family time and a happy new year

I hope everyone had a beautiful Christmas holiday! Here's a bit of what we've been up to..

illuminated tree at Stanley Park's Bright Nights

kid-made sugar cookies (yes, it was messy, and a little stressful at times, but sooo fun and delicious!)

 family trip to Victoria (Vancouver Island) where most shops on the main strip seemed to require *very* large, often well dressed animals to sit at the shop entrance

hotel dining at its best :)

 Duncan, BC (Vancouver Island) to visit some family. Amazing backyard!

Aunt S's sweet dachshund relaxing by the fire

back home for Christmas Eve and some pretty awesome presents - 

 fairy wings from Aunty S and a spy suit from Nana

Christmas day dinner with the family at my childhood home. Especially excited my sister made it home for Christmas this year! (yup, everything in that kitchen is yellow. It's no wonder I am so drawn to that colour now)

 the classic punch bowl

 the dessert table (I forgot to get a picture of the actual dinner spread which is always an impressive mix of potluck contributions - turkey with sticky rice stuffing (my mom's specialty), Thai noodles, radish cakes, yams, veggies, dips, spring rolls, zucchini pie, prawns, curry pastries...)

C with one of his favourite aunts

stockings lined up and ready for Santa :)

I'm feeling a little sad that the holidays are almost over. It was actually pretty relaxing and although we didn't end up doing half the things I thought we would, it ended up being perfect. New years eve for us will also be pretty laid back, dinner at home with the kids and maybe some grandparents. My kids haven't been sleeping all that well lately so I'm sure it won't be too much of a stretch if they wanted to stay up until midnight (not sure I'll make it though..) And then it's a new year! I'm not normally a 'resolutions' kind of girl, but I do like to think about what I'd like to do with the fresh year ahead. You know, the usual 'start exercising more', 'eat better both health-wise and in a more sustainable, ethical way' (just watched FOOD, INC. again and feel like I just got a good kick in the butt to be more pro-active with our food choices again)... But as for sewing and crafting, oh man, looking all the patterns and books I've accumulated recently, it seems like I have pretty lofty goals for the new year. I'll get into this more in another post.. Do you normally come up with new years resolutions? Do you believe they actually help achieve your goals? 

Well, I'm not sure I'll get back on here before the new year, so I'd like to wish all of you an absolutely wonderful, exciting, and joyful new year! And thank you so much for reading this little blog of mine. This past year was an exciting one for me with the start of this blog and my shop and I feel like since I joined this community, it's really helped me focus more and actually make time for doing what I really love to do. And for that, I'm grateful :)

xo melissa