Christmas time – our way

Its right behind this corner! The time has breezed through and brought the end of the year around faster than ever.

My hospital story is in the works, but I wanted to do this quickly, before the holidays are over.

Mr.Blab and I used to make a “tree” out of random furniture in the house – Christmas sofa, Christmas chair… – and we would decorate and drape them in lights and ornaments. Since the kids  joined us we have had normal tree, tree in a pot and other regular tree versions. Truthfully, the idea of chopping a whole tree for a short term decoration never appealed to us and we are just not good enough to keep a pot tree alive.

Last year while walkling in the mall I saw these cool cone trees  on the shop windows of a book store and loved them! I thought how wonderful they will be if we made and decorated one ourselves. And so we did (mainly me and my aunt, who was visiting at the time). Then everyone pained and glittered t heir own letter/shape  and they are our ornaments. We love it! The kids couldnt wait to have it out this year.

The traditions around our Christmas time change and evolve each year. Last year started the sleep under the tree one and this year we came up with an  inventive way to save on all the wasteful wrapping.

Mr.Blab and I were sitting around chatting about the holidays and we concluded that all the time we spend wrapping presents, just so we can be more stressed when  opening them and cleaning all the mess afterwords coupled with the absolute waste the whole thing is (unless you are sending the present away)…so we came up with the Stand in Present system.

Instead of wrapped up present, we put an object with a tag on it  as a stand in. It signifies a gift. So we ended up with this:

So, come Christmas morning we pick a stand in present we want. The gift giver walks in suspense away to their hiding spot and paces the gift in the designated huge bag (to fit any kind of object). Then comes back and delivers the present. This keeps the “opening” ceremony intact ;)

The kids loved it and have been hovering around the tree in anticipation. And they have no clue how big,small, heavy or noisy any of their gifts are.

Happy Holidays or days off work (whichever you celebrate) to everyone. Slow down and enjoy the people around you and the feasts ahead.