Holiday Plans

Now that it’s mid-November, holiday decorations are starting to come out, and Christmas plans are starting to materialize. I wasn’t really a “Christmas Spirit” person until we moved to Montreal. Something about my first and only Orphan Christmas activated my holiday gene. Now I am so excited to get into all the fun, festive things this year.

Last year, B’s first Christmas, was a pretty rotten Christmas. On top of several family losses, B and my mom got very very sick. We were pretty much housebound for the 2 weeks up to and after Christmas. I think part of being so excited this year is making up for how rotten last year was! I’ve got a pretty busy line up of events!

We’ll welcome the holiday season with TWU’s Christmas at the Chan Centre. We go every year, and even though we aren’t religious, the choir sings so beautifully, even the most entrenched atheist can get lost in the hymns. It’s the most festive way to open the season.

B and I will probably take one of our Fridays together and go to see Scuba Claus at the Vancouver Aquarium. Despite my new love of the holidays, I’m not crazy about the whole “Santa Claus” business. I can definitely get behind “Scuba Claus” though! There’s also other festive programming there that looks like fun.

As a family, we also want to go to the Stanley Park Christmas Train and the VanDusen Gardens Festival of Lights. My family always hopped in the car and toured the nebulous suburban developments near us to see which houses had the most spectacular Christmas light display. These two events feel like the urban equivalent of that.

We’ll be spending the week of Christmas in Seattle. Seattle lights up so beautifully at Christmas; despite the rain, it really is one of the best times to visit. I’m excited to go to the Winter Village at Westlake Park, which was always a treat when we were little. And B has never been on a carousel!

I would love to sneak in a trip to the mountains so B can have a bit of a White Christmas, but if that’s not in the cards, we’ll try and make one of the Snowtime showings at Pacific Place while we’re in Seattle. It could also be a convenient time for last-minute shopping!

Like I said, lots of festivities. Time to get out my calendar and pencil them all in!