less is more...unless you have kids at Christmas.

So I would love to post an intensely successful message here about restraint and all the happiness found within it. But alas, I have two children and it's Christmas. I guess I will start with the success stories of this holiday season. The first and most exciting for me is that we survived the season without increasing any consumer debt. Yahhhhhhh. In fact we have successfully paid one thing off completely! Yahhhhhh.  Secondly, we were able to restrain ourselves regarding the adult's gifts. Keeping it simple, and to the bare minimum bringing in only a few household items that are meant to replace older outgoing items. Can opener, Tupperware, Measuring cups. 

As mentioned we did buy a fake tree. boo. But I had no allergies, we do have the room in the attic and next year we will not have the expense of getting a tree. So I count that as a success. Furthermore 20% of the kids gifts were much needed PJ's. 

Where we fail miserably is that we have parents who spoil our children and we like to do so too. As a result the kids have made little sacrifices in the gift department. Mind you they both wanted ipads or tablets and did not get that so we did keep it traditional. With an 8 year old we figure we don't have much more time before he doesn't want "toys" anymore. But there were no complaints. 

We managed an 8lb turkey in our little oven and a full fledged meal in our little kitchen. 

As the new year approaches we have a few unexpected and inevitable "surprise" expenses. You know the kind of random things that happen just when you are about to get ahead. My husband has decided to grow a "payoff" beard. The beard stays until the credit card debt goes. Fair deal I think. Maybe I should stop shaving too and we will save money on razors. We are trying to keep our sense of humour about the little things. We forgive ourselves for the kids gift overload because they are sharing a room and learning about sacrifice enough for now. Their biggest complaint coming only when they have to go to the bathroom at the same time. We are really appreciating being close to the school for snowy road days and when we don't have the car. My husband now favors the bus ride over the car ride. 

Feeling a bit more like home now, not minding the loss of space truthfully. The biggest complaint I have is that everything needs to have a place and needs to be put back in it. My clean freak husband has his routine down to a 20 min. science. We're looking forward to the new year. I hope you are too. 

...were hung over the TV fireplace with care...

I love a real fire. A wood fire. The only thing missing from this cottage is a good old fashioned fireplace. As we reach for an explaination of how Santa will get into our house sans fireplace, we decide to use a stick from our yard to hang the stockings with care over our T.V. I tell our kids we will turn on the Shaw fireplace channel the night of Santa's arrival.

It really doesn't take long to heat up this little place. If we close the closet and bathroom it's even faster. Have I seen a reduction in our heating bill? Not really. In fact sitting on the couch near the bank of front windows I must admit I feel an aggressive breeze. My husband refuses to plastic the window until we get exterior blinds so we don't lose the view. But it hasn't gotten really cold yet. The curtains around our bed seem to keep the heat in and the cold out better but we can't line every wall in the house with curtains, can we? It may be cheaper than buying new blinds for the eight windows. For now we just grab a blanket and a hot chocolate and wait for the big man to find us.

Atleast for the next week the holiday spirit will keep us warmer. May you have enough spirit to keep warm this holiday season. Merry Christmas.