It Started With the Library...: Best Christmas Ever

Hello sweet friends!

How was your Christmas?

Ours was fantastic! It was the celebration of my 10th Christmas together with my husband Rob :)

Here is a flashback picture to our first one (I'm not in the picture because I took it of him; we were visiting at my mum's & Grams' place).

Image may contain: 1 person, smiling, christmas tree and indoor

Anyhow, we began the official Christmas celebrations by going out for a nice dinner with his family. We were going to another nearby city, but the winter road conditions hindered that. So we stayed local and made the best of it. We then went back to one of Rob's relatives places and watched some nieces open their Christmas gifts (so cute!).

Then, my favorite part, Rob & I started our Christmas morning by building this gingerbread house together:

It's not the most flattering picture, but we tried some new things - such as Celebration Cookie doors, and sugar on the roof to look like a recent snowfall. I got that trick from the Food Network.

After we laughed like children, and then cleaned up the mess, we went on to cards and presents. We live in a condo with some really fabulous neighbours. And therefore we enjoyed opening many wonderful cards from them, as well as from all our extended family and from each other. This year, I finally got the idea to hang a festive ribbon from our curtain rod, and put the cards there.

Then, Rob & spoiled each other silly with gifts & stockings! This was, after all, a very special Christmas for us. We've given each other awesome presents before, and we've had a lot of wonderful Christmases together, but I'd like to be so bold as to imply this was our best.

In the spirit of being a kawaii artist, I drew this chibi sketch of me & Rob, in our Christmas planner notebook, and colored it in. We're like two excited children, screaming with delight.

Here is a snapshot of the 'aftermath' of opening everything at our place:

Remember, it's not just about the gifts. It's about all the love. All the love and hygge feelings of sitting together by the tree, grinning and hugging with each unwrapped gift. It's the knowledge of this other human being, who knows me so well, and wants to make me happy. It's the person for whom I spent [undisclaimed amount] and hours of wrapping! Well, over an hour anyway.

Sadly, boxing day meant I had to go back to work, but aside from some 'Friday the 13th' feelings (the bus never got me, so I had to call a cab and be late for work; then when Rob came to pick me up at end of shift, he had a minor collision and I left early to be there with them). Some days are bad, but thankfully that's behind us now. Just waiting to hear back about insurance. It could've been worse and just glad he's okay!

Now, we approach the new year of 2018... another beautiful Christmas season coming to a close. Some radio stations have already gone back to normal music. Some TV stations are still playing boxing week specials. Thankfully, most residents of Red Deer still have their decor up - such a lovely sight to take in!

Here are some more snapshots of Christmas 2017: