"Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas!"

Yep, seriously. Christmas has been on my mind lately. From what to buy, what to make, how to celebrate, and when the kids act like it's Christmas morning over harvesting beans from their pods. Especially since I received my foodie penpal package today! But, I can't tell you about that yet.

(a small harvest from our garden)

In my family, Christmas was fairly traditional. On Christmas Eve, I was allowed to open one gift of my parents choosing - right before bed, just to get the excitement flowing! Then first thing Christmas morning while Mom and Dad made coffee and set up a tray of cheese, cold cuts, hot relish, crackers, etc I would start on my stocking. By turning my stocking on it's end and giving a wee shake, the floor would be instantly covered with small chocolate balls scattering in all directions. Along with chocolates, there would be some scratch tickets and a few small random gifts. Then we would dig into our lazy day platter of food, our chocolates, and the rest of our gifts. Following all of that action, we made thank you and Merry Christmas calls to friends and family.

For a few years now my husband and I have kept our Christmas celebration quite similar to this, but the vegan version. This year I have been thinking it is time for a change. We often do not have much money to lavish our little angels with present after present, we do not believe in any religion so really it is odd that we celebrate at all. Change is difficult though, and I'm just not sure where to go next.

We want to have our own years end celebration, not revolving around any kind of religious organization or belief but to say thank you to nature. A much more spiritual celebration, to replace Christmas. Crazy right? Well I say why not? People make up holidays all the time! Here in Stratford we have all sorts of days for "famous" people, like Justin Bieber Day and Julia Wilkinson Day.

Of course there is no way I want my lovely children feeling left out when the seasonal holidays are over. So I've been brainstorming. Unsuccessfully. Lets hope that this blog post will help get my wheels turning!