My Christmas Holiday Journal - Day 5

January 2, 2025

(I only took two photos today on my camera! I’m adding one from my phone, one from Laurent’s phone and his digital painting of my kitchen from this day.)

December 28 - A visit to Westcote Bell Pottery and Brie & Ian arrive.

Pippin wakes me up at 5am.

Since the fall, as the nights grew darker and colder, Pippin has been sleeping most of the night on the foot of our bed. With Laurent's arrival he’s moved to the guest bed, where Laurent is sleeping but Pippin still knows who to come to if he wants something. I carefully walk down the stairs in the dark and open the door to let Pippin outside but he doesn’t want to go out. I guess he just wanted to say hi.

Pippin gets his first meal at 6:30am and I’m a little worried he might pester us until that time. Thankfully, he doesn’t but still I’m awake for the next hour or so.

I commonly wake up between 4 and 5am and in my normal days I promptly go back to sleep. But since the start of our Christmas holiday I can't get back to sleep easily after my nocturnal waking. I think it’s because my mind and spirit are so engaged during the day, often thinking about the next thing I need to do, which is usually something in the kitchen, that I need some time during the dark quiet hours to process the previous day's happenings.

I think about my children being here. I think about the next day’s food. I think about family dynamics and everyone’s well-being and comfort.

I fall back asleep after what feels like an hour and a half. I sleep till 9:30am. While I’m sleeping up here in the open loft I wear ear plugs for the early morning hours to help block out noises from downstairs. This is so I won’t wake up every time someone goes to the bathroom or gets a drink of water from the kitchen. There is no door up here and all the sound travels up.

Interestingly, when I go to bed at night I’m so tired I don’t need to block out the quiet nighttime noises that the family is making downstairs as they read or watch their devices or books and go about their pre-bed routines. I don’t even register when Damien comes to bed.

Damien is up before me today and has the fire going when I come downstairs to get started on my day.

It’s another sparkly morning.

It’s a relaxed day. No big plans and just my family for supper. Brie & Ian are arriving tonight and it’s my third time in five days that I am eagerly anticipating a child’s arrival.

A little story about cappuccino mugs and Westcote Bell Pottery

I drew Damien’s name for the Secret Santa and earlier this month I secured a gift that was on his wish list. But then I had an idea for another gift, a handmade pottery mug for his morning cappuccino.

We have a set of IKEA cappuccino mugs that we bought when we got our first espresso maker, a Nespresso machine.

A couple years ago Damien upgraded to a much more technical Breville and has since become quite the barista, specializing specifically in cappuccinos, his own drink of choice. I don’t use the machine and rarely drink espresso as I prefer my morning pot of French press coffee.

For as long as I can remember my parents have owned a lovely mix-matched collection of handmade pottery mugs. We’re used to using artisan mugs when visiting my parents so when we moved here this summer and unpacked our not-as-lovely odds and ends ceramic mugs (plus a few pretty handmade pottery mugs) our coffee cupboard didn’t look at beautiful as we’ve become accustomed to seeing on our many visits.

We decided to slowly upgrade our mugs as household finances allow, especially our cappuccino mugs.

I remembered all this a couple weeks ago and thought Christmas would be a perfect time to start working on this goal. So I took the ferry across the river to Westcote Bell Pottery to peruse their studio.

Damien makes a very specific cappuccino size, roughly half espresso and half frothed milk served in our (approximately) 5.5 ounce IKEA cappuccino mugs.

(I actually didn’t know about the measurement of liquid until I was writing this and did the research.)

On my first trip to Westcote earlier this month I picked up a mug I thought might work and confirmed with the owner I could exchange it for something else if it wasn’t the right fit. The exchange would be no problem.

When I brought the mug home and measured it against our IKEA mugs I realized it was too small. I’d have to return it and look for another one but it would have to wait until right before our gift exchange because I just had too much else going on.

Today was the day to go back across the river, exchange the mug and see if I could find a more appropriate size. I was able to do even better than that.

I took the IKEA mug with me, to use as a comparison for other mugs I found and when I showed it to Vaughn, the potter, he said “we don’t have anything like that in the studio but I’ll make one for you”. Not sure why I didn’t think to ask for this the first time around.

So, I returned the original mug I purchased and commissioned a bespoke cappuccino-sized mug instead. I wouldn’t have it in time for our gift exchange tomorrow but it wasn’t his only gift, so I felt ok about this.

Now, back to the day’s journal… Laurent and Iris accompanied me across river. I did my Secret Santa business at Westcote and then joined them at LaHave River Books and we got treats at LaHave Bakery before returning back home on the ferry.

The weather is warming and the air is holding more moisture which means the outdoors smells like ocean-forest once again.

In the afternoon I wrap my gifts for tomorrow. Ciel and Iris have a sauna. A movie is watched. We’re in contact with Brie about the train’s ETA, which similarly to Ciel and Iris’ 2 days ago, is delayed by a couple hours. Brie is anxious to be here already, but the views have been rewarding.

I had planned a chickpea tikka masala for tonight, with basmati rice and cauliflower side. But leftovers, plus some of the food I already put in the freezer from days 1 and 2 will be sufficient. I laugh at myself for thinking on those days I made too much food. Technically, yes for those nights I did. But 3, soon to be 5, young adults in the house who all appreciate a break from cooking their own meals, is taking care of all extra food.

I realize on this night that I can just relax about making too much. It won’t be too much.

I pack a car-friendly meal for Brie and Ian to eat upon their arrival and Damien heads out for the last time this holiday to pick kids up from the station/airport. (The next time he leaves for Halifax will be to drop kids off.)

It’s a quiet, relaxed evening as we wait for Brie and Ian’s arrival. At 10:15 it’s nearing my bedtime when Damien arrives and backs up the car to the front door to unload their bags.

Brie had requested an evening sauna earlier in the day and I thought for sure they’d be too tired. They are not. So I fire it up (it’s electric, so no real fire) and all the bustle of their arrival and greetings and “how was your trip?” talk wakes me up.

It’s a late night sauna for Brie, Ian and I. After a quick shower I crawl into bed at 11:30pm. My body is warm and relaxed. My mind at ease. All my babies are home.