i'll have a blue (and red) christmas

©2011, Monika Roe

I had a few blue and red holiday illos kicking around here and I finally decided to finish them up! Hope you enjoy.

The holidays have been so busy for me here. I feel like time is passing by so fast and the holidays are slipping through my fingers. To slow it down I'm making a conscious effort to stop and enjoy everything I love about this time of year.

A few of the things I'm doing to stop and smell the Christmas cookies are:

• making a cup of spiced tea every night and taking in the magic of all of my sparkly Christmas decorations (notice I said tea, not coffee, aren't you proud of me?!)

• browsing through shops to enjoy their decorations

• taking the time to watch kids talk to Santa

• not stressing out about wrapping presents perfectly

• listening to Christmas music as I cook

• baking my list of "must-have" Christmas cookies

• sharing those Christmas cookies with people to get them out of my reach

• taking over the annual baking of the fruitcake from my mom who once took it over from her mom who was the one that found the most amazing recipe to pass down

• driving slow through my neighborhood to enjoy the beautiful lights. Most people don't consider themselves creative but all kinds of creativity comes out when they decorate their houses for the holidays!

I hope you're also taking some time out to really soak in the best parts of the season and enjoy yourself!