I was determined to squeeze out as many holiday good cheer moments as possible this year. Too often the holidays come and go and I am left with my head spinning. It seems I was just bitching about how early Christmas decorations appear in the stores and the next thing I know it is over. Every year I vow that the following year will be different and I will spend the month of December lovingly wrapping gifts I made throughout the year in potato printed wrapping paper, affixing hand painted gift cards and baking complicated confections. Instead I find myself disorganized and in a hazy sugar fog from my breakfasts of shortbread and fudge.

Despite the frenzy and the non-crafting remorse, I did have some lovely yuletide moments:

• Watching Elf wrapped up in a blanket with The Sweetie, sipping cocoa and not having him make fun of me for crying at the end, being the only person who would cry during a Will Ferrell movie.
• Having a misty walk on an unseasonably mild night looking at all the twinkling lights and spying through windows to catch a glimpse of Christmas trees inside.
• Trimming the Christmas tree with The Sweetie wearing new pajamas we bought for each other last year on Boxing Day. It has become a tradition that every year we buy each other Christmas pajamas, the tackier the better, and hide them until the following year when we trim the tree. This year’s offering was a banana yellow pair with penguins on icebergs that look like blocks of cheese.
• Having sweet friends over for some Christmas cheer, not listening to a single Christmas carol and being surrounded by laughter and teasing and coziness.
• Giving myself full reign to eat every cookie and confection with wild abandon. It has resulted in all of my pants being tighter and strange chapped patches on my face, but it has been delicious and will make new year’s resolutions much more dramatic.
• Seeing my 14 month old nephew melt the hearts of his proud grandparents.
• Spooning with my sister’s weirdo dog who looks like a Jack Russel wart hog cross.
• Going to a gospel Christmas concert and having The Sweetie gamely clap along, even though he is not an audience participation kind of guy, because he knew that I have zero rhythm and needed someone clapping next to me so that I could follow along.
• Discovering a new favourite cookie recipe with a surprise bite of chocolate inside. Everything is good with a surprise bite of chocolate.
• Sticking my fabulous Bake It Pretty cupcake toppers in everything from cupcakes to brie cheese in order to create a winter wonderland everywhere I could.
• Joining hands with three generations of family at Christmas dinner and hearing the two and a half year old proclaim, “It’s good to be together”.

I may never be a crafty Christmas goddess or create Norman Rockwell style family scenarios. Christmas will probably always involve a little teeth gnashing, eye rolling and bah humbugs, but carving out a few sweet moments, savouring little bites of deliciousness and taking the time to steal a little moment of peace among the frenzy makes for a merry season indeed.