My Christmas Holiday Journal - Days 8, 9, 10 & 11

January 5, 2025

There are a whopping 37 photos in this post! I don't know if they will all load in email or not. Click through to the blog post if you can't read or view the whole post in the email.

December 31 - A Golden Day and New Year’s Eve

I have my now-usual early morning waking. I’m not awake for too long. I’m thinking mostly about the day’s food.

I eventually fall back asleep and get up at 8:30am. Nearly all the snow has melted in last night’s rain storm.

I start on breakfast right away. A repeat of an earlier holiday breakfast from four days ago. Crepes served with ricotta whipped cream (whipped cream and ricotta mixed together), maple syrup, summer-picked berries, Nutella and bananas, plus bacon and Beyond Meat breakfast sausages for Brie.

Joah joins us and we have a table full of young adults. For the umpteenth time this holiday my heart is so full and satisfied.

Pippin provides the morning entertainment. Now that the snow is mostly melted he can go back to hunting in our neighbour’s field.

We have a straight line of vision from the dining room table to his hunting grounds. We are team-Pippin and feel duly proud of his achievement as he eventually stalks (or is it swaggers?) out of the field with both a mouse and huge oak leaf clamped in his mouth.

By all appearances Pippin loves living here. He’s been a city cat most of his life but he was born on the Gaspé Peninsula, where we found him abandoned on the road to Henderson Beach.

We moved to Montreal the following summer after rescuing him and he’s lived in the city ever since, where he was an indoor/outdoor cat.

Pippin is skittish by nature and wary of new people, especially men. His cautious nature probably helped keep him safe in an urban environment of heavy vehicle traffic.

Since moving to the country he’s lost weight. He’d been an overweight cat, gradually gaining more weight through the years. The vet recommended an appropriate caloric intake for him and he’s been on that diet since fall 2023. But he’s noticeably lost weight and become a much sleeker, more svelte cat since moving here.

Which leads us to believe he was being fed/finding food other places in Montreal. And/or he gets more exercise out here hunting rodents and stalking the fields and forest.

However it happened, his weight is down, probably near ideal, though we’ll know better after a vet visit this winter. And by all appearances, including his behaviour he loves living in the country.

But boy oh boy, do our kids ever miss him! Pippin has been getting all the love this Christmas as the kids dote on him, feed him treats, and shower him with hugs and kisses.

So we’re all cheers and “good boys” for Pippin as he endeavours to rid our property (and the neighbour’s field) of rodents.

After breakfast and the Pippin Nature Show, the kitchen is cleaned up and there is quiet lull in the day before the afternoon’s activity - hiking Hirtle’s Beach and Gaff Point.

During this time I start the pork in the Instant Pot for tonight’s Taco Bar.

After the last couple days of gray and fog and the heavy rain last night, the sunlight today has a spun gold essence.

Hiking Gaff Point is one of our most enduring Nova Scotia Christmas holiday traditions.

Every year we’ve had Christmas in Nova Scotia, for a long as any of us can remember, we hike Hirtle’s Beach and Gaff Point in the days following our Christmas Dinner and gift exchange.

It’s probably our most immutable holiday tradition. In saying that, everything is always subject to change and nothing has to keep on going that we don’t want to keep going. But everyone wants to keep this going.

Today we have a break in the overcast, rainy weather. Plus it’s our last day all together.

Everyone is good spirits for our traditional hike and the sunshine and blue skies certainly help. Unfortunately my brother is not able to join because he’s not feeling well.

In fact, we’ve had 4 sick family members this Christmas. Laurent arrived with a cold and has been slowly getting better during his stay. Brad, Damien, and Iris have all gotten sick during the ensuing period and are in various stages of symptoms and recovery.

It’s unclear if Laurent was the source, or general holiday travel germs are to blame. (Damien is the only one who hadn’t been on a plane or train in the days leading up to Christmas holiday.)

Thankfully, everyone has had the opportunity for a lot of rest, naps, and hot drinks. I am deeply grateful that my own bad flu was a month ago. It would have been terrible for me to be sick during this time with all my cooking responsibilities, plus the lack of my own bedroom in which I could retreat and sleep.

With the torrential rain fall the night before, the trail is too muddy and wet for our group to walk the loop around Gaff Point. We decide to go down to the Secret Beach, which is not a secret and is actually named Sandy Cove.

The last time we were at the Secret Beach the kids were well, kids. It was over a decade ago, at least. We were due for a return visit and it did not disappoint.

When we return home from our outing the house is liquid gold with the winter sun illuminating all the blond wood and reflecting off the polished concrete floors.

Tonight’s supper is a Taco Bar and it’s so much less stress for me than Christmas dinner. I’m making carnitas, or as close to it as I can get for the amount of effort I’m willing to give.

Joah is preparing seasoned ground beef. Damien’s making refried beans and I’ve got a ground beef alternative for Brienne. Brie & Ian are making guacamole, plus we’ve got shredded cheese, shredded lettuce, chopped cilantro, salsa, sour cream, soft corn and wheat tortillas.

Supper is a hit and then it’s time for a bonfire.

I had hoped we’d be able to have a bonfire over Christmas but I wasn’t sure it could happen after all that snow. With last night’s rain melting most of the snow and clearing the ground, it’s a perfect night for it.

No rain. It’s not too cold. And it’s even New Year’s Eve!

Joah and Laurent build the fire for us and we all gather ’round to enjoy its warmth and the universal draw of sitting around a fire with other humans.

Earlier today, after the hike, a few family members enjoyed a sauna and while sitting and sweating together Joah had asked everyone their 2024 highlights. We continue that sharing around the fire and it’s such a joy to hear from each person the most positively impactful or memorable, or special times from this last year.

My highlight is moving here and relatedly entering this next phase of life with Damien and my parents.

Mom’s serves her always-popular brownies and whipped cream on the picnic table.

My heart has had so many moments of fullness, joy, contentment, and satisfaction this holiday. Today has been a sequence of the those moments, like one sparkly bead after another threaded onto a string. What an absolute gift of a day.

The last group activity for New Year’s Eve is watching Canada vs. USA in the World Junior Hockey Championships on Mom & Dad’s big screen. I stay till the end of the first period and then happily and sleepily return to my house and my temporary bed under the loft ceiling.

Staying up till midnight to greet the New Year has no appeal to me and I’m asleep around 10:30pm.

January 1 - Three kids leave, a chill day, supper at Mom & Dad’s

At 8am Damien pulls out of the driveway with Laurent, Ciel & Iris. Laurent will catch a flight and Ciel and Iris are taking the train back to Montreal.

This is the first time I’ve experienced this - children leaving after Christmas holiday as they return back to their lives that are lived in another location. I have taken this journey many, many times. But I’ve always been the child leaving, never the parent staying.

I feel some sadness but mostly a deep satisfaction from these days. Plus, Brie and Ian are still here for a couple days and I am looking forward to our time together.

The bonfire is still smoldering from last night. The ground is so saturated there was no risk of the fire spreading so we didn’t douse it. I stir the ashes for the fun of it and when I look out the window about an hour later there are flames again in the pit. That’s a tenacious fire.

Now that Ciel & Iris are gone we’re moving back to our room tonight and so I start the process of putting the house back to rights. But I don’t feel any urgency.

All the deadlines (arrivals, special meals, etc. ) have passed and now there is just time.

I do some laundry but happily leave piles of stuff in various rooms knowing that, eventually in the coming days I will get to all of it.

Now is my time to rest.

At noon the four of us eat our first meal of the day, a hodge podge of leftovers. With all the people staying in my house, eating the leftovers day by day, this meal is basically all that is left of the extras and we’re finishing them now.

The rain starts up again at 2:30pm and the day goes from dark to darker. The wood stove has been burning all day. Damien naps. The kids read. I journal and edit photos.

I am still marveling at how lovely it is to hang out with grown children who don’t need a lot of planned activities, and who have the skills and capacity to make their own plans happen as desired.

When the kids were in their pre-teen and teen years Damien and I felt it was important to have activity-based Christmas holidays for them, specifically outdoor activities.

This was intended in part as a counter-balance to the tug of media consumption - video gaming and movies mostly. Neither of which we were opposed to. In fact, we often traveled with the PS4 so the kids could game at Nana & Papa's and rented chalets. But Damien and I also enjoyed outdoor activities, especially winter ones and wanted to build habits and memories for and with our kids.

Our activity of choice was backcountry and then downhill skiing and snowboarding. For a solid decade we tried to do as much winter activity in the Christmas holiday as possible.

Those years are done now. Maybe to be revived as our kids take more direction in planning Christmas holidays with their own growing families? Who knows? The journey of watching it all unfold is the fun of it.

For now we are in the “young adult kids want to chill and take a break from work and school” stage of family life.

Our years of gearing kids up, packing food, and getting everybody outdoors are over. Instead, there’s reading, drawing, individual video gaming, small group walks in the woods, small group trips to town, meal preparations, hanging out, and chatting.

There are no overarching plans besides the anchor points of shared suppers and a few traditional activities - Christmas dinner, gifts, Gaff Point hike.

This is its own season, the time between our children being children and our children having children. When we move to that next stage the activities and schedules will be based on the next generations’ eating and sleeping needs. And the kids will be building their own family traditions.

But that’s the future and the right now is this beautiful day of chill.

Tonight is our last Sanctuary shared meal. Mom is hosting and making a charcuterie board and Brad is making soup. I was assigned dessert but I get a pass with leftover brownies from last night. (Personally, I can’t eat all these desserts but the young people love them!)

After a game of Crokinole on a board mom picked up this fall, hoping it would see some action at Christmas, we watch the movie Tetris.

I journal for a bit before going to bed.

January 2 - Another chill day with Brie & Ian

At Brie’s suggestion from the day before, we go out for breakfast today.

Ian hasn’t taken a trip on the ferry yet so we set our sights on the LaHave Bakery, which is always open. Except today, inexplicably, it isn’t. So we return to the east side (our side) of the river and head to Rose Bay Bistro instead.

This is my first time eating at the bistro since moving here last summer. We are still solidly holidaying, going out for breakfast on a Thursday morning. All of it is delicious. The feelings and the food.

The kids want a beach walk and so after eating we go to Sand Dollar beach, just down the road a bit from Rose Bay Store & Bistro. At first it looks like we won’t be able to do much walking, the tide is in and it’s raining a bit. But we venture out anyway. The rain stops and the tide is receding. We get a beach walk after all.

We’re home around noon. I do some tidying. My pace is slow and puttering. The kids go to Bridgewater to check out the stores.

I spend most of the afternoon by the fire, continuing my catch up on these holiday journals and the photos.

We’re having pizza for supper and I start the dough and caramelize onions in the late afternoon.

At 6:30pm the four of us gather in the kitchen to make pizza together, 4 crusts, 4 varieties. The leftovers are packed for tomorrow’s train ride.

The kids are packing tonight and so after supper is cleaned up Damien and I return to watching Silo, a series we started before Christmas holidays, cuddling on the loveseat in the loft.

January 3 - Brie & Ian leave, the house is quiet

There is a dusting of snow this morning. And I am so thankful for its beauty.

At 9:00am Damien leaves with Brie and Ian for the city.

I wonder what today will feel like. Will I be sad?

Snow falls softly for a couple hours. I eat the very last of the leftovers. Baked beans (from our Maritime/New England themed meal) on buttered toast, topped with shredded melted cheese. I swear it is the best tasting meal of my whole Christmas. The perfect alchemy of flavours and textures. The solitude a most welcome companion.

Damien returns from the city and we experience the quiet and ease of our empty nest once again. There is nothing either of us needs to do for anyone else, and we relish the independence.

I do more slow tidying and putting things back in order.

The decorations, including the tree will stay up for days, perhaps weeks. I feel zero rush, zero urgency, zero New Year New You energy, just peace and ease.

I have three days to enjoy as I wish. I will not cook for anyone. I will what and when I want.

I will finish this journal and go through the hundreds of photos I took. I will record the memories of this Christmas and recall years of Christmas’ past and feel such deep gratitude for the gift of my family, the generations before and after.

Mid-afternoon I go for a walk in the back woods with Mom.

In seeking a break from my photo editing and journal writing I discover that Vikings Valhalla Season 3 is available on Netflix. I haven’t watched Season 2 since last winter in Montreal. It’s a nice distraction from writing and feels like the perfect post-Christmas media indulgence.

The wood stove burns all day and Damien and I return to Silo in the evening.

Saying goodbye is sad in the moment, but I don’t feel sadness today. I feel the peace of my quiet house. I feel a return to the deep comfort, companionship, and compatibility that Damien and I experience in our daily life together.

I absolutely love my home. I love living here. I love these woods, the fields and river just beyond. I love living next door to my parents. I love this stage of marriage.