The cottage is on hold until further notice.
With our trip just around the corner, there is too much to do around here...

It's really great when your kids tell you at the eleventh hour that their shorts are too small. Try finding shorts in December. Then my daughter needed flip-flops and luckily we were able to locate a pair at the mall. I'm mostly worried about my animals, even though my immensely capable cousin has graciously offered to take them on. I wonder if Sachie will think we've abandoned her. And will Marcello protest his new housing arrangement by biting everyone with his scary bunny teeth? He has been known to dislodge Christmas tree ornaments - last year he stretched out under the tree every day. I think it reminded him of being in the forest before he was "rescued" by the shelter people. He's probably still choked about it.

I'm actually not worried about him - he's a rabbit. But dogs are different... This is why pets are a real pain in the butt. You care about them so much that you end up never going anywhere. Just for twelve days away, I have to pack: hay, rabbit pellets, greens (parsley, cilantro, etc) dog food, dog snacks, food bowl, leash & collar, rabbit cage, bunny litter box, sticky roller, Eureka hand-held vacuum for all the pet hair.... It's ridiculous. At least (gulp) they'll have each other...(sniff)

I've been so enjoying our little wooden Christmas "tree" that I've been thinking that our days of buying expensive live trees may be over. There is something wrong about chopping down thousands of trees only to toss them out with the trash after a few weeks. The argument that they're cultivated for this purpose doesn't make it any less wrong to me; trees have souls. And plastic trees are an environmental disaster - don't even get me started.

Therefore, in the spirit of eco-friendliness, here are some festive ideas that do not require the destruction of any living thing and they're made from recycled/found materials:

These are made by a company called "Impossibilitree." The six-foot model gets suspended from your ceiling (which is a little weird) and costs a whopping $425.

This iron & wire Christmas tree is from Crate & Barrel, but I don't think they offer it anymore. In any case, I think it's cute, and if you have a bunch of wire coat-hangers you don't need, maybe you could fashion your own. There's a project for the kids! Fun for the whole family...

These are laser-cut wooden trees that are becoming more popular, but I think they look too much like those cheap balsa-wood planes my brother used to play with...

What a great idea! Stack a bunch of books into a tree-shape and wrap some lights around it. Very cool, and you can show off what an avid reader you are...

How about collecting some sticks and logs and making a table-top tree? The good thing is, when you get sick of it you can toss it in the fireplace and roast marshmallows over it...

This contraption is made from recycled aluminium. Looks like you could use it as a race-car track for the kids...

I think this is my favourite one of all. It looks so organic and humble. I'm going to make one of these - I just have to gather up driftwood when we're on Mayne Island, drill a few holes, and there you go. Who knew that driftwood could have so many uses?

There's something really nice about using things in nature that don't have to be destroyed. If you really need the piney scent in your house, gather up some cedar boughs and place them around the house.


*     *     *     *

I've been thinking about how challenging this time of year is for so many people. I find Christmas to be the most difficult season, and I often feel vaguely depressed which in turn makes me feel guilty because I have no reason to be. Maybe it's the fact that it's pitch dark outside by 5pm, it's raining everyday, the kids no longer play with toys or believe in Santa Claus...and then you hear the appeals for the food bank, the Coats for Kids drives, the stories about families struggling to live in grinding poverty...I don't know how people manage these days on their salaries - I really don't. Children are expensive - clothes, shoes, jackets, hair cuts, field trips, etc. Our grocery bill alone is about $1500 a month. You wouldn't believe how much teenagers can eat. So how do people come up with the money for presents, a tree, a turkey, and all the trimmings? It must be so hard.

Lorenzo mentioned giving some money to the downtown east-side this year, and I said I'd rather make a donation to the Empty Stocking Fund or some other bureau which can benefit families. I'm so sick of the drug addicted east-side sucking up a million dollars a day in tax-payer's money while occupying one of the best parts of this city. No one can afford to live downtown, but there they are. A million dollars every single day while children are going to school hungry, without coats, and without any sort of Christmas to look forward to. People who are working hard but unable to make ends meet deserve support; the rest can bite me. Call me hard-hearted but I'm sick of drug addicts and all the resources they require in order to continue being drug addicts. Do I sound like Ebenezer?

I was on the phone with a friend of mine who said she'd like to slip into a coma and wake up to find that Christmas is over. We had a good laugh, but what's so sad about this is that it doesn't have to be this way. If we could just decorate our houses, bake some cookies, and cook a nice meal, it wouldn't be stressful at all. It's the shopping, the buying, the pressure of racking up credit cards, family conflicts - this is what saps the joy out of it for many people.

Mostly for me, though, is the pain of knowing that I'll never get to re-live the years when our kids were little. Those were the best Christmasses. We have our daughter on video telling us how she heard reindeer on the roof - and she knew it was Rudolph! It's absolutely priceless. And one year, Lorenzo agreed to be Santa Claus at the annual school pancake breakfast. I was playing Christmas carols on the piano... It seems like yesterday.

Ho Ho HO!

                                             Lorenzo Claus