1. Start off with an unexpected snow day! Get Grandpa to help build some snowmen.
  2. Help to coordinate a successful Christmas program with your Sunday school group. Make sure the wise men make it to the front on cue and the sheep “baa” correctly. Sit back and enjoy the Candlelight Service, especially if it includes one daughter playing a xylophone and another singing a solo.
  3. Use your Starbucks gift cards (thanks, students!) to treat your daughters to warm vanilla milk while you are waiting for the ferry to Vancouver Island to visit Oma and Opa. Enjoy a nice mocha while you’re at it.
  4. Eat. Probably too much. Sample a wide variety of delectable treats. Try some candied salmon, pavlova, homemade beef jerky, hash brown casserole, chicken stuffed with brie and cranberries, and plenty of chocolate. Make sure you aren’t responsible for cooking everything.
  5. Include some multi-cultural experiences, such as singing “Ere Zij God” with your family for your in-laws’ church congregation of mainly Scottish and English retirees.
  6. Work off all of those Christmas treats with some long walks by the Puntledge River. Take a nice picture with your family – perfect for that long-overdue Christmas letter.
  7. Get out for an inexpensive date with your husband (Greek food works well – try some ekmek for the dessert if you can). Works best if it is paid for by the gift card that your husband got for Christmas.
  8. Take in a few movies, play some games, and read some great books. Start with Frozen and the new Hobbit movie and follow it up with your daughter’s new Despicable Me 2 DVD. Save the world from disease in a rousing game of Pandemic. Be challenged by Paul Brand and Philip Yancey’s The Gift Nobody Wants. Pick up the newest Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes book from the library.
  9. Spend some time re-conquering the house and taming the laundry pile. Get the Christmas decorations stored away and the house semi-organized, since that won’t happen once school starts again…
  10. Start planning a tropical getaway for next Christmas–for family members in Alberta, this will be a much needed break from the weather they have been experiencing.