christmas eve 2025

during the day i finished wrapping the last 3 presents, bought sour cream and sundry, talked with heather and ate a baked brie with blackberries and rosemary. i was have an early evening cuddle session with mei-mei when mom called to say supper was ready.

of course we ate perogies. of course. mom spent all day making a giant batch. i asked owen what the percentage was that mom made compared to how much we needed. he happily spent most of the dinner time making this calculation.

we still had christmas crackers with the snow man game in it. owen was the only one to do it. he rolled seven noses and six arms so his snowman was quite alarming. most of our heads were too big for the paper crowns but we wore them anyway.

i was so full.

i joined bethany on her 1000 piece puzzle of butchart garden and after miracle on 34th street was over, martha did too. by the time the lights started blinking we had made a lot of progress with a complete outline done.

meanwhile angus and oriana played boggle with gramma. 

when the lights started blinking, effectively ending the puzzle session, i  suggested we all go see the fabled 'ho ho house'. bethany, martha and i all wore dad's plaid coats. 

when i stepped outside the night was mild with a low fog resting above the grass in the park. our lights twinkled and a rising crescent moon hung huge and low to the west. "that's an al helaal moon!" i told everyone. "and al helaal is mohammad's last name," i added. bethany said mohammad should be here with us. i agree. 

martha and i drove in mom's car and bethany followed behind. martha and i took turns picking christmas carols to sing along the way.

 the ho ho house is on garry street in steveston. it's pretty spectacular. many people were gathered and taking pictures at different stations...a sleigh or a bench beside frosty or a throne. bethany et al did some crazy poses. angus and owen were usually in some sort of playful tussle and oriana was doing kissing poses with everything.

on the way home martha and i sang the 12 days of christmas.

and now martha is asleep in my living room and i think all are tucked in, as snug as bugs in rugs downstairs.

i'm laying in my bed listening to some holy quiet christmas music and hoping my lover will wake up soon.