Christmas Eve

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...

Jack Frost nipping at your nose...

Yuletide carols being sung by a choir...

And folks, dressed up like eskimos...

What a beautifully familiar picture this paints in my head. Perhaps that's why it's my favourite holiday song. A relaxing scene, quite contradictory to the mostly busy season that Christmas is, but then Christmas Eve comes...

The busyness lessens, the traffic wanes, and if we are lucky there is fluffy, glittery snow falling from a lightly clouded sky, one where you can still see the glimmering stars. Christmas specials are on television, the fire is crackling (or, if you don't have a fireplace, the fire channel on tv), and old carols are playing in the background. I am lucky this year to sit in a beautiful house with my husband, curled up on the couch under our favourite blanket in comfy clothes with a cup of hot chocolate that may or may not have an ounce of liquor in it. We also have, for the second year in a row, built a Lego creation this evening. That is our tradition. I am excited that we are starting to have our own little family traditions.

I love Christmas Eve, much more than Christmas Day. I'm not really sure why. Maybe it's the anticipation of tomorrow morning, maybe it's the candlelit service at church. But there is something magical and exciting about Christmas Eve. I may never be able to pinpoint what exactly it is, but I love it. I wish I could be more descriptive. 

This year's Lego creation

I find myself beginning to really reflect on the past year. 2010 has been a trying, but equally exciting time for us both. I have seen the end of two toxic relationships as well as a new beginning to two other relationships. We moved cities, we have built relationships with new people and a new community that we now call our best friends and our home, we have both gotten serious about our music careers and have gotten some amazing opportunities to play this year, and we saw our first anniversary. And the year is not over yet, although I think we both are hoping for an uneventful week.

Come the New Year, I'm sure there may be one or two reflective blogs. But for now, we bask in relaxation and Christmas specials. What a wonderful life.

-SP