Tag Archives: Life Story

3 Things I Would I Tell My Younger Self

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Looking back at when I was a teenager in particular, I can say that I was legit a rotten kid. I was combative with my parents, I tend to have been rude more often than not and I felt like they were out to get me. Not that I am 30, have a son and another child due towards the end of 2021, it really has given me some perspective that I didn’t think I would have if you had asked me as a teenager. Here are 3 things that I wish I could tell my younger self.

Number 1 : Your parents are not the enemy. Growing up I would say my parents were leaning more towards strict. We, meaning my siblings and I grew up in the era without cell phones til we could pay for them, and to follow the street lights. In high school we we not allowed out past 10-11pm depending if there was things we were doing and we had to check in regularly if possible too. Even though we were secretive with things as most teens are, we still had a pretty good means of communication though. I felt like my parents were the people who would do things just so I wasn’t having any fun when looking back now it really wasn’t. I know my sister mentioned this before and she agrees. There is a reason why we had to be in specific times, why is this you might ask? Because there really is nothing out here after 1030pm that is for teenagers. Not only that but a lot of times when I would hear my friends who had parents who really did not care what they did and were out all hours of the night, they often were the ones who would be getting in trouble with multiple people and in multiple places. So I guess by them being more strict than some of my friends at the time they really were doing us a favor.

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Number 2: Do better in school! I know this probably comes as no surprise but for me it was something I put on the back burner and really did not focus on. I was too busy smoking cigarettes and hanging out with the stoners.. maybe partaking in that as well, to be bothered with good grades. The funny part in all this was I never missed more than 4 classes. I always was there so that I could get exempt from exams we were allowed to miss. I wish I could tell myself to focus more on grades both in high school and collage because it may have helped a lot more when trying to apply. I went to community collage and while nothing is wrong with that, looking back I wish I had some sort of honors in school. I was just scrapping the bottom of the barrel to get by that I never really thought grades were that big of a deal. I wish I had even applied for scholarships or put some effort to maybe help myself financially by achieving good grades or even by just applying for things. I know that I failed chemistry and advanced math in my first year but I think if I had not of gotten lost in the mix of weed and wanting to look cool than maybe at the end of the day I would have been able to go to a university easier instead of collage.

Number 3: It does get better. I know this may seem like it never will but it does get better. When I was in high school everyone liked me. I could be everyone friend. I was however, never close with people. Coming right out of high school and into collage I was in an abusive relationship. It felt never ending and it felt like I was essentially trapped there for all of eternity. I wasn’t Fast forward to now, I am a 30+ year old women, with a solid relationship of almost 11 years, one son and another baby on the way. Things DO get better. The friends i made in high school who I was really close with which is not a lot, we still talk semi regularly. However a lot of people I am close with are from collage or even just friends from before high school and things. Even friends that I made from work are still around. You do not need to jump through hoops in order to feel secure. At the end of the day being popular in high school or collage does nothing for you as far as a career goes. It might help with social skills but other than that it wont get you good grades, or promotions, or job interviews. You get those on your own. And even if you are the bullied kid or you are feeling like you are lost without a specific clique to belong to, that wont matter when you are 20, or when you are 25, or when you are 30. You will find your people or they will find you and when you find them you just know.

Those would be the three things that I would tell my younger self. Im sure the longer I sit here the more things I would be able to write about what I would say. Not to mention if I was to write this in another 10 or so years I would assume that there would be more or different points that I would want to tell myself also. Everyone I am sure has something that they would tell their teenage selves. Even if it was just to let them know that everything is going to be okay!

Do you have similar things that you would want to tell your younger self?
Is there anything that you did as a teenager that was risky and are surprised that you are still kicking now?
Is your life in the spot where you expected it to be after all these years?

Let me know in the comments below!


A Day in the Life of a 15 Month Old

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At the time of Writing this my son is about 15 months old. Although by the time you read this he might be maybe 17 months, due to the fact that I am writing some blogs to help get through the summer and moving provinces for less stress on myself. Though I don’t think much will really be changing in that time span. Let’s Jump in!

6am-7am : This is typically where we start the day. Sometimes my son wakes up as his Dad goes to work however occasionally he also goes back to sleep. When this happens he sleeps in a bit and if not he normally plays in his crib. I very rarely actually go back to sleep since my child is one who likes to bite the crib however sometimes he likes to lay there and roll around and toss his little blanket around. It also has tags on it that he likes to play with his fingers also too.

7am-730am : This is when we wake up, get him and myself dressed for the day. I throw on a bottle of 3% milk and put him in his play pen. This is so I can run to the bathroom myself, as well as take the dog outside who has already been looking at me for 5 minutes when he heard the little fella wake up!

730am-830am : This would be his bottle. Now he is old enough he probably doesn’t need it but we dont really encourage him to drink it all. It is there if he wants it and if he doesn’t that is okay also too. Then we normally sit on the floor and play with toys and wake up for the day. For some reason he is normally super chatty and raring to go with energy!

830am-930am : This is normally when we do breakfast. We do anything from oatmeal and fruit, to some toast or eggs. Just depends on the day honestly. After he is done eating and sometimes before it oatmeal is too hot for example, I will do the dishes or tidy the kitchen up. After he eats he normally sits in his high chair for me to finish up also or prep something maybe muffins, or chop up veggies for the slow cooker. He normally has some hand toys or even measuring cups he likes to bang, with a cool glass of water. He can play pretty independently but we do have our stories together!

930am-1030am is another time we play on the floor. If the weather is not nice or too hot we don’t normally go for a walk, however it the weather is nice we do end up going for a walk or anywhere! Could even go outside depending on the mood for the day.

1030am : Snack time! Snacks can be anything from toast if you haven’t already had it before, sometimes apple sauce, fruit or banana’s, muffin, or yogurt too.

1030-1130am: This is when we start to wind down a bit and play a little however we also start to think about lunch time. Sometimes the time fluctuates depending if my son was up closer to 6am or closer to 7am.

1130am : Lunch time! Sometimes we try to have meat and potatoes, sometimes we have eggs if we haven’t had them already. Sometimes we do pasta and sauce or cheese with it. Things that are not super big but enough to be filling. Sometimes as mentioned before we will try to eat a bit earlier depending on how tired he is.

12pm – 2pm : This is typically when Vincent goes to his crib. Sometimes he falls asleep easier than other days however this is when he typically naps. Sometimes he tries to play with us by throwing his blanket out, or his soother (Which we will be weaning by now or have it gone!) and we just go in. Do not talk. And encourage him to fall asleep. Typically he will be asleep within 5-20 minutes again depending on how tired he is. We also do not normally go into the room til about 2pm though if he did not fall asleep til closer to 1230pm we will let him sleep a bit closer to 230pm. Even if he wakes up we just watch him and don’t go up right away. This is so he knows that it is quiet time.

2pm-3pm is when we wake up. We play and relax a bit as he is normally still pretty sleepy. Sometimes we even make our video phone calls to my parents (Since we have moved at the time of publishing before we would do video chats!) Sometimes we go outside depending on the weather or we just hang out and read stories.

3pm : Snack time! Again same typical foods as the ones from earlier just obviously we try not to give the same thing though as that would be super boring! We do try to spice it up and change them around from day to day in order to not get tired from other things.

4pm is supper time. This is normally a bigger meal like beef, chicken or even fish, then we normally do some potatoes and veggies or sorts. It really depends on what we have. We still do ice cube trays of food however we don’t puree anything. Sometimes we mash things though for smaller bite sized pieces but nothing is pureed. When we prepare meat it is easier to use a nice sharp pair of scissors also to be able to make pieces that wont be able to be chocked on.

430pm-545pm : This is the final stretch before bedtime. We typically put his favorite show on at some point close to 445pm or 5pm and he watches a few shows of blue clues, bubble guppies, or whatever else you have that he seems to enjoy lately. This is nearly the only screen time that my son currently has unless I have to put him in his play pen to flip laundry or something.

545pm – 630pm is the unwind for the evenings. We put the final bottle on, have a bedtime snack. Something a bit more filling like a muffin with yogurt or something or that nature. Then we have a bath if it is bath night. We were doing baths every second night and then a bath soak in the winter to help relax him but we stopped because my son was having really dry skin. every 3 nights seems to work well for us and his skin unless he is very dirty from a big poop or something! After everything is done we read a few stories after in pajamas and cream is put on.

645pm or so is bedtime. However now that he is getting older he normally rolls around and things and play with his blanket as he falls asleep more towards 7pm or even 715pm some nights!

There you have it! That is a day in the life of a 15 month old. Sure days can change depending on how tired someone is or not, But overall, This is pretty much what happens!

Do you do anything special with your children every day?
Do you like routine or do you like to wing it?

Let me know in the comments below!

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7 Things I Do To Unwind

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Before I begin, what someone does to unwind is really subjective in the sense that what I may do to unwind may be something that you absolute hate doing. That is totally okay though! This is just my experience in things that I do to help me unwind when I am feeling stressed or overwhelmed or even just wanting to look after myself with a bit of self care. There is no right or wrong way, though if you are doing something and it is not helping to relieve whatever you may be feeling it may be safe to say that you are not successfully unwinding!

Baths are something that I enjoy doing the most. Though when I am pregnant it is not as easy since I love them to be super hot and in the first trimester they kind of frown upon having really hot baths due to the fact that you can raise your body temperature up significantly which is not good for a growing fetus though! I love relaxing in the bath especially when my spouse is home because I can just lay back and put a facecloth over my eyes and drift away. Sometimes I will read a book, sometimes I bring my tablet in and attempt to watch a movie or show depending on how the WiFi is there which is not normally good. I also have the lights usually dimmed so that it really is a darkened space where I can just relax. I know easier said than done since sometimes my minds just too filled with thoughts but regardless the laying in a tub still does help me feel better especially if I am feeling ill also too.

Coloring, especially in adult coloring books has only just started to become popular in the last 10 years. With multiple books coming out for adults with complex or simple designs for all of your creative needs. My only question for this is why has it not become popular sooner! That seems insane that it really just started to become popular! I have a bunch of different books and sometimes I just like to sit with a show on in the background or light music and just color or chip away at a page that I had already started. The possibilities for coloring and changing how an image can look really can help pass time. There has been days where I have colored and literally hours have passed by and it felt like only a few moments!

Binging Netflix is something that I love to do. I don’t normally do this with my significant other due to the fact we only watch so many shows at night and he also does not like to fully watch a series he likes to savor them. If it is an evening where I am not live with streaming and playing games I love to find a good show especially crime shows and just binge the show to the entirety! Sure, it is a bit of a bummer when it is all over but that just means I have to find another show to do it all over again with to!

Gaming is something I never used to do unless I was live, Now it is something that I find myself doing more either by myself or when I get a moment to spare like when my son is sleeping. Sometimes I play with friends sometimes I play by myself, it really doesn’t matter. Gaming is something though that I have done before, thought it would help me unwind, when it really doesn’t at all. Some times I think gaming is going to be a great way to de-stress and unwind when really it does nothing and I end up not gaming after a few games.

Art or crafts is something i routinely come back to. Especially if I have just gone to the dollar store to get some new materials or I have seen a new hip thing that is happening across Facebook or Pinterest too. I love to create things and if it is something I Have the things to make I am all for it. Sometimes I even do bits and pieces though when I do things and end up finishing a project a few weeks later but honestly I cant stress enough how freeing creating somethings can be though. I love to do anything and everything, from painting, gluing things together, sewing sometimes and even just trying to re-invent things too!

Notes or list and planning is on my list, and I know what you are thinking, it really is not as boring as you might think! I actually love planning things. Making a list and making things that I can see what is happening in the coming month or weeks and planning what I need to do around the house makes me feel like everything is in it’s place. It makes me really feel like I have my stuff together even though it really is quite the opposite! I especially feels good to do it at the beginning of the month and putting everything in my calendar and planner so that I don’t miss anything. This just helps me to plan writing, house work if there is something that i need to do specifically, doctor appointments if I have any, streams, and things of that nature too!

And last, but certainly not least, doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING IS TOTALLY FINE! Sometimes at the end of the day, I have no cleaning to do, I heave no streams or planned gaming, I am caught up on blogs (rarely but it does happen!) and Iegit just lay on the couch doing absolutely nothing at all. Sometimes I watch a show I recorded or netflix or amazon prime video, sometimes I sit on my phone and creep the web for the gossip and memes of the day across, sometimes I just do nothing. And there is nothing wrong with doing that.

As you can see I think I have a pretty standard list of things I do to unwind, there really is endless possibilities as to what you do that makes you feel more at ease in the world.

What do you do when it comes to unwinding?
Is there anything on my list that you also do and it helps you too?

Let me know in the comments below, I am always looking for new and creative ways to unwind at the end of the day!

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Sleep Training Sucks

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Sleep training is not the bees knees so to speak. It is super challenging and the hardest part is listening to your little one crying because you aren’t in the same room as they are. We tried to start sleep training my son when he was becoming too big for his bassinet. The reason why we did this was that when he had his arms spread open he would have to bend them as his arm span was far to big now. The hardest part was making that decision. If you are like myself and my boyfriend, we had the bassinet right beside the bed since he was born. Making the decision did not come easy especially when they are so young when you see how small they look in the big empty crib. Have no fear, If we can do it anyone can!

Choosing a method can be challenging at best. You have the cry it out method which we a lot of us probably grew up on. This is where you put them in their crib and just let them cry it out. You make sure they have a dry bottom and are in no distress and you just let them cry cry cry til they fall asleep. They also have the pick up method where they cry and you reassure them everything is okay and put them back down. You typically let them cry if out for about 5 minutes, go check on them, let them cry it out for 10 minutes, and repeat extending the time you take to go in between reassuring them by 5 minutes. Then there is also the one where you sit in the same room as they are. And slowly as time passed or days I could say you you move the chair further and further away from the crib.

We chose the mix between the cry it out method and cuddling them to sleep. We thought this would be the best route as it didn’t seem as harsh as the cry it out method either. The hardest part as you can imagine would be to wait til you have let the amount of time pass that should pass before rushing in to the room. the fact is your little one is probably just fine they just have to make the adjustment to not being right beside you all of the time especially sleeping. It took a few days of this and he seemed to be on a good pattern. Since every baby is different too, it may take your baby a bit longer or less time than others. The important thing is consistency.

Like anything you decide to do with your baby as they begin to age and have some independence, including sleeping in their own room, it is not without struggles. It really is painstaking when you are trying to get them to sleep and you hear them crying. Though after you go in, for what feels like the millionth time and they are perfectly fine. Or they even have a dry diaper, or they have their soother there really is no need. The separation is the hardest part seeing your little bundle cry for you there knowing you aren’t in the room.

Some don’t that we learned pretty quickly were that you have to be dedicated to this. When my son was going through tough times when it came to sleeping we did everything. You can read more about that in this blog. This was extremely essential when it came to sleep training our son because when he was about 6 months of age to about a year old he would wake repeatedly throughout the night. This got so bad to one point I would go in at 2am and he wouldn’t go back to sleep until 4am. And so on and so forth multiple times. It was only after a few weeks of this we decided to let him cry it out when he was waking. We would check obviously to make sure he was dry, we knew he wasn’t hungry since he had been fine for the longest time over night, and we knew that he wasn’t too hot or too cold. This sucked because in the middle of the night all you can do is lay in bed and wait and see how it goes. we did this for 2 nights and suddenly he was starting to sleep better.

Though I don’t want to attribute this just to him sleeping either because we let him cry it out over night. Suddenly he went to one nap a day and that seems to be huge. Though it is tough when you only have a “break” in the middle of the day. He typically naps for anywhere from 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours and 30 minutes. I would much rather him sleep a smaller one nap instead of 2 small naps in the day and then barely sleeping at night. Him having one nap in the day time and then having slept super well at night is huge especially when thinking about having another baby around eventually too. The occasional time though we have had to go in and give him a soother if he has dropped it on the floor or if he cannot find it. Other than that though he does so well it is incredible how fast the change happened. Though going to one nap this soon was kind of a shock due to the fact that we know dropping to one nap a day normally happens a few months later and for us it was right around when he turned a year old!

Finding what method works for you can be hard and cause a lot of rifts in a relationship. I know with us it was tough not running in and trying to pick up our son when he was crying. Now that we have another baby on the way I am thankful that he sleeps as good as he does, next step would be to remove the soother from the situation however that will be happening after we get settled into our new home in the not so distant future (If we aren’t already there!).

What are some methods you experimented with when you were doing sleep training?
Was there anything that world right for your family, or some you absolutely hated?

Let me know in the comments below, I might need them with our next one!

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May Update 2021

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Here we go again, Another update! I cannot believe we are here and there is SO MUCH news coming up for May that I can hardly contain myself to be able to hold the secrets a bit longer.

Number one, It is OFFICIAL! WE ARE MOVING BACK HOME! We received the official email and have started the house hunting. I don’t want to go into too much details as this will be a blog post that is upcoming in the future about how crazy the housing market and slanted it will be as well and not to mention stressful losing bids on houses that are listed within your price range and then you are losing bids to offers that are between 50-100k over asking. Actually insane. But there will be more details and how unfair that is later this month!

I still an buzzing with excitement that in the next 2ish or so months we will be headed back home with a new home. The only bummer is that currently Covid cases are exploding in Nova Scotia due to the fact that they had visitors from Ontario (Where cases are still in the thousands even with extreme lockdown measures) and they did not self isolate and were with folks from Nova Scotia. This causes a huge community spread to have cases go up when they had gone weeks or months without any single cases also too. I am hoping that we can purchase the home before hand and have my parents stock it up with some food, and if not that they will probably have to drop some off on the doorstep for us and wait til we are done to visit. Though at that point I will be so happy that we are back in my home province a 2 week wait seems to be great. I also hope that during this time I can find paint colors and have my sister pick up some cans of paint so we can spend the time painting our home and getting it just right since we will have time to kill while being isolated inside. Regardless I am still looking forward to being able to adjust and relax and be around my family again.

The big news that is coming up would be announced in about 2 weeks as well. That will be awesome when the time comes and I cannot wait to share with you as well too. It legit is killing me not to say anything however I wanted to wait til the time is right to share it and it is creeping up slowly but surely too!

Another thing that I have been excited about is slowly gutting the basement and throwing things away. I have been chipping away at de-cluttering and getting rid of things we no longer use however I will be majorly scheduling days this week and hopefully be able to get a lot of the basement done this month so that it can be prepped for moving. I want to really do this for May so that we can relax and take it easy for the time between that and moving. Thankfully we won’t be packing anything or unpacking but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to make everything okay and ensure that things arent in their right place before the move. As hard as it can be for me to get rid of objects and things we no longer need I don’t want to bring everything we no longer use to the new house. I want it to be kind of a fresh start so that we can have a lot of space. Not to mention now that we have a child and hopefully more in the future the amount of things we will have for them will probably grow and grow and grow. And I do not want to see all of the things we have continue to grow and grow and grow along the way. I think it will also help us to feel a lot better when we move to not have a lot of weight around as well that we have to get rid of.

Another thing that I have to do is really schedule myself. I think for April and with the upcoming move I wanted to do more. Stream more, write more, and that was a lot of added pressure to myself which I slacked and didn’t do as much as I wanted to which then made me feel upset with myself. For the month of May and going forward I am going to try to stick to just my normal streaming days, which is Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as well too. I don’t want to try to focus on adding extra streams and schedule them in. If they happen they happen. But I want to make sure I don’t miss days I typically stream on though. I also need to really schedule in days where I write and focus on finishing my book that is nearly done as well as doing some artwork and what not as well too. I think that will be great and hopefully planing will do a lot for keeping me on track with my goals.

If you have stuck with me this long through this update THANK YOU! It is people like you that make me want to continue to blog and update you all with life and all the tips and tricks that I see happening though. There is so much going to be coming and going in the next few months honestly these blogs might be making me have a sliver or normalcy since it keeps me sane and able to write out my thoughts too. There will be a lot of blogs upcoming as I prep for the move and hopefully I can write enough to pump them out a few extra times per week instead of just 2x too.

What is your update for May?
How was April and how was any goals you may have had?
Did you achieve them of fall short like myself?

Let me know in the comments below! I cannot wait to hear all about it.

– Stacey

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April Showers Bring May Flowers? – Update April 2021

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Here we are another update. And honestly I couldn’t be happier. Hopefully by the time this goes live we actually will have gotten our official message confirming that we are moving back home to Nova Scotia and we are no longer waiting to put offers on the houses we would like to purchase. Let’s talk about the month that passed and the month ahead!

House hunting is stressful in today’s economy in Canada. I will be writing a blog post about that in the coming month so you can hear all about how whacked the housing market is especially in Nova Scotia where we will be moving! Every single house we seem to favorite seems to be sold before the next day and normally WAY over asking price too. Due to out of province buyers as well. We still are a mentally recovering from the house we were “promised” and then them going back on their word. Karma will get them that’s for sure. But until then all we can do is favorite homes that have potential and hope for the best as we wait and hope our offers are high enough for the seller to entertain and accept.

Being another month down it also leaves a lot of hope for us due to the fact that we are edging closer and closer to moving back home. I am so excited to have my parents meet my son as they have yet to meet him in person. Out of my family he has only met my Uncles who life about 40 minuets away and even that wasn’t so often with all the restrictions that are posed on Quebec in hopes to curb the Covid-19 spread (Which obviously hasn’t been doing a whole lot as they just recently added church gatherings to be a max of 250 people in time for Easter *Insert eye roll here*). My mom also keeps mentioning that she wonders if our son will recognize her based on the video chats and things which I think he will based off of their voice however you know how babies are, they do cry with new people!

I also have some AMAZING news that I cannot share just yet though. One more month and I can share it, Maybe not for the May update but a little bit afterwards I should be able to do something for it! And as a little secret I have already started working on that announcement post as well! Maybe you can guess what it will be about before I announce it!

As for the move and prepping for that, I am slowly but surely trying to go through the basement of my home. I am trying to go through different bins and organize and throw things away for the trash. As I believe I had mentioned in previous posts it is a lot easier to get things to throw away here in Quebec then it is in Nova Scotia. They have much stricter garbage rules including clear bags so they can see what you are throwing away and if there is anything recyclable they don’t accept it and you then have to go through the bag again before the following week. Ive been trying to go through and make 2 small garbage bags to throw away each week which I hope to push a bit more and really work hard at doing this. I don’t want to be left bringing a bunch of junk we wont be needing again, We did that when we moved here and I would rather leave things and have a somewhat fresh start for the new home!

Easter has also been coming up, This will be published the day before and Ill be publishing the Easter blog on the upcoming Tuesday after it happened. It was still a bit challenging doing something small for my son since he is only a year and a month. He doesn’t really need the chocolate and things but I wanted to be creative in thinking of stuff to fill his basket. Ill go into detail more about what we really put in there and thought about doing on Tuesday’s post! I am also excited to share that with you too!

Book writing has been going well. I need to really focus on that a bit more in April and be more self disciplined. There is so much I am learning when it comes to writing a book that it really is like taking a school course. I am excited though for whats to come and I hope I can be a successful writer though. I have one book I have been kind of editing and continuing to change a bit with the help of my mom’s friend who is an established writer. I keep writing down the notes and editing she has wrote so I have my own cheat sheet as I keep growing my skills as well too. It is coming back to me from when I was in school though all the rules and regulations to make a proper story.

As far as streaming goes, I think streams have been goign great! Ive been tryign to gently push myself to stream longer and a few bonus streams. My average viewers have also been climbing steadily which also terrifies me for moving because I will be taking time off and when you take time off from streaming you basically become irrelevant and have to start over again. I hope to put things in place to not have this problem happen though. And if it does well, back to square one again.

Anyways I must leave with this update, Prep yourselves for some interesting and exciting updates in the coming month! I know I am getting excited and giddy just thinking about writing them for you!

What are your April goals?
How did your March go too?

Let me know in the comments below!

– Stacey


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Christmas Traditions

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I’m not even sure where to begin since there are so many traditions that my family has had and ones that I wanted to start with my son (And future kids!). To keep things simple we can talk about the ones I grew up with and then move on to ones that are new to bring into my Son’s life! And if I want to continue it with him I will mention that as well too!

My Family Christmas Party
This is something that was started so long ago and somehow it always falls off on my Uncle or my Mom to throw the party. however maybe when we buy a new home we will take it on! This is just my dad’s side of the family however there is sometimes my Nanny (Mom’s mom) Who comes as well since my grampie passed away. Though with Covid this year there is no party (Not that I am happy but I don’t feel bad about missing out since there is nothing to miss!)

Annual Tree Hunt
Before, when I was younger we used to get a tree for ourselves, Now we go and get a tree for friends of ours. This is when we go about an hour or so drive to a pot luck dinner. It is a bunch of friends of the family and my grandparents used to bring my mom and siblings to this, then my mom brought my siblings and I to it, And now (Well next year) I will be bringing my son to it! Everyone goes to a tree lot to chop down their tree (If they still have a real one!) And then we all go back for a potluck dinner with everyone. Again, Another thing Covid has cancelled.

Christmas Eve
This can be quite a busy day for us. We started the day mid afternoon by stopping at my mom’s friend from high school. Usually chatting for a little bit. Afterwards we would all go to my Aunt’s house, Well Great Aunt. They would make rappie pie. Which is like a weird acadian dish with potatoes and chicken pieces and stock, with bacon sprinkled on the top baked. The consistency was like boogers from your nose when you had a bad cold. Simply yucky and I cant even try it. My boyfriend loves it but screw that noise. Yuck. After my Aunt’s house we would go back to my parents house. That’s where we would prep for the evening. Normally my Dad has his brothers (Who live close) to come over. Normally they would wait til my parents were ready to put us to bed to come over and get us all excited since only one of them understood the concept of time. Now that we are older we just hang out at my mom and dad’s for a bit. When we were a kid we would go to bed and now as adults we go to our parents friends, Brenda and Juniors. Sadly Junior passed away a few years ago but we still head over and shoot some pool for a bit before hitting the hay. Oh, And dont forget to leave out milk and cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer as well too! Sometimes if we got them from school we would even leave reindeer feed for them to find their way to our house (This was normally glitter with oatmeal or what not so that you threw it on your lawn and Santa would know that there is children in the home!). We also always read the Night Before Christmas. We had the Hallmark version from way back when and it was a pop up.. I checked amaon and it was 300 dollars so needless to say I got a nice version that was a very small portion of that price. Maybe some day I will snag that version but until then the new book will do!

Christmas Day
When I was younger we would take turns going from my grandparents house to my parents for dinner. We would make Log Cabin Potatoes and by we I mean either my dad or my Grampie. Now that I am moved away though I make them for my house and my brother makes them for his, (I’ll share the recipe at the end of this post). Since my Grampie passed however, My dad normally makes them at home and we pick my grandmother up and go to my parents for dinner. My sister and her 2 kids will sleep over at their house since they dont have a Christmas tree due to her and her husbands religious beliefs but we all still celebrate the meal and exchange of gifts together. I know my parents would love for my family to also stay over there but I can say once we buy a new home next year I do not think we will be since there is barely enough room or beds let alone we have our own tree in our home that we will be opening gifts under. Not to mention I just enjoy sleeping in my own flipping bed! We typically ate around mid afternoon so that by supper time we could be in our own homes and relaxing in our food coma.

Boxing Day
Boxing day is pretty fun for my family as well. We typically go to my Dad’s oldest brothers house. We go about mid morning for a visit and for him to showcase all the things him and my aunt exchanged or got for Christmas. We are kind of pranksters and while he shows us things we really get him to give us the “full package” so to speak by taking everything out of their boxes or bags even if they are in an orgional box. We make the typical “Oooooo” and “Awwww” for the items and if my Uncle tries to tell us he doesnt want to do it we give him grief about it and he gives us grief back and it’s all in good fun! Even being away from home living in a different province if the time is right I will video chat with them for a bit and we will still pull the same tricks from a different province too!

Most of the traditions that I had done as a child I want to continue with my son, and future kids too. One in particular that I never had as a child I would like to start with him would be the pajama box on Christmas Eve. This is where they receive a gift of new jammies, and as they get older they would get some hot chocolate, maybe some popcorn, or a treat, That way they can have a nice movie and unwind before bed. I don’t think my Uncles would be making their way over since they have their own grand kids and what not already. And we won’t be doing the pool thing while our children are young since the evening wasn’t met for children. It was just for the adults. Though we may swing by though to say hello! Another I would like to do also when my children get older is to hide the pickle on the Christmas tree. Whoever finds the pickle gets a special gift. Something silly to match the little game. Elf on a shelf will also be happening however that is a bit away til my Son and future children understand what they are too!

As you can see, there really is many traditions that I had as a child and I am sure there will be many more for me to find out about and decide if they are right for our family!

What are some of your Christmas or Holiday traditions?

I would love to hear them.

-StaySeeJ08