I have had a love/hate relationship with the holidays for a long time now. Back when I was in a crazy stressful work environment, and could barely pull my head out of the muck to take a breath, let alone put up a tree, bake holiday goodies or host family gatherings, avoidance was my solution of choice.
I left the country (with husband and kids in tow, mind you!) for sunnier climates. And zero expectation for anything Martha Stewart’ish from me.
This worked like a charm for 3 or 4 years. At least it did for me, that is.
Mr. Enthusiasm LOVES the holidays. It’s his favourite time of year. I knew that he hated being away from home at Christmas time, so we curtailed our getaway plans until after we’d celebrated Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at home with his family and mine. The day after Christmas was game-on though! It was a nice compromise.
Today I’m back to embracing the holidays. Perhaps not with as much Suzie Homemaker craziness as I used to do years ago. (Do you know what it’s like to string 1,200 mini lights on a tree?? MADNESS!)
These days we split our time between our main home in Toronto and our home away from home in Vegas, I try to split a little bit of Christmas cheer at the condo in the desert, and save the big guns for the house in the city.
Since I already gave you a glimpse of Vegas at Christmas in this post, today I offer you a snapshot of Christmas as it is represented at my home here in Toronto.
I also wanted to take this moment to thank you all for the unbelievable support you have provided during each step of this amazing journey.
The fact that you make time to visit this blog, share your comments and words of encouragement makes me so happy and so very grateful.
I wish you all the very best of the season. To those of you who celebrate it, Merry Christmas. And may 2014 bring you health, happiness and success.
Happy Holidays, friends.
Get moving!
xoxo nancy
***p.s. I’m adding a brief footnote Monday at 1:30 pm Toronto was hit with a massive ice storm Saturday night, paralyzing many parts of the city. I have personally been without power for 42 hours (as of the writing of this post at 1:30 pm Monday). I have no home phone service, and cell service is also very spotty. I’m presently at my in-laws house to borrow their hot water (shower) and Internet, as well as to recharge my cell phone. If you notice that I’m absent from your blogs, it’s because I don’t have connectivity. I look forward to catching up when power (and my sanity) is restored.
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Hope you get your power and sanity back very soon. Your house looks fab! Have a happy and hopefully relaxed holiday!
No power yet, unfortunately. 62 hours and counting. 😦
That’s rotten. Santa needs to get his act together and give you the gift of electricity. I hope you’ve got a big fireplace.
Not big enough to hear the whole house, but I’m still more fortunate than those without a fireplace. Grateful for the warmth it’s providing.
Oh no! The 1200 mini Christmas lights are strung up in vain!
Hope your power is back on soon! As much as I love Mother Nature, sometimes she can get a little carried away!
Merry Christmas!
PS – Your pictures look lovely!
I don’t do the 1,200 lights anymore. That was during my crazy need to impress everyone days.
Thanks – the home still looks lovely even though we can only see it in the daylight hours. 🙂
Merry Christmas! We were also hit and without power from 11pm Saturday to 1pm Monday. Spent some cold nights at home, but was able to escape to family homes who still had power to recharge and stay connected.
Hopefully your power is restored soon! Have a safe and merry Christmas!
I would have gladly taken Sat night to Sunday afternoon. We’ve been dark since 7:30 Friday. 😦
They’re saying Friday at the earliest for my neighbourhood.
That’s what I heard on the news last night, apparently Toronto will take much longer to restore…probably because it’s so big 😦
I think the issue with my neighbourhood is huge trees (lots of them) and overhead wires. It’s a bad combination.
I hope they restore power soon to you!
Sorry to hear about your loss of power, but hopefully you’ll still be able to enjoy your Christmas festivities. Merry Christmas to you and yours!!
Thanks Carrie. We’ve tweaked our plans and moved our Xmas day dinner to another location. What’s important is that the entire family is together and that we’re all safe.
Merry Christmas to you and yours Carrie!
Merry Christmas, Nancy! Seven days left 🙂
Merry Christmas to you and your lovely family Joan!
Merry Christmas Nancy!! I hope the power thing is sorting itself out. Xx
Not yet Rachael, but it’s still a Merry Christmas!
All the best to you and yours! xoxo
Merry Christmas Nancy! Stay warm and enjoy your holiday! ~Kathy
Coming up on 72 hours with no power! Yee-haw! There will be plenty of liquid holiday cheer tonight!
Happy Holidays to you and Thom!
Merry Christmas Nancy, your holiday home is beautiful! Best of luck staying warm and keeping up the good cheer in such cold weather. 🙂 Lisa
Thanks Lisa! Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Merry Christmas 🙂 have a great time!
I really hope your power comes back on soon!
Ours has just come back on, it was only out for 24 hrs though!
Happy Christmas again 🙂
Xxx
Merry Christmas to you Sam! I am so happy to know you!
No power, but we’re having a ton of fun! xoxo
Likewise 🙂 absolutely 😀 xxx
Gorgeous decorations! I saw the ice storm on the news. Wow. Hope everything in Tdot is back to normal soon. Merry Christmas to you!
Thanks Laurel! We aren’t likely to get power back in our neighbourhood until Friday. 😦 That said, our annual tradition is Xmas Eve with my in laws, including a sleep over, so in that respect we don’t feel displaced (and we are warm). 🙂
Tomorrow we’ll be over at my mom’s for the day, so that’s another day away from the frigid house. 🙂
Happy holidays to you and yours!
That sucks! I hope everything is okay out there aside from the power outage! Keep safe!
A Christmas miracle happened – we arrived home this morning after spending Xmas Eve night with my in laws – we had power and a warm house + hot water. Two things that are so important when the temperature is sub zero. Oh happy day!!! I do believe in Santa!
Yay! Good to hear!
yay!! That is fantastic! And to have come on Christmas morning, that is amazing. We take things like power for granted until you don’t have it for so long. I bet you were laughing with excitement when you walked in! 😉
Giddy like a school girl!
Great that you got your power back on Christmas! Santa is alive and well. Wishing you & yours a wonderful continuation of the holidays!
Many thanks!
Your home looks so beautiful Nancy! I hope you had power on Christmas but if not, that you bundled and found some joy. Wishing you the best in 2014, I am so happy to have met you! xo
We arrived back home Christmas morning to a warm house with lights on! It was a Christmas miracle.