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12 Days of Hygge Day 1: Merry and Bright Vancouver Christmas Activities

Um, it’s December 1. What?!

While I’m gob-smacked at how quickly December came, this is one of my favourite times of year. I tend to contain my excitement until about December 5 and then let it loose; but because I’ve been planning some holiday season blog stuff since mid-October, my excitement started early. It’s partly the Brit’s fault. He sent me a link in October for a Christmas light event that was starting November 24 and it all snowballed from there…

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Purposeful Online Christmas Shopping

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are upon us. Are you ready? Have you been exploring the pre-sales? Love it or hate it this retail weekend is a fantastic opportunity to Christmas shop in a #GetThrifty manner; particularly online.

This year, I’ve decided to a significant portion of my shopping from the comfort of my own home or on my lunch break. I briefly touched on online shopping in my Holiday Season Survival Guide last year, but wanted to expand on it a bit (and share some ideas and deals!). It’s a philosophy that ingrains itself more firmly for me every year – convenience, no people mowing you over to get that last pair of shoes, and it takes a fraction of the time.

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Holiday Season Survival Tips and No-Bake Chocolate Cheesecake Recipe

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Photo Credit: Jessica Glass

We are now full on into the holiday season, which means shopping, parties, shortbread, and, let’s face it, feeling a bit like you’re running around like a chicken with its head cut off. This is not a feeling exclusive to Christmas time, but it’s certainly amplified at this time of year. Unexpected guests, forgetting presents, hopping from event to event (I had three last Thursday!).

How to survive the most wonderful time of the year – and, really, anything that comes your way? Three key things to remember:

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Terra’s Christmas Crack a.k.a. Almond Roca

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Christmas Crack photo op before the vultures set in.

Last week, my friend Terra came in to the office with her famous ‘Christmas Crack’. The office literally stops for Christmas Crack. Calls are put on hold; people change direction. Those who normally work from home come in specifically just so they can get their savoury/sweet crunchy goodness fix.

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Holiday Party Food and Easy Fig Dip

In light of moving chaos, my annual open house is a no-go this year. The kitchen is a disaster. I don’t know that I’ve ever blogged about the holiday open house as Christmas time tends to get beyond busy… But we throw a good party involving BBQ’d turkey, lots of food and drink, and the apartment is stuffed to capacity with our friends. I love it. I am sad to not have that this year; but that hasn’t stopped me from thinking about party food!

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Clearing the clutter

I found out a bit belatedly that yesterday was “Giving Tuesday”. At first, I thought it was odd time to have it in light of the Black Friday and Cyber Monday madness just before it; but what better way to properly kick off the holiday season than with a day geared towards promoting the non-commercial part of the holiday spirit? It was also a good segue in to what I had been drafting the past few days…

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