet inspiring place to work, read or meet a friend check this place out.  I like everything about this bakery from the chocolate cupcake I had (which was so good!) to the decor. My fav about this spot - the mason jars, you'll just have to check it out to see what I mean!

And then there was food - a dedication of sorts part two

As mentioned in my previous post (which you can read here) my summer has been quite busy thus far and we have just wrapped up a garden party in celebration of my daughter Kyla's non-traditional baby dedication. I had a lot of fun planning this one and decided to go with a loose sea theme as the name Kyla means beautiful water and her nickname Kai means sea. I wanted to focus on easy to grab food items and add a whimsical touch to my food selection since it was a party in celebration of our baby girl.

Some of my favorites from the party:
1. Easy and inexpensive tissue paper pom poms. Super easy to make!

2. My awesome cupcake stand find - thank you Port Perry Home Hardware for an item which didn't look much like a cupcake stand but with a little love and spray paint fit the bill quite nicely I think.

3. Popcorn station - such a fun and easy idea. I thought this would be the biggest hit with the kids but the adults were chomping away too. So fun!















4. Mason jar vases - have I ever mentioned that I own 200 mason jars? We used them at one of my husbands video installations and now that I have them on hand I am always trying to think of creative ways to make use out of these gems. I picked up the flowers from my favourite florist (Jong Young flower market) for under $10, added some ribbon and voila easy and cheap decor! Seriously, get yourself some mason jars they are good for so many things.


5. Meringues -
I was so pumped when a local bakery we pop by from time to time started making tiny meringues. This was one of my favourite desserts when I was a kid. They were very inexpensive and were made in coral as per my request. You will be seeing many a meringue at future parties planned by moi, I just love them. Thanks Bobbette & Belle!




 6.  The paper goods - the invitations, programs and thank you cards turned out great! I used the program 'Pages' on our Mac as I had a clear idea of what I wanted them to look like.  We have a great printing company we use who rounded the corners on the programs and printed for an awesome price!  I added an oversized popcicle stick to each program so they could double as fans for the hot summer day that it was.





7. Kai's outfit - I found the dress at the gap and loved its lacey/vintage feel. I made her headband and finished it off with a small gem from one of my grandmother's necklaces.

Her sweet bangle is from my Aunt Janette all the way from Scotland and her necklace was given to Kyla from her Dad and I in celebration of her special day. I found a wonderful shop on Etsy (Coastal Sea Glass) where simple pieces of sea glass are transformed into beautiful jewelry and so we had a custom piece created for Kai. It couldn't be more fitting for our little girl as the aquamarine colour is her birthstone not to mention it's beachy beginning which is well suited for a little girl whose name means water. My husband and I also love the symbolism in this simple piece of glass as it has been molded and changed to become something more unique and beautiful.

I was so excited when the necklace arrived in the mail and to my surprise the package included a similar necklace for me so Kai and I would have a matching set. How special! A big thank you to Laurie, be sure to visit her site, her creations are so beautiful!

There are so many more things I could say about this day as it was so perfect! Here are a few more photos in slideshow format (sorry mobile users) for your viewing pleasure also check out my Project Nursery page where there are lots more photos of the big day.

With 7 months until her first birthday I guess it won't be too long before another party is in the works - good thing I love party planning!