Christmas Chain Day 24

Day 24: Put Out Cookies and Milk for Santa

Happy Christmas Eve!

This is the end of our advent count-down and there is nothing left to do but put out cookies and milk for Santa (or cookies and cognac as we did in our house).

So get into your Christmas PJs and grab 'Twas the Night Before Christmas'.

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas Chain Day 23

Day 23: Wrap your Gifts

Lets be honest, you don't want to do this on Christmas Eve when you are finally off and all ready for the holiday. So do your wrapping on the 23rd (or Christmas Eve Eve as we always like to say).

I've got my traditional double wrapping duty. All my gifts.. and all my mothers gifts. Don't worry Dad, I'm all ready to go.

Christmas Chain Day 22

Day 22: Buy Yourself a Christmas Treat

I'm homeward bound today! Which means 3 hours to kill in Heathrow terminal 5. Which will likely mean a bit of browsing in duty-free. I love wandering the shops though I don't buy very much.

In honour of duty-free shopping, today's activity is buy yourself a small Christmas treat, whatever that means for you. Maybe it's something delicious to eat, or a sparkly nail polish for Christmas day. Enjoy!

Christmas Chain Day 21

Day 21: Candle Light Dinner

Today is the darkest night of the year. This calls for candles and lanterns!

If you are in Toronto and up for some fun, go join the parade down in Kensington market. When else do you get to parade through the dark holding lanterns. (Unless you are in Victoria and that pretty much describes every Christmas parade).

But if you feel like staying closer to home, have a candle light dinner! Even just having a regular dinner by candle light makes it special. (For all concerned parties, rest assured I will not be using real candles... Fire safety first!)

Christmas Chain Day 20

Day 20: Get Your Tree

This is a traditional chain activity. We always got our tree on the weekend before Christmas. We use to go cut one down from a tree farm. Every year all of us kids and my dad would try to find the biggest tree we could, and my mother would try for a smaller one. She has the upper hand now that we no longer have 9 foot ceilings (sigh).

I know that the time you buy your tree differs, and my family is usually on the later side. So if your tree is already up, make sure you take some time to sit in the room with the lights off and admire it.

Christmas Chain Day 19

Day 19: Set your Christmas Menu

My favourite thing about Christmas planning? Planning the food!

So its time to pull out the recipe books and Christmas magazines and start picking your choice of recipes. Kaila and I may have gone a wee bit overboard on pintrest this year with receipe pinning. Might need to cut back.

Here is what we are thinking for our meals.

Christmas Eve Dinner - cheese, bread, sliced meats (what we like to call a 'snack dinner'), I'm voting we also make pate and smoked trout spread because they are delicious! The final product will hopefully look something like this.

Christmas Breakfast- We're revisiting our breakfast salad

Christmas Dinner- We've got the turkey figured out, with grandma's world famous stuffing of course and the desert figured out but we are still mulling over the sides.I wanted roasted potatoes though!

Christmas Chain Day 18

Day 18: Go See the Lights

This has got to be one of my favourite activities and its so simple. Go out and see the lights.

When I was a kid we would all bundle into the car and drive into our small town to look at the houses. I remember one year where these giant inflatable snow-globes were apparently the thing to have on your front lawn and we laughed ourselves silly seeing how many we could find.

So take part in this simple, enjoyable evening by going for a walk or a drive to see people's lights.

Christmas Chain Day 17

Day 17: Bake Some Christmas Treats

Christmas cookies and treats are the best cookies and treats. Its very important to have a good stash of them so you are never without cookies during the holiday week. Imagine the horror of not being able to choose from at least 5 typeso f cookies/treats over the christmas week. Its unthinkable!

At least thats what we tend to think.

When I was a kid we always use to make classic sugar cookies and then drizzle them with icing. They are always a classic and surprisingly still yummy. However, you can diversify a lot from the classic options. Here are three examples of slightly out of the normal Christmas bakes.

Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Cookies

Nutty and Nice Popcorn

Chocolate Baklava

Christmas Chain Day 16

Day 16: Christmas Movie

Put your feet up and put on a Christmas movie.

So for me if you are going to watch only one Christmas movie it has to be Die Hard! After all what says Christmas like Bruce Willis shooting up the place? I don't really go for the sequels, just the original.

However, if you aren't up for a Christmas action movies, my second choice is always Its a Wonderful Life. And I cry every time at the end, because I'm just that sort of person.

My sister and I also have a grand tradition of finding the worst Christmas special we can on the television. One year we managed to find some sort of weird cartoon paganish retelling of how Santa came to be, where he was raised by a bear and battled rock monsters with an army of faeries (if anyone knows the title please let me know, because we are dying to find it again.)

What will you watch tonight?

Christmas Chain Day 15

Day 15: Go Skating!

I will fully admit I'm not the best skater. The upside is that here in the UK, where far less people are put on skates by the time they can walk, I'm not nearly as bad.

But there is something very festive about skating so I'm going to go give it a whirl. Even if you aren't up for skating yourself, you can always grab some hot chocolate and watch others have a go at it.

I'm heading to the rink at Vauxhall tonight! It should be good.

Christmas Chain Day 14

Day 14: Have a Pamper Evening

I figured you might need a break after all the holiday fun so give yourselves a pamper night. Maybe that means taking a hot bath or sitting down to paint your nails. Or maybe just curling up in bed early with a book.

I plan to take advantage of the amazing Lush bathstuff for the holidays and have a nice hot bath. I also have a peppermint mask which seems  pretty festive!

Christmas Chain Day 13

Day 13: Check out Christmas Markets

I have a list of Christmas Markets a mile long. I've realized I was maybe a bit overly ambitious in Christmas market attending and have now cut back my list to those markets which are only here for Christmas (as opposed to the Christmas addition of regular monthly markets).

Torontonians the distillery district is the is running their big annual Christmas market, complete with stalls, food and mulled wine. http://www.thedistillerydistrict.com/christmas-market/

Here are a couple of my London Christmas market picks for this weekend:

Barbican Christmas Market (Dec 12-Dec 21)
http://www.barbican.org.uk/education/event-detail.asp?ID=17193

Dusty Fingers German Winter Wunderland (Dec 13)
http://www.timeout.com/london/shopping/dusty-fingers-german-winter-wunderland

Christmas Chain Day 12

Day 12: Have a Christmas Cocktail!

Its Friday and we are half way through the countdown. What better reason to have a cocktail exists?

Either track down a bar featuring some sort of Christmas Drink or be the bartender yourself and try on of these:

Hot Butter Rum

I've always been fascinated by the idea of Hot Butter Rum or if whiskey is your thing have a Hot Toddy.

Or you can go the Mulled Cider or wine route. I'm investigating this situation further myself. Never had mulled cider!

Go you could go seriously Canadian with an Iced Wine Cosmo!

Christmas Chain Day 11

Day 11: Get a Christmas Magazine

For 7 out of the last 8 years, heading home has meant boarding a plane. Usually I travel earlier than this year and I got in the habit of picking-up the Christmas edition of InStyle magazine as a pre-flight tradition. Now even when I don't fly I like to go find it and look through the crazy luxury gift-guide and 'what to wear' sections.

So choose a magazine as a Christmas treat for indulgence sake. Doesn't have to be style, get decorations, cooking ideas or whatever else will feel like it would be something special to you.

Christmas Chain Day 10

Day 10: Get the Decorations Up

Some people go all out and put up the tree and all the decorations at once. I like Christmas to slowly creep through the house, until eventually there is Christmas everywhere.

So if you haven't started, pull out the boxes of decorations and start adding a bit of christmas decoration everyday.

Turns out we have a mini-tree for our sitting room and I think a small investment in christmas lights is in order.

Christmas Chain Day 9

Day 9: Plan a Holiday Get-Together with Friends

Squeezing in friends as well as family with all the holidays and travel can be hard, but rather than forget them, schedule in some time for a friend holiday celebration.

Even if you can't fit it in before the holidays, make some plans in January. Things are always a bitlow down post-holiday and a get together to look forward can be perfect!

I'm feeling very lucky to be living in a big travel hub and looking forward to seeing a bunch of friends as they pass through the city!

Christmas Chain Day 8

Day 8: Write Your Christmas Cards

Writing Christmas Cards is almost a lost tradition but I don't know anyone who doesn't love receiving them.  So even if you don't plan to mail them, pass them around just pass them around to a few friends or co-worker. And hopefully you will get a few back to hang around your house!

If you are feeling extra christmas crafty you can make your own.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/rachelwmiller/christmas-cards-you-can-diy-in-under-an-hour

Or if you want to be extra charitable, many charities also selll christmas cards too!

Who will you send cards too?

Christmas Chain Day 7

Day 7: Enjoy Some Hot Chocolate

Hot chocolate is classic christmas drink. Long before all those fancy syrup combinations, having hot chocolate was the sort of treat that was ready made for the holiday season.

Now if you want to go enjoy a whole cafe experience, I have recommendations for you depending where you are.

You will notice that both of them involve mexican hot chocolate. In my personal opinion this is the way to go, but there are sweeter versions, if spice isn't your think.

Torontoians should head to St. Clair West for ChocoSol, which was voted best hot chocolate by BlogTO.

For all you Londoners, the recommendations is Paul A Young for Aztec hot chocolate. I'm planning to head in this direction after work today!

If you are in the mood to make it at home, I have always relied on this Nigella Lawson recipe which was a favourite among my room-mate in Chicago. (Booze aren't required but come highly recommended.

I have also recently stumbled across this set of Chocolate recipes courtesy of howsweeteats, which if you are looking for a more crazy hot chocolate flavors seems to be the way to go!

Please share your hot chocolate picks and other recommendations!

Christmas Chain Day 6

Day 6: Make Your Own Christmas Decorations

As this is my first year here, I don't have a store of christmas decorations. I'll grab a couple things but This will also be a year for making things. And my favourite go to Christmas decoration is paper snow flakes. All you need it white paper and scissors. I love these.

The trick is you want lots of cut outs and as little paper as you manage. You want them to be very lacey.

Stick the finished product up on your windows for a festive window.

I'm also intrigued with these popsicle ornaments.
http://www.fabdiy.com/diy-snowflake-popsicle-ornament/

Here a few easy DIY Christmas Ornaments
http://www.plaidonline.com/blog/post/2014/01/10/15-Easy-DIY-Christmas-Ornament-Tutorials

If you are ready for the master-class check out these ideas
http://www.ohlovelyday.com/2011/12/diy-holiday-winter-wedding-decor-diys.html

You can also gather evergreen boughs for great window box decorations and fill christmas planters along with great big red bows!

Christmas Chain Day 5

Day 5: Make One Christmas Present

Gift giving and gift making are interwined in my family. I have vivid memories of some Christmases where Mum decided to make almost all the gifts and we wouldn't see her as she madly worked up until midnight in the week before Christmas.

I myself have also suffered from boughts of overenthusiastic gift-making so I advise moderate gift making. Choose one person to make something for.  Making gifts os suppose to be fun, not stressful after all

I'm planning to do a bit of sewing and crafting myself, but if the thought of a sewing machine makes you sweat, it doesn't have to be that complicated even.

For example, One year my room-mates and I baked christmas cookies for all our friends and hand-painted boxes and it was huge fun. With three of us to bake and paint it wasn't too much work for anyone.

I have also come across this list of ethical christmas crafts. I'm very interested in the bath salts:
http://moralfibres.co.uk/10-homemade-christmas-gift-ideas/

Christmas Chain Day 4

Day 4: Pick a Christmas Book

Christmas is crazy fun, but it can also be more than a little stressful and overwhelming. For me there is no better escape from that than a good book. So pick something festive.

I actually re-read David Edding's the Belgariad every Christmas season. At this point my Christmas feelings about it are probably pavlovian. But why it originally struck me as Christmasy is beyond me. Maybe its the amount of time the characters spend walking through the snow?

If you are looking for ideas of what to pick up,  I will give you a few:


For a straight up classic, of course there is the Christmas Carol. And if you are really certain you can't squeeze in reading, you can listen to a recording here.

If you want sometime easy to pick up and put down. J.R. Tolkien wrote letters from Father Christmas to his kids and they have been compiled in a book. Not a story per say but easy to read a little bit at a time.

For those looking to recapture a bit of childhood, picking up a copy of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Remember long before Katniss, Susan's Christmas gift made me wish for a bow and arrow.

For mystery lovers, did you know Agatha Christie did a Christmas mystery for Hercule Poirot? Neither did I, but searching Christmas books I found this.

Lastly, for those who crave a bit of light romance, I'm a huge fan of Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos.

So what do you plan to read?

Christmas Chain Day 3

Day 3: Get Your Christmas Music Line-Up

While the constant Christmas shopping music sets many people's teeth on edge, a Christmas mix of your own making is pure joy. So dig out those Christmas CDs, create your i-tunes play list (or however you organize your music) and create your perfect play list.

When it comes to the classics I'm a fan of stuff like the carol of the bells, It came upon a midnight clear, the holly and the ivy. But I also love the more blues and jazz music too. Some of my favourites include:


Megan Smith, It snowed

Billy Holiday, I've got your love to keep me warm

The original version of Baby it's Cold Outside

Of course as a Canadian I'm including the Huron Carol.

And though its not technically Christmas music I think you can't pass on Stuart McLean's vinyl cafe christmas specials. I found a whole playlist of them on youtube so listen and laugh yourself silly!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQOAx3akAOk&list=PLYPzzSnm2LtkM_cy4-TmA-TXsZn2-gKTS

Christmas Chain Day 2

Day 2: Pick a Charity and Spread Some Christmas Joy

Okay, I know what you are thinking.

'Hey, I signed up for festive shennenigans and the second thing you mention is give to charity... and you work for charity. Deception is a foot!'

But it is the seasons of giving. Not only that, today is #GivingTuesday. We are joining an international movement (and who doesn't like a good movement)!

As a kid, our annual chrismtas donation was to pick out christmas presents to give away in the local drive. But whether your passion is for local causes or international charities, if there is a charity you've been meaning to make a donation to now is the time to do it.

Or if giving money doesn't work for you this year, how about committing to do some volunteering with a local charity in the new year?

If you still need some inspiration on where to give. These are my recommendations.

My environmental charity choice: The Raven Trust

Becausing supporting indigenous rights and environmental rights is a win/win and they have the best chance of blocking the Kinder Morgan Pipeline.

My local charity choice: Your local food-bank.

Because for me Christmas is all about the food. I'm skip the food pacakage donation and make a straight cash donations so that someone can have a tasty and fresh Christmas supper.

My International charity choice: Africa Educational Trust

Because I am a little biased but I'm also proud to work for them. They hold themselves to such a high standard of practise despite the difficult situations where they run their education programmes. My favourite programme AET runs is called School Mothers. Check it out.

Enjoy the feeling of giving and I'd love to hear who you are supporting this year.

Christmas Chain Day 1

The biggest Christmas tradition from my childhood is known as the 'Christmas chain'. This was way more than a count down to Christmas. It was 24 days of festive family activities. Inside every ring was something to do that day. It told us when to put up decorations, when to write letters to santa, when to get our christmas tree. It also contained numerous small, silly ways to mark the holiday season.

I think it was such a special tradition, because it made the Christmas not just one big day, but 24 days of celebration. Though the chain hasn't existed in physical forms since we all become adults. I thought this year I would reserrect it and it would be a nice break from being overloaded with organizing myself to make the annual pilgrimage back to Canada for the holidays.

The point is not that you have to do everything, but to give inspiration about ways you can make the next 24 days festive and special.

I hope you enjoy!

Day 1: Set up Your Advent Calendars

This is the traditional opener of the christmas chain. It was always hanging up when we got up, but we would set up our chocolate and paper calendars after opening it.

This year I've picked up one of these calendars from Montezuma's chocolates!

Please leave comments and photos of your advent calendar below or share other traditions!