As French Canadians, our Christmas begins on Christmas Eve: the Reveillon. We go to mass on the eve of Christmas and then make our way to someone's home (our home this year). We eat, exchange gifts and enjoy the merriment into the wee hours of Christmas morning. The little ones aren't forced to participate but if they happen to wake they are welcome to join in the fun.
Tomorrow will be a day filled with last minute preparations. A little cleaning, a bit more decorating and lots of food prep. This year we will be eating traditional tourtiere (meat pie) and home made mushroom soup. Simple but delicious.
I managed to complete and wrap all the handmade Christmas gifts in time. I did have to let go of a few projects but I'm fine with that. All our gifts are wrapped in handmade cloth bags with the exception of a few larger gifts which were tossed into pillowcases.
Because the little ones won't be participating in the Reveillon this year I'm trying to figure out when they should open their gifts. We will be going to mass as a family Christmas morning as Hubby will be playing music. I've thought about waiting to put the gifts under the tree just as we are leaving for church (while the little ones are in the car) so that they will be there for after church. When do your little ones open their gifts?
With all the sewing and knitting done for Christmas I've finally had the chance to pick up a book to read. I started reading The Distant Hours by Kate Morton. I read her novel The Forgotten Garden and really enjoyed it.
December has been a month fraught with illness. First my little ones came down with a nasty influenza, then Sweetpea had an ear infection lasting two weeks! Now my poor Hubby has the sniffles which seem to have developed into a sinus infection. It seems like some years are worse than others for illness. I hope that all your families are in good health for the holidays :)
Today we had some lovely friends come for a visit. We went sledding and Monkey tried skating for the first time. The day was beautiful, even if the wind was a little nippy. It was such a nice way to get in the spirit of celebrating the birth of Christ.
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Ooh I love Kate Morton's books!! I've read the three of them and really enjoyed them but The Forgotten Garden was my favorite. Your French Canadian celebrations sound lovely. I hope they went well. And I'm loving the ice and snow. We had rain here. Ireland really is green all year round. It didn't feel like Christmas at all! Hope yours was wonderful :)
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