"This Is Going To Be A Christmas To Remember" Said Bob

One of Noah & Tait's favourite books is called A Christmas To Remember. It's a Bob The Builder book and was given to them last year. We read it year round and they love it. Noah always reads the last sentence of the book, "This is going to be a Christmas to remember" said Bob.

Bob's Christmas prep started well. He was excited about family coming and about the concert in the town square. But of course things go awry:

• His brother can't make it from the North Pole, as he missed the last boat on Christmas Eve
• The singer of the band who will play in the town square falls ill
• Bob forgets to pick up his Santa costume
• Things break and plans just do not go accordingly

Well, this year we had another special time together as a family - minus one...my sister who was in Pensacola, Florida. It was definitely a different Christmas though. It was memorable. Good memorable (mostly).

Ben and I decided months ago that we did not want to spend tons of money on "things". We wanted to give each other something practical, useful, and something we could all enjoy, often. We decided on this...and it was installed many weeks ago.

Christmas morning was not what we had expected. The flu hit the "last member standing" in our family and my Dad was sick sick sick. We also woke up to a major power outage...along with thousands of others...and we continued through our morning with tons of snow, no electric heat, lights, coffee (!), or other amenities we too frequently take for granted.

And you know what...

It was great.

We lit the fire and stayed toasty warm. We put a pot on top, boiled some water and enjoyed our tea. After a round of stockings, Ben got out the Coleman stove and cooked our bacon while I scrambled our eggs in a pan on the wood stove. Croissants pre-made, fruit salad concocted the night before...we were set.

We were happy.

We were together.

And, though I was nervous that the power wouldn't come back on, at the anticipated BC Hydro time of 11am we had fun. (And it came back on.)

We enjoyed, relished, and participated in what Christmas should be about.

The Birth Of Christ.

Family Together.

Children Laughing.

Playing.

Shrieking In Delight.

I wouldn't change a thing...(well, except my Dad's bonding with the porcelain thrown). It was fun. We got creative and we simplified. We savoured the moments with no phone, no internet. Heck even not having coffee was okay.