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| Christmas Mantel |
Happy Christmas!
My day started with a phone call from Aunt C, wishing us a Merry Christmas. Afterwards, I dropped off gifts at cousin P's house, leaving them outside and texting my cousin's daughter to pick them up.
I made waffles for brunch and we had them with bacon and syrup.
In the afternoon, daughter and I drove over to friend R's to exchange gifts with her. I took her some of the chicken stir fry that daughter had made and she gave us some Sri Lankan treats that she had ordered. Afterwards, we went over to cousin V's to exchange gifts. Cousin V was having the rest of the family over to have Christmas dinner, so I took their gifts over, as well, asking her to distribute them to the others. Then, daughter and I came home.
Five minutes later, friend S called to say she and her husband were in our driveway! They had brought us rice and curries for Christmas dinner! That was so nice of them to do so. We enjoyed our dinner and there are plenty of leftovers for tomorrow, as well!
Later in the evening, cousin P and her daughter dropped off their gifts to us!
Everyone wore masks and we kept our social distances during the gift exchanges, spraying and disinfecting everything, afterwards. We might not have been able to be together, but, we managed to see each other and exchange Christmas greetings and gifts. I still have a few more gifts to distribute, but, they will be done over the course of the next few days.
Now, daughter and I are relaxing and I am doing laundry.
Today, I am grateful for:
- Having my daughter home for Christmas
- Being able to exchange greetings and gifts with family and friends
- Friend S bringing us Christmas dinner
- Safe drives to deliver gifts
- The peaches and feijoa from the garden which enabled me to make all the jars of jam which made the basis of most of the gifts I gave!
Today's joyful activity was exchanging gifts with family and friends. I feel very blessed to be able to do so.
Plans for tomorrow include clearing up all the gift wrap and stuff from the dining table!
I hope all of you who celebrate Christmas had a lovely day. Do you celebrate the full twelve days of Christmas and leave the tree up till January 6th? Or, do you take the tree down before then?
My tree stays up the whole time! When I was a kid, my mom would take the tree down the first day we were back in school after new year. I would drag my feet coming home because I knew the house would be back to normal.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you had a busy and happy Christmas celebration.
I'm glad you leave the tree up longer, Jan. Yes, I did have a happy Christmas; I hope you did, too. Wish you and yours a very happy New Year, too.
DeleteWe had a lovely day - mostly just the two of us but we were out at lunchtime helping deliver 40 Christmas meals to people on their own. We spoke with our families on Zoom arly in the morning. I am so glad you and your daughter could be together. I had to look up feijoa, as I'd never heard of them. They sound delicious. How lovely to make jam from the Fruits as gifts.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you were able to speak with your family on Zoom, Angela. Kind of you to help deliver the meals, too; I'm sure it brightened up the day for those who were on their own. I've been making jam and giving that as gifts for years, now; using the fruit from the garden keeps the costs low. :)
DeleteI celebrate the full 12 days but if I do decorate, I don't always leave my tree up until the 6th. My nephew's birthday is Jan 7th so the tree was left up for an extra day in his home!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you had a lovely day and delivered your gifts to family and friends.
When I used to go to work and Jan. 6th fell on a week day, I would leave the tree up until the following weekend! Thank you, Eileen; it was a very nice day, especially since I had my daughter home with me. :)
DeleteSounds like a fun day where you got to see a lot of people. We're going to do some drive-by gift exchanges today. Even if it's brief, sometimes it's just good to see someone in person.
ReplyDeleteIt was, definitely, a fun day! My daughter said she saw more people in person in one day than she had seen during the past 9 months in Berkeley! LOL. Things will be quieter from now, of course.
DeleteIt sounds like it was a very nice day and I'm so glad you were able to spend it with your daughter. We had a really nice day too :)
ReplyDeleteIt was, Martha, and made all the more so because my daughter was with me. There have been a couple of past Christmases when I was sick and it was just she and I without any celebrating, whatsoever, so, just being healthy and being together was a blessing. I'm glad that you had a really nice day, too. :)
DeleteIt's wonderful you were still able to see family and friends, even though you weren't able to spend the day together. Let's hope next year will be better for all of us. Merry Christmas, Bless. X
ReplyDeleteI am very glad that I could see as many family and friends as I did, yesterday, Jules, and now, we will all look forward to next year! :)
DeleteYour mantle looks so happy and festive! I am a sucker for the lit houses.
ReplyDeleteI know having your daughter at home is the best gift ever.
I put gifts under every tree because I do not like empty trees. Son2 and DIL2 are in quarantine right now and we took their gifts to them yesterday. We stayed outside and just dropped them off, came back home and realized I had not taken their presents that were under the living room tree. Oh well!
My mom always said having your tree up after the new year wa bad luck and even though I do not believe it at all, I still take things down on the 31st!
Thank you, Anne. Yes, the best part of this year's Christmas is having my daughter home.
DeleteSorry to hear that Son2 and DIL2 are in quarantine, but, hopefully, they will be fine and well at the end of it. The forgotten gifts can be a surprise for the New Year!
Well, we certainly don't want any bad luck in the upcoming year, do we? :)
Sounds like a good Christmas, Bless. How wonderful that your daughter was with you xxxx ps feijoas are my favourite fruit and they grow so well where I live - lucky me. I drop bags of them off to family during the season.
ReplyDeleteIt was a good Christmas, Ratnamurti, especially because my daughter was with me. :)
DeleteI have two feijoa trees (had 3 but 1 died), but only one tree bears any good sized fruit. Last year was the first year I was able to harvest enough fruit to make jam. This year, there weren't as many fruit, but, I still had enough for jam. :)
It sounds like you had a nice Christmas, Bless. I know your biggest Christmas blessing is having your daughter home and I'm glad that has happened.
ReplyDeleteYes - we keep the tree up until the 6th. Until at least the 6th.
lol
We did have a nice Christmas, Debra. My daughter said that, although she had thought that it was important to be home for Christmas, she has since realized that it was being home that was important. I think we are both feeling more relaxed now that we are together.
DeleteGlad to know that you keep your tree up until at least the 6th! :D I think I kept my tree up for so long, one year, that I was tempted to just hang some paper hearts on it and call it a St. Valentine's Day tree! :D
What a pleasant busy time you had. Your mantle looks very festive.
ReplyDeleteWe had a quieter day but enjoyable. We opened gifts after breakfast and took it easy while the turkey breast was cooking and we had mince pies with ice cream for dessert, but today, Boxing Day, I made raspberry jello with raspberries in it and whipped up the last of the cream to have with it. We Skyped with the family this evening after a very lazy day, only getting up at 11 am and doing a lot of reading after brunch!
It was a good Christmas, Bushlady. There have been previous Christmases when I had been too ill to do anything to observe the day.
DeleteI'm glad you had a quiet, but, enjoyable day. Your desserts sound quite delightful and my daughter thinks I should make a jello dessert, too! I have a box of lime flavored gelatin, so, that's on the agenda for tomorrow! :D