It snowed!
Let me tell you, there is NOTHING to make a person appreciate snow like moving to a place in which it snows very little from a place where it can snow literally any month of the year, and does constantly between October through May. Here, if it snows at the end of February the inhabitants are bemoaning the Winter That Will Never End, whereas for me, a nice snowfall and temperatures above zero feels like a Normal Spring Day. I am assuming that at some point my internal blueprint will modify and it won’t feel strange to have rain in November, but for now, this is where I am at.
Having the first REAL snowfall – one that sticks around for more than an hour – in mid-December feels like a Holiday Miracle of the first degree. It also makes me feel like sharing all the other Holiday Miracles and Favourites that I’m enjoying.
Nicole’s Favourite Things
O Tannenbaum
My tree esthetic – well, actually my entire Festive Decorating Esthetic – is, without a doubt, Chaotic Nostalgia. What it lacks in elegance and understatement it more than makes up for in visual interest. Putting the tree up is an Entire Family Affair, and I hope that continues, well, forever. Intellectually I know this may or may not be the case, but let’s not worry about things that have yet to happen. In any event, every year a pattern emerges: my older son likes to take his childhood crafts and place them in clear view of everyone, where all can perceive that he really had no idea how to draw a face when he was three, and my younger son puts all of his at the back of the tree, unseen by all.
We have been amassing our ornaments for decades now, and this year I brought home a couple from Rome. One was this cute little Santa:
The other was a pair of lovebirds, which I think very much signifies my semi-empty nest and a new era for my marriage. Is that a narwhal, the unicorn of the ocean beside it? Yes. That was our 2020 ornament. When everyone was buying mask-related Christmas decor, we were leaning hard into the narwhal. (Bye Buddy! Hope you find your dad!)
Last year my dear friend Michelle (HI MICHELLE) sent me a gnome of her own making, and it has a well-deserved place of honour on the tree, beside the little house I bought the year we got married, and Bob Ross. By the way, if you haven’t seen Michelle’s dollhouse decorated for the holidays, I suggest you drop everything and go over there. Right now! I’ll wait.
Michelle’s dollhouse, and her entire blog, are one of my Favourite Things, during the holidays and ALWAYS. She is a bright light in this dark world. Speaking of dark, the sunrise is currently at 7:50 am and the sunset is at THREE FIFTY SIX IN THE AFTERNOON. The daylight (“daylight”) hours are very grey and cloudy at least 80% of the time, and so I’m basically mainlining Vitamin D at this point. But Saturday is the Solstice, as well as our annual Holiday Hoopla Open House, and after that we will be enjoying that extra daylight, two minutes at a time.
Also on the topic of lights, we have a tree that allows us to toggle between coloured and white lights, and also has options for twinkling and wave-like changing. The little lights are not twinkling. They really aren’t because twinkling lights make me feel like I’m going to have a mild stroke, but I do switch the colours and whites daily.
It’s Puzzle Season, Motherfuckers
I love a good jigsaw puzzle, but I am oddly specific about the things I like. Mostly, I don’t like a puzzle that is too hard, but I do like one with a lot of different vignettes involved. My husband and son brought this back for me on their trip up north; how or why they were shopping for Jane Austen jigsaw puzzles in Dawson City, I don’t know. But it is probably my favourite puzzle I have ever put together in my entire life.
I was drying my hair and my husband came upstairs and casually mentioned that there was “writing on the back” of the interior puzzle picture, and did I know that? I practically shoved him out of the way to run downstairs to look, and lo, there it was, a guide to all of the characters and houses in the puzzle. I felt vindicated as I had guessed which was Pemberley, Donwell Abbey, etcetera, and I talked excitedly about it as my husband’s eyes glazed over. My son made the mistake of asking me about it and then had to back away like Homer in the hedge.
It’s Also Peppermint Chocolate Season, Motherfuckers
For the first time in my entire adult life I have a chocolate Advent calendar, and while it’s fun to be included in the guys’ daily December ritual, I have to say, it’s not the glory I thought it would be. It’s fun, yes. I like my After Eight calendar just fine, but I almost think it would have been better to just buy a box of After Eights and eat one a day. The chocolate to peppermint ratio is way off in my calendar but, as my son says, it’s more about the event than the actual chocolate.
But this sounds more like a Festivus grievance than a Favourite Things, doesn’t it? Poor Nicole and her slightly-strange After Eight calendar, which involves a lot of bus-shaped chocolates. Why buses? I don’t know. Anyway, it is a fun little ritual, AND my parents sent a Christmas parcel that features a whole tin of After Eights, so I am happy and festively minty.
I am also happy because I made the executive decision to add mint chocolate chips to dark chocolate chips while making my annual batch of peppermint bark and people, this is what we all need right now. Or, really, it’s what I need right now.
Do you want the recipe? Here it is: melt some chocolate, add crushed candy canes, spread it on parchment paper and chill until you’re able to break it into chaotically artistic pieces.
It’s Brussels With An S
I did not grow up in a family that ate Brussels sprouts, and so I was in my twenties when I was at a Christmas dinner that featured a bowlful. I was filling my plate with vegetables so as to disguise that I wasn’t taking much turkey; this was back in the day before I was completely vegetarian, but I didn’t eat much meat, and I didn’t think my hostess would appreciate that. I scooped out a generous helping of Brussels sprouts, and with the clarity of hindsight I realize that of the nine or ten people at the table, no one else was doing this. I perceived the reason immediately upon biting into the mushy, boiled sprout. Oh, I thought, trying not to gag, THIS is why people hate Brussels sprouts.
Fast forward many years and we were at my friend Sammi’s for dinner (HI SAMMI). She had roasted Brussels sprouts and I gamely gave them a try. Wow. It was an entirely different experience and one that made me low-key obsessed with this cute little cruciferous. If she knows I’m coming over, she air fries some with olive oil and balsamic. My air fryer is only good for small batches, so I do them in the oven if I want volume which, let’s face it, I usually do.
Tis The Season For Boozy Coffee
Not every day, of course, but it’s nice to have a warming cup of coffee and booze around the holidays. I used to love a Bailey’s, but that cream wreaks absolute havoc on my stomach, and the almond milk version that came out several years ago is no longer being made, probably because it wasn’t very good. My husband went to the liquor store for the components of an Aperol spritz and came back with this:
It’s DELICIOUS. It’s coconut based and so creamy and tasty; I envision myself sipping it in my pajamas over the holidays.
Extremely Specific Kelowna Favourite
The postal strike is, while not settled, over. Sort of. It’s a long convoluted story that is best explained by the BBC, but essentially it has been a month-long shitshow in which absolutely no one won, everyone’s unhappy, the whole country is worse off, our remote and northern communities were completely cut off as Canada Post was the only organization that delivered up there, Canadians are still awaiting important government documents like passports, and small businesses have been, for lack of a better word, fucked. If the aim of this whole shmozzle was to line the pockets of giants like Amazon while small businesses suffered in the one season they can count on to actually earn a living, well, level completed and achievement unlocked.
In order to combat this in my own tiny way, I’ve been trying to shop more locally. Mosaic Books is a gem of a store that takes orders and pre-orders – although it could not deliver anything during the strike, of course – and I was thrilled to see that it was busy and bustling when I went to pick up my own order. I ended up buying way, way more than I had ordered, but hey. I’m helping out a small business!
Bookstores are second only to drugstore skincare and makeup aisles as places that can transfix me for indefinite amounts of time.
Outfit of the Month
I bought this sweater in Italy, and I will likely tell you I bought this sweater in Italy until it falls apart. As well as being Bought In Italy, it’s also so incredibly soft and cozy. I have my usual mildly-cold-weather boots, my Infinite Fit Silver jeans, a bag I bought in Italy (I bought this bag in Italy) and a tote bag featuring tiny Babar the Elephant in yoga poses, gifted to me many years ago by my friend Monique (HI MONIQUE). A perfect outfit for holiday shopping at Mosaic Books, which is where I wore it.
I love the month of December, so dark and yet so full of light, too. I hope your December is full of twinkling (or not) lights, yummy things, and coziness. xo
Brussels sprouts! Firstly, I did not realize they had an “s” until way into my twenties. Secondly, my Mom, like you, had some bad ones when she was younger, and due to this, NEVER served them to us as kids, as she thought they were gross. I moved out, realized butter and a good sear make everything better and decided I loved them! However, I still had to try to win my Mom over, and she is notourious for sticking with her original opinion until death do us part. But my brother and I fried them up good and put all the yummy stuff on them and now she is hooked. Kiddos for the win! Now I just have to get her to get on a plane and visit me while I am traveling, but that will be a much harder sell. 🙁
To be fair to your mom, the horror of that sprout never really left me, so I can see why she was so reticent!
Only you could make even winter seem bright and cheery, Nicole. I am such a grinch about cold weather and here you are EXCITED for and EMBRACING it.
I love Christmas trees and candy canes and just everything going on right now. My brother and SIL arrived last night, John gets home tomorrow, and the kids finish school tomorrow. I feel like after a month of scurrying around like a maniac, it’s time to hibernate and put on Bing Crosby and eating a lot of chocolate and pepperminty things.
Michelle is such a Happy Thing. Her gnome house tours are sheer perfection.
Yes girl, it IS time to hibernate and lean way way way into the cozy! And the chocolate peppermint!
Brussels sprouts are so good! But the s after Brussels always throws me. If not for autocorrect, I wouldn’t include that s. It seems unnecessarily. But hey, I don’t make the rules. I am usually disappointed when I order them in restaurants, though, because they put too much other stuff in them and they can be overly fatty/greasy. So I have learned to just eat them at home. No one else in my family likes them, though, so I get them all to myself. I do love the salad I make with them at Thanksgiving but again, there are no takers in my house so I can only make that salad when going to a potluck/family gathering type of situation!
Well a bus-shaped chocolate would delight my children! We have an advent calendar which also serves as a threat for bad behavior (if you don’t believe we are not opening the drawer) and I am sad to report that a number of drawers have remained unopen. They get 4 m&ms each so I guess it’s not much of a sacrifice to forgo opening it. Sigh.
We also got our first significant snowfall today! Taco asked when it would be summer on the drive to school today. He might not be cut out to live in Minnesota. But he was also excited to help shovel tonight so he’s giving mixed messages. I’m quietly loving it but I did not have to drive in it like my uber/husband did this morning. I love a snowfall! And now we’ll be able to go sledding this weekend which is the best activity for tiring my children out.
Hahaha oh Taco! He’s a summer kid clearly! I loved taking the kids sledding. There was a hill behind their elementary school and I’d bring their sleds so they could just zoop down after school. So much fun!
In addition to the buses, there are also a few of London Bridge and Big Ben!
I love Amarula. I first had it in college while studying abroad in South Africa. There they have Springbok shots, which is crème de menthe on the bottom and Amarula on top. Highly recommend!
Oooooh that sounds amazing, absolutely amazing! I am definitely going to try that!
Envious of your snow!! My children are bereft at the springlike temperatures here.
Welp it rained this morning so the snow is melting fast! It was fun while it lasted!
Another air fryer Brussels sprout recipe is to stir up equal parts olive oil and maple syrup, add a little salt and pepper, pour over the sprouts and put in the air fryer. The original recipe also calls for chopped up bacon, but I know you would omit that as a vegetarian. With or without bacon, the recipe is so tasty with the sweetness of the maple syrup offsetting the bitterness of the sprouts – so delicious!
Jacquie Jacquie JACQUIE where have you BEEN all my life? Maple syrup sounds amazing and you can bet I’m going to do this!!! thank you!!!
I love that your ornaments are so cute and has their own story. we left our Christmas tree back in storage when we left the US in 2017. I think we are shipping it to Brazil so next year we will have a tree, finally!
I love Brussel sprouts, among my favorite vegetable dishes, especially roasted.
Thanks so much Coco! I’m excited for you to have a tree again next year.
I cannnot imagine living somewhere that has snow, all the clothes on and off all the time. No thanks. We consider it cold when we have a top of 10C which still just needs a jacket thrown on when we leave the house.
Roasted brussels sprouts taste completely different to boiled. I grew up eating boiled and loathed them but now I love russels sprouts as long as they are cooked properly (or shaved raw)
I first tried Amurulla when we were in Africa. When we came in from safari at night they had hot chocolate spiked with Amurulla waiting for the adults. It is the only alcohol my daughter has bought for herself.
Does this mean I can mail your card now? I’ve been saving yours and Allison’s.
I love roasted Brussels sprouts and this made me realize we haven’t had them this fall/winter even once. Time to remedy that.
Steph, yes! It should get through. I am not sure when because they are so backed up – cannot even imagine the backlog – so look for mail from me in the New Year. Who knows, maybe it will be a Valentine’s Christmas greeting!
My post tomorrow is about homemade childhood ornaments. Those are the best! My oldest also has the paper plate angel that she uses as a tree topper on one of their smaller trees. Only the face is her actual 4 year old photo. It’s adorable.
Mark me down as never noting the extra S in Brussels sprouts. Are they named after the city in Belgium? I grew up eating the nasty boiled version. I still hate the smell, so will only eat the roasted ones in restaurants.
Merry Christmas! Yeah to more light!
Boiled Brussels sprouts, whoever thought that was a good idea? Yeesh. Yes I do think they are named after the city!
Your post was wonderful, what a joy to read! Merry Christmas!
Long live Italy Sweater!!!
The only reason why I don’t drink boozy coffee is because I limit myself to one cup a day and I drink it too early in the morning for booze to be pleasurable. So if I could figure out how to have it later in the day I would be all over it. Note to self: get some Bailey’s ASAP.
I’m not particularly a Jane Austen fan but I am dying over that puzzle! The only reason that I’m not googling it and ordering it RIGHT NOW is that Doggo is still a little too rowdy and I think she’s cause some mayhem. Surely by next winter I’ll be able to have puzzle season again.
COME ON WINTER SOLSTICE!!! I can’t wait to start getting a little more daylight.
Hmmm that is a conundrum in terms of coffee and Bailey’s – maybe a decaf?
We have a puzzle board that helps with the inevitable tail wags. When Barkley was in his later years he would steal and eat pieces, and we’d only figure this out at the end. Barkley!
Awww, Nicole! Your post has brightened my day so much! Speaking of bright lights in a dark world, that exactly what you are, my dear friend! Thank you for saying such kind things about my blog. ❤️ I’m so pleased to see the gnome I sent you looking happy on your tree – next to Bob Ross! That’s so cool! Your tree looks so pretty! Your Italy sweater is gorgeous! I love your Jane Austen puzzle! Your candy looks delicious! I don’t know about Brussels sprouts….I have bad memories of them…. School lunchroom memories. Shudder. But the boozy coffee sounds nice!
I guess I’ll see if I can mail my Canadian Christmas cards!
Thank YOU, Michelle! Your gnome is enjoying his time with Bob Ross. I thought it was only fitting, that the gnome from an artist should be with an artist!
You should be able to mail them now, it will be a while before the backlog is cleared so look for your card to arrive…who knows? Hopefully in Q1!
I love mosaic books! My favourite store.
The postal strike gave me an excuse to opt out of sending Christmas cards this year and I’m not sad about that, feeling low energy and needed to cut some things off the to do list.
I’m still sending my cards out because I had them all ready to go! It feels weird because people might get them in, who knows, February?
Mosaic is so great, I could spend a whole day in there poking around.
Beautiful Christmas tree, you can feel the holidays coming! 🙂 I also like to decorate my home this way, I always put warm wool blankets on the couch in the living room and put lots of Christmas decorations 🙂
That sounds so cozy! I hope you have a wonderful Christmas!
Someone with big paws is super excited about the snow :)!!
What a pity about the postal strike… I hope there’s some recouping possible for all concerned.
You tree, outfit, and Italian acquisitions are lovely, Nicole.
Thank you Maya!
I was happy to hear last night that at least the postal workers are getting a retroactive 5% raise, which is still below what they were asking for, but at least they didn’t come out with nothing. I’m sad for them. I’m sad for the people up north. I’m sad for the small businesses who will not get any government assistance. It’s just a whole mess.
Ah, I love a “favorite holiday things” post!!! Everything here sounds amazing, OTHER THAN the lack of sunlight!!! Wow, it really gets dark early there. That would wreak havoc with my mood- good thing you don’t have SAD. The peppermint bark looks amazing, and I LOVE that puzzle! I also love roasted brusselS sprouts. And… I would be happy to do my part and shop at that bookstore!!!
It is a good thing I don’t have SAD! I don’t know how people deal with it, honestly. Sometimes it’s days without seeing the sun at all since it’s so grey and cloudy. Well, it’s winter, what are you going to do?
I was jealous of your snow but IT SNOWED HERE YESTERDAY and Hannah was so thrilled. I let her run around like the little nutter that she is and it was so much fun to see her playing and rolling around in the snow. Having a dog makes me enjoy snow a million times more than I did before.
What a mess about the strike. What a mess. My plan is to put my cards to Canada in the mail tonight, but I am pretty sure you won’t get yours for a long time. I DID wish you happy holidays, though, so the thought was there!
It’s a mess on every level, Engie!
Yay for snow! I’m happy for Hannah and for you!
I LOVE Brussel Sprouts, one of my very favorite veggies – roasted with maple syrup and a sprinkle of chili flakes, and pecans. Yum. Or – with orange peel. The possibilities are endless. They have a good strong flavor and know who they are! Unlike some of the other wussier veggies.
Maple syrup, chili flakes and pecans??? Sign me up!!! I am going to do some experimenting! They certainly do know who they are – I love that!
Chaotic nostalgia! Yes, that is our tree! Love that so much. I’m thinking of leaving the tree up (without ornaments) throughout winter. I just love how our home glows at night.
I love a bookstore. They are THERAPEUTIC.
That’s a really nice idea, Kari! So cozy!
One year I got myself a See’s Chocolates calendar, and I was VERY EXCITED—and I ended up, same as you, wondering why I didn’t just buy a box of See’s chocolates and have one each day. Well. It may be that chocolate countdown calendars belong to the days when we were young enough not to have agency over how much chocolate we were allowed to consume.
THANK YOU for mentioning the end of the postal strike!! I have two Christmas cards waiting to mail to Canada, and I was wondering how I would hear it was time to send them! I will send them tomorrow!
Swistle, a few of my American friends have told me their POs are not accepting Canadian mail yet, but maybe yours is different. It will take a long while to get things sorted, that’s for sure.
I kind of think it’s a great idea to just eat a chocolate every day – the calendar was a bit disappointing!
Hi Nicole;
I, too, love all things mint chocolate! I went to make your mint chocolate squares today, but the recipe link in your blog no longer works 🥺. These have become a holiday staple in our house. Is there any way you still have (and are willing to share) your recipe?
Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Hi Sarah! I know, the whole YMC site was dismantled when the owner retired, boo. I didn’t have a chance to copy all the recipes to separate links, which is a bummer. But I have them all hard copy, so here you go!
Melt 1 cup chocolate chips with 1/2 cup coconut milk. After that, stir in a teaspoon of vanilla and 2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs (like Oreo)
Chill in a 9 inch square parchment paper lined baking pan
Meanwhile, make the filling. Beat together 1/4 cup refined coconut oil, 1/2 teaspoon of peppermint extract, 1 1/2 cups icing sugar and 2 tbsp milk, any kind. Spread onto the chilled bottom layer.
While that chills, make the glaze! Melt 1/4 cup chocolate chips with 1 tbsp refined coconut oil, spread over top and chill again.
Hope this helps!
Merry Christmas!
Thank you so much for your quick reply, especially this busy time of year. My kids are going to be thrilled!
We also were late to the Brussels sprouts bandwagon, because we had only had them steamed, which is disgusting. My daughter Maya asked me to make them for her after seeing an episode of Arthur (cartoon) where he refused to eat them and then ended up LOVING them, and of course the only way I knew how to make them was to steam them, so I bought 3 sprouts. She asked for more, and I said I would be happy to buy more if she liked them, but as they were new, I wasn’t sure. Predictably she hated them because they were horrid and she was thrilled that there were only 3. Reminds me of when my mom made us liver for some reason. She hated liver but wanted to give us a chance to like it, so she made it, but also made a second dinner. When we hated it, she said, OK, well, good thing we also have this here…Within the last 15 years, my friend and I went to a restaurant that served Brussels sprouts roasted, and I was converted. My husband said no, but once he tried them, he fell in love and now we’re hooked. Maya? She doesn’t HATE them, but she still doesn’t love them.
I love your Italy sweater. I have 4 tops that I got in France, and any time someone compliments me on them, you had better believe I say, “Oh, thank you, I love it, I got it in France.” I will die the day they wear out. I’m wearing one right now.
Oh what a smart way to introduce kids to a new food! I had to eat liver when I was young, but my parents actually DO like it. Ugh, that is stuff of nightmares!
I came very close to making peppermint bark for my book club’s Christmas party when I saw you share that photo on IG! But I went with mint chocolate cookies so same difference, I guess?!
I only figured out that I like Brussels sprouts a few years ago! I can be notoriously stubborn about trying new foods, lol.
Hooray for snow and strikes (sorta?) ending and bookstores. There’s nothing I love more than browsing bookstores!
Hey, whatever vehicle you need for mint chocolate sounds good in my book!
That puzzle looks amazing; I too love one with different vignettes as opposed to GIGANTIC splotches of colors. I had a giggle at your rushing to see what the writing was regarding your puzzle; we are so much alike in that aspect!
Brussels sprouts are one of our faves, but if you have them the wrong way, they can scar you for life.
Bye Buddy, I hope you find your Dad is one of my go-to lines! Love your tree and your decor choices; vintage fun!
It’s one of my favourite lines too!
You and I are puzzle twins. I’m working on a fun one right now!