#AMonthofFaves This is How We (Interfaithfully) Holiday

Honestly, this post stays pretty much the same from year to year but I still like showing you our holiday decorations. I love seeing what becomes a tradition after a few years and what changes. (I'll give you a hint: not much changes!) When I saw that today's post on #AMonthofFaves, the blog party hosted by Kim and Tanya at GirlXOXO (link here) and T of Traveling With T (link here), was "how we holiday," I couldn't wait to "invite you all in," as it were.

First up, we start with smelling the Christmas potpourri. I got this idea from my blog friend, Alison, and it has been a staple at our house ever since throughout most of December. It's basically a couple of orange slices, a handful of cranberries, a couple of cinnamon sticks, and a sprinkling of whole cloves. Add water and simmer away, adding water as necessary.

A big change this year is that Rachel has basically taken charge of making the potpourri. She loves it and I LOVE that she has taken on this tradition.

 

For those of you who are new, my husband Dave is Jewish, I am Christian, and we are raising the kids in both faiths. So at this time of year we are celebrating all the things! This year Channukah starts this coming Sunday evening and the last night is December 29 so it will completely overlap with Christmas. It will be busy times.

While we are in the kitchen, smelling the Christmas potpourri, please note the cute driedels on the cupboard handles. We tried a few different places for these, before settling on the cupboards.

In the office hangs our Channukah star banner which Dave made out of origami. Yes, we have a window in the middle of our house. Yes, this is where the Christmas cards also hang out.

Entering the living room, you see the handmade nativity set I bought in Israel-Palestine. I originally gave it to my parents but a few years ago they gave it back to me so we could enjoy it. I LOVE this set.

The piano is perfect for the "Happy Chanukah" banner I made a few years ago. I love this banner. I also love that Sam was inspired to make his own "Happy Chanukah" banner. Yes, I've kept it for about six years. Yes, I will probably never throw it out. And yes, we always hang it where four year old Sam originally hung it :)

Back in the living room you can see we found a new place for one of our banners. We always hang this in the kitchen, and then complain because it interferes with opening the cupboard doors. I told Dave, "Not this year" and we found a new place for it. And Rachel's menorah, which she made at Religious school, when she was about three, always hangs on the living room window. I think we lost the flame for the shamash though.

I asked Sam to arrange our Channukah books on the living room shelf. We have accumulated quite the pile over the years.

I acquired some random Christmas fabric and used it to make my light garland in the dining room. I then made the rest into this really long irritating string, which I hang on our stair railing. It's random and sort of ugly, but hey, it's tradition. Ha!

Welcome to our dining room. We have Channukah garland strung and a whole bunch of Christmas happening in here.

For the past couple of years, we've done a Food Bank Advent calendar with the kids. We use this one here. I love this way of counting down until Christmas.

Also, for the past few years, we've gotten our tree from our neighbourhood association. We walk to a local park to pick it up, drink hot chocolate with our neighbours, and I love it. This year, sadly, we had to decorate our tree twice.

We decorated it the first time, went to buy skates, and when we got home, the tree was lying on the ground. Thankfully only three ornaments broke, but one was easily replaceable and the other two were mine and Dave's which we bought at Target in Canada. While I'm sad to lose my red teapot, at least I didn't lose some of my ornaments from when I was a kid.

Dave took the kids out to pick up pizza while I redecorated the tree.

Our Advent wreath is nothing to write home about. Ha! It exists and we light the candles almost every night at supper.

Sorry, for the blurry photos, but the dining room, with its light string over the window and the Christmas tree in the corner, and the Advent wreath on the table, is just so pretty.

We also have a Christmas wreath on the front door and the kids each have a miniature Christmas tree in their room (Sam's is blue and Rachel's is red) and that is about it.

I love our interfaithfully decorated house and I hope you've enjoyed the tour!

What's Up Wednesday: December 2019

I'm so excited because in 2019, for the first year ever, I participated in What's Up Wednesday every single month! You can see all my What's Up Wednesday posts here. I love this way of capturing moments in my month.

image from here

What we're eating this week... Right now as I write this (Monday at noon), I am eating tomato soup (from a can) with Caesar croutons to make it more interesting. Other than that, the plan is to eat a lot of beans this week -- burrito bowls and Spanish rice. And we'll probably mix up another batch of our holiday cookies. You can find that recipe here. I have yellow and blue Jell-O this time so maybe we'll make them as Channukah cookies. Yum!

Left: Making cookies with Sam and Rachel a few weeks ago

Right: finished cookies from a few years ago

 I might have bought some of the holiday chocolate on my errand running today. So we'll probably be eating more than a little bit of this over the next week :)
 

What I'm reminiscing about... My parents are coming here for Christmas this year so I'm reminiscing about the last time they were here for Christmas which was four years ago. The kids were so little then. Sam was six and Rachel was four.

What I'm loving... It's Christmas potpourri time. I make mine with a couple of orange slices, a couple of cinnamon sticks, a handful of frozen cranberries, and some whole cloves. It simmers for a few days and then I make a new batch. I just add water as necessary. Our house smells AMAZING right now.

What we've been up to... We've been getting used to a new schedule, on top of all the holiday things like Channukah parties at Religious school, Christmas pageant practicing at church, a holiday showing at dance for Rachel, and waiting for our washing machine to get fixed. (Okay, that last one isn't a holiday thing, but it is something we've been up to. Ha!)

The new schedule has to do with the fact that after three and a half months of unemployment, I started a new job last week. While it's supposed to be an on-call, as needed position, I hit the ground running and worked four days last week. Yikes. I wrote more about my new position in this blog post here.

What I'm dreading... ICE. There is so much ice right now. We keep getting rain and then it freezes. This is our sidewalk and the end of our driveway. It's so hard to keep clear and it's so slippery to walk. Ugh.

What I'm working on... Our holiday cards. Ooops. Last year we were so on top of these and this year, not so much. The kids are off school today so maybe I'll try and employ some bribery to get some of them ready to send. Hopefully my friends and family are excited about receiving holiday cards in January. Ha!

What I'm excited about... Last year my parents were away over Christmas so we had to come up with some new traditions. One thing we incorporated was the Icelandic tradition of Jólabókaflóð, and we all loved it. So we're doing it again this year. I'm excited to give everyone their new books on Christmas Eve and to spend the rest of the night reading :)

Sam and Rachel reading last year on Christmas Eve.

What I'm watching/reading... We haven't watched ANYTHING lately, unless you count me watching Rachel at dance. It's been so busy. In terms of reading, I've been getting a little bit of reading done but honestly, going back to work has exhausted me so I've been opting for sleep at night instead of reading. However, if you want to read about what I'm recommending people read this winter, you can check out my post from Monday here. I'm hoping to finish The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern before tomorrow.

Rachel had two different dances this past weekend at the holiday showing -- she was a Winter Wonderland for modern and baking for ballet. Now we have a three week break from dance and I'm not sad about it.

What I'm listening to... As I'm writing this part of the post, it's after school and Rachel is having a play date with a friend so I'm listening to them play each other songs on the piano. It's super cute. I'd take a picture to show you but I didn't ask the parents' permission to post a picture of their child on the blog. Just imagine two cute third graders playing piano songs for each other :)

What I'm wearing... Last What's Up Wednesday, I wrote about our holiday pajamas. Well, we've been wearing those a lot lately!

What I'm doing this weekend... The kids are off for the break starting on Friday. On Saturday we're heading to Glow Gardens in Toronto with some friends. You can read more about it here. On Sunday morning is the Christmas pageant at church and Sunday night is the first night of Chanukah. My mom and dad arrive to celebrate Christmas with us on Monday so I'm just excited about all of that!!! Yay!!!

What I'm looking forward to next month... After Christmas, my parents are heading home for a couple of weeks and then flying back here because we're all taking off to somewhere warm together! I CAN'T WAIT!!!

What else is new... My new job is the biggest new thing and I wrote about that under "What we've been up to." Other than that, it's just the start of the holidays. Whoooo hoooo!!!

Daily Photo: December 10 - 16, 2019

December 10, 2019 -- As it was my first full day of work (well, training), and the kids' first day of coming home with a babysitter, they had an "after school" list of instructions.

December 11, 2019 -- It was my first official day of work, so the kids made me a sign. You can read more about my job, and see my sign, in this post here.

December 12, 2019 -- I only took this picture of Rachel in choir (back row, third from the right) at the school open house this day. Rachel was one of two emcees and got to announce the songs.

December 13, 2019 -- I worked three full days, plus a day of training, so I was in bed by 7 and asleep shortly after 9pm this day. Thus, I took no pictures. I could barely move :)

December 14, 2019 -- Due to some unusual circumstances, Rachel came with me to a Youth event at church. She got to enjoy an ice cream sundae at 8:30 on a Saturday night. This is a rare treat!

December 15, 2019 -- Our church is making a quilt to donate to a sale to raise funds for overseas work. Anyone is invited to quilt it during our church service and Rachel and Sam decided to take a turn this day. I was really impressed with how neat their stitches were.

December 16, 2019 -- Our back yard yesterday. I should probably get rid of my laundry hanging bench and give it up for the season. Boo :(

#AMonthofFaves Winter Reading

I honestly think winter is one of my favourite times to read. There's not much better than curling up in a blanket (or under the covers) with a big mug of hot tea and a good book. In winter I love taking on big books which make me think or books which make me feel cozy.

Some of these next books I've mentioned already this month but here are my suggestions for books for you to pick up this winter.

PS. As usual, my pictures are all from Goodreads.

This book reminds me of an accessible Russian classic. It will take you some time to read it so pick it up, clear a few hours, and really get into it. You might think an entire novel based almost entirely in a hotel would be boring but you would be wrong. How would you manage if you were sentenced to house arrest, in a hotel, for decades?

This book is beautifully written and feels like reading a warm hug. Seriously, that is the best way I can describe it. Get cozy under a blanket and prepare to fall in love with Ursa and the community she builds around her.

This is just a fun book set in the summertime. Read it and prepare to be transported to medieval times and warm summer days. When I looked for this picture, I was really excited to see there is a second book in this series, due out in 2020. It's called Well Played and you can bet I will be keeping my eye out for it!

From the author of The Lunar Chronicles comes this new series featuring superheros. These are longer books but so well worth the time to read them. Meyer's world of superheros, and who is on the side of "right", sucked me in. Also, if you haven't read The Lunar Chronicles (retellings of some popular fairy tales), pick those up too. They will keep you entertained on the longest of winter nights.

In my head these two books work well together. One is about a spy who betrayed the English and American spy communities to Russia and the other is about the unnamed (and still mostly unknown) women who helped break enemy codes during World War II. I guess because they're both about codes and spies, and nonfiction about (and beyond) World War II, they pair well together in my mind. Again, if you want to delve deeper into some nonfiction this winter, I highly recommend you pick up these books.

A fiction series which pairs well with the above non-fiction books is the Maggie Hope series by Susan Elia MacNeal. Maggie Hope is an American living in Britain when World War II breaks out. She soon becomes entangled in some of the deeper echelons of the British government. I really like Maggie's pluck and am looking forward to reading the next few books in the series. According to Goodreads, there are nine books in the series thus far so I'll have to pick some more of them up this winter. Yay!!!

I would say my most highly anticipated book for this winter is The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. I actually have it out from the library right now as a Fast Read, which means I only have it for seven days but I can pick it up whenever I see the Fast Read copy available. Otherwise I'll have to wait until my hold on it comes in and as there are 29 holds on it right now, it appears that I'm not the only person anticipating it!

I don't have any other books I'm really looking forward to reading this winter. Sad. I'll have to see if I can find some... For those of you who are also participating in the link up, I'm looking forward to seeing if I find any book recommendations on your lists.

I'm linking up today with #AMonthofFaves, the blog party hosted by Kim and Tanya at GirlXOXO (link here) and T of Traveling With T (link here).