Christmas Morning Traditions

What is your Christmas morning like? Back when my brother and I were little kids, we'd be awake from about 4am on. Good thing my parents allowed the opening of stockings before they were up. Eventually (probably around 5:30am) my parents would crawl out of bed, clearly desperate for coffee, and indulge their annoying children. At the time, I knew it was early, but I had no real concept of how crappy it must have felt. For that I say, thank you dear parents.

Since we've grown up, we've changed up the tradition a bit. Whereas before, all gifts would be open by about 7am, now we don't even make it over to my parents place until about 10:30. Nick and I open presents together at home, followed by a lively Skype with our family in the UK. Then we head over to my parents' place. We will drink coffee and leisurely open our stockings. Then, we will all sit down to a big Christmas brunch of french toast, bacon, sausage, fruit, mimosas, sometimes followed by cinnamon buns (because the rest wasn't indulgent enough).

Eventually, we'll drag our full tummies back to the living room to open gifts. This ends up lasting into the afternoon. If weather and energy permits (as it did last year) we'll head outside for a walk. So our Christmas morning really turns into an entire day.

This year will be slightly different, but for a wonderful reason. Nick's parents and sister are coming to town! We'll change up the routine just a bit (Nick and I are hosting brunch), but they will still get to experience our version of a Canadian Christmas. Just a couple more days until they arrive :)

I will be taking a holiday blogging break, but I'm looking forward to 2014 and all the excitement it has to bring. Have a very wonderful holiday!

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A First Grinch Experience

Most, if not all, of us have seen How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the original cartoon version). Yesterday, Nick watched it for the first time. I was bouncing off the walls to see it again. I'm not sure why he hadn't seen it. Either it's not a popular story in the UK or his issue with Dr. Seuss (the rhyming freaks him out) prevented him from seeing it.

So we watched it. I sang along. I glanced in his direction every so often to see if he was smiling. I heard him laugh at parts. He liked it!

He did say that it's weird that the Grinch doesn't wear pants. He then crafted a little song to the tune of 'You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch' that detailed the lack of pants, and some other observations (like how creepy it is when he slithers like a snake around the Christmas tree). I pointed out that Daffy Duck doesn't wear pants either. I guess I'm a little defensive of the dear old Grinch. Did anyone else notice that when his heart grew three sizes, his eyes turned from red to blue??

One week until Christmas my friends! Get rid of your inner-Grinch and watch some Christmas movies!

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Gift Idea: Infused Liquor

If you're looking for a gift idea, here's one that's easy to make but delicious. Infused liquor. I was inspired by a friend who makes variations of Christmas cheer each year. The best thing about this is that you can personalize it to the taste of the person you're giving it to. For my first round, I decided to keep it simple and choose one flavour to infuse into each liquor. I went for bourbon infused with figs and gin infused with cucumber. Put your infusing item into a jar, add the liquor, and shake daily. I let them infuse for 6 days, but from what I've read, 4 days is enough time. Afterwards, strain into a bottle, label and gift away!

Tips from experience:
I took the seeds out of the cucumber so it wouldn't water-down the gin.
I used a coffee filter (in a funnel) to filter the little bits out. It's not the easiest - cheesecloth or a fine mesh sieve would likely be easier.

Cheers!

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