Thanks to the shorter colder pandemic days, we started Christmas early this year.
Last weekend, we celebrated the hubby’s 40th birthday. He and T also set up the Christmas tree.
We also unboxed our 8 feet tall balloon Santa, who had hibernated in our basement.
To say T was excited was an understatement. He had been missing Balloon Santa all year.
This past week, he wrestled with Santa and every day before he left for school, he hugged and kissed Santa and told him, “I love you, Santa.”
The hubby also wrapped white Christmas lights around our front yard trees, pictured at the top.
I normally find Christmas music so irksome, but it’s been so soothing this year. Give me Mariah on repeat for the next 12 months!
Our province is entering a modified lockdown at midnight tonight. We are all feeling weary of this unending pandemic. So all the seasonal cheer and light we could get, we will take it!
We got our first snowfall today.
As with any snowfall that’s over 1 cm thick – it was about 15 cm today – the media start to panic.
It started to come down as T and I were having breakfast. He excitedly went to look outside.
An hour later, with snowsuits on, we ventured outside for a walk. It was so beautiful outside.
An elderly man whom I see regularly outside commented that T is always out.
I told him that I like T to get outside. I want him to be a four-season kid with Canadian grit.
We went back inside to eat lunch after and then went back out again, this time with his sled.
I love watching T have fun. He was in his element rolling around in the snow.
In addition to sledding down the hill, T loves to ride his sled down the metal slide in the playground. Cuz why not?
On cold days like today, soothing soup is what the soul calls for.
So I made this Hong Kong style borscht soup that I’ve been wanting to make for ages.
I used this simple Amy + Jacky recipe for the Instant Pot.
Lots of chopping but cooking helps calm and centre me. Prep aside, it was very easy to make and so delicious. Will definitely make this again!
To keep the theme going, I made Hong Kong cafe style toast with condensed milk for dessert. No picture but trust me when I say that everything tastes great with tons of condensed milk drizzled on top!
Wherever you are visiting my blog from, I wish you much cheer and light over the coming weeks. We still have a long road ahead with this pandemic, so however you are getting through these times, please take care and stay well!
The food, decorations, and SNOW (!) look great! We brought Christmas out early as well. We are doing whatever it takes to try and keep the spirits up. We didn’t get any snow last year, which is odd for us. It would be welcomed now most definitely. I think it would make us all smile 🙂
Thank you, Robyn! I hope you get snow soon too! It definitely makes the front foyer messier and takes forever to get ready to go out. But so worth it for the smiles and laughs!
I love how festive your place looks with the christmas tree and inflatable Santa! The snow makes everything look so magical. Glad you got the chance to enjoy it before it melts. Apparently it’s supposed to go up to 9C on Thursday! Looks like lockdown is for 28 days, so hopefully we’ll go down a level right in time for the holidays. Fingers crossed.
Thank you! The balloon Santa usually goes outside but he loves it so much inside we just kept it inside. It was beautiful to wake up to the snow capped trees this morning. Gonna enjoy it while lasts. And yes, hope the lockdown doesn’t go beyond 28 days!
Why am I hungry now: I don’t even like borscht! 🙂
Thank you Shira! I’m not much of a borscht person either but the Hong Kong twist intrigued me with this recipe. Turned out pretty good! 🙂 Please take care!
You, too!
This looks amazing!!!!!
Thank you, Diane. 🙂 I was quite pleased with how it turned out!