EXHALING ...

Festive...
Food...
Family ...

and fun! I can't imagine Christmas without kids, for sure ... and our friends Carol and Jan and their newest wwoofer, John, joined us for dinner, too.

.... but I'm glad the holiday season is almost over, frankly... lol. It's a lot of work, and a lot of emotions...

We'll go into Victoria today for dinner at Jason's, and *then* we're done. I've already cast on a new non-Christmas knitting project, and a pair of socks for *me.*
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MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas, to me, has always been magical.

I suppose we celebrate something akin to the 'Christian' version of the holiday, minus the churchy parts. But the magic is in the 'feeling' rather than the theme ... having a heart full of gratitude and peace and love, and being around friends and family who feel the same way is what it's all about, to me. Then add great food, all the lights, the music, and yes, even the 'hustle and bustle' of it all, and the gifts (I listed that item last on purpose), and it's just a really special time for me.

This year, it's even more special because I get to host my family right here for the first time in many years. Hailey's already been here for a week or so, Mischa, River, Gibson and Joe arrived yesterday, Jason and Julie will be here today ... and then 'Galiano' Mike will join us tomorrow, and possibly another old friend, David, from Nanaimo (if his fight with cancer will allow him the energy to travel). Then on the 27th we'll travel to Victoria to have dinner with Jason and Kristin (who is spending the next few days with *her* family), because Joshua is spending Christmas with his mom, but will be down from up-Island for a few days, too.

Yesterday was a flurry of activity decorating the house here on the property -- half of it sits empty, but the 'bottom' half is minimally furnished, so we put up a tree and some lights and added some candles and other Christmasy trinkets, and it's looking pretty festive now! River agrees...
Gibson was playing 'hide-and-seek' so I couldn't get a picture of him!

And even though Christmas can sometimes be stressful with family issues and stuff, it can also be a healing time ... more of that magic I love. I'd like you to meet Clayton ...
Clayton is the 17-year-old son of Michael's younger brother, Paul. Paul and his wife Sandy and Clayton and his big brother Curtis live in Courtenay on Vancouver Island. We've been about a 3.5-hour drive apart for many, many years .... and haven't spoken. I don't need to get into the details, most families have some variation-on-the-theme going on, I'm sure. But a few months ago, Clayton and River connected on Facebook - and Clayton got on a bus several days ago, and came down-Island to spend 'pre-Christmas' time with River. He's been here with us since yesterday .... and what a wonderful young man he is, and now we have a 'bridge' to reconnect with Michael's family. We have no idea what that might look like right now, but it doesn't matter ... some healing has happened here, and that's wonder-full!

I wish you all warmth and love and light and peace and goodness this holiday season ... I have it all, and I couldn't be happier!

SANTA CLEAR FOR TAKE-OFF

That was the headline in this morning's Times-Colonist. You can read the rest of the adorable story here.

I'm not yet cleared for take-off, however; I still have too much knitting to do! I did manage to cross two items off my list yesterday, and this morning I *must* go into town to do all that last-minute shopping I dread every year!

Maybe more later...

I'M HERE!

... but this blogging thing is pretty neglected, huh?

I've been knitting like a fiend, of course .... and have hardly anything to show for it, since most of it is for gifts. You can see these really boring beige socks ....
... because our old buddy Mike doesn't have a computer, and won't be checking out my blog. I've finished at least 3 other pairs in the past ten days or so, and a few hats, and a few other 'items,' too.

And today our employers stopped by the marina with this lovely gift basket for us...
... and the KEYS TO THE HOUSE!!! Can you tell I'm excited? We have two huge three-bedroom suites (upper and lower) to play in for the next 4 days, and I can hardly wait --- the family starts arriving tomorrow!

Back to my knitting.... only four pairs of fingerless gloves to go! mwah ha ha
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"FIVE MORE SLEEPS"

Esther came over from Victoria yesterday to knit with us Rock Salties, but she got the server to take this picture of the two of us before the others arrived:
Another special guest arrived this morning to have a few 'sleepovers' with us .... you see, Gibson is in kindergarten this year, and school's out but his Mom still has to work -- so he got to come early for Christmas! (River, on the other hand, will be 13 in a few weeks -- how did THAT happen?? -- so he and a visiting cousin are hanging out at home). So .... quality bonding time with 'Auntie' and of course, with his Papa:
It's supposed to dip below freezing tomorrow night, maybe, but the last several days have been beautifully warm. Warm enough that some neighbors were out in their kayaks this morning...
Hailey and Gibson have gone off to Carol's farm to collect eggs and visit the goats, but it's my job to make supper .... a certain little 5-year-old requested Kraft Dinner and weiners, of all things ... I sure hope veggie rice and sausages is a good substitute!
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ACK!

Even with Esther reminding me, I haven't blogged for two days. I'm knitting .... stuff... that I can't tell you about or show you .... 'cuz it's Christmas. So .... later!

HOWEVER.... big news! I'm so excited, because for 14 years (since we moved aboard the Wind Walker) I haven't been able to host Christmas - the boat is roomy enough for two people to live aboard comfortably, but not to host a big family dinner. So we've been mostly at Mischa's since the boys came along, and that's been great. But I miss 'mother henning' my brood on Christmas Day, especially, and having to 'help out' in someone else's kitchen. So .... this year I stuck my neck out a mile, and asked the owners of this property that we are taking care of if I could host my family in the 'big house', because I knew they weren't going to be here. THEY SAID YES!! I'm over the moon about this, I just can't even tell you how much fun it will be for me. :-)

And I have much `smaller` big news, too ... this morning for the first time I put my wool handknit socks on these feet *without* cotton sockies underneath -- and my skin has not been irritated all day! (For those of you who have no idea why this is such good news, you can read what happened to me in September here and here.)

So it`s been a great day all around!

Last night's boat parade went great ... in the sense that it was calm and warm, and we had a boatload of enthusiastic friends, and great food. It almost wasn't a parade because it looked like we'd be the only boat.... and at the last minute, a small 'runabout' showed up out of nowhere with a young couple and their three dogs to join us. So we were a small but enthusiastic parade of two whole boats.... but we had lots of fun! I'll have to see if anyone emails me any pics of us....

And today I did the mountain of dishes we created and tidied up the house and stripped and made up one of the beds in the V-berth, because ....
... Hailey's home from Whistler for Christmas!! :-)