Our Christmas is on hold.

Meet “Bruce the Moose”.

He is the only tangible proof in our house that Christmas is upon us.

We are officially T-4 in the countdown to Christmas and I haven’t bought presents yet. 

Not a single one.

I haven’t bought a turkey. 

And I don’t intend to.

My to-do list is empty, and my days are stress free.

Hubby is away at work – and like Driller’s the world over, I am sure – there is no ETA on when he will be home. Poppy is 19m old and has no concept of Xmas, Santa or obligatory gift giving - so Christmas in our house is officially on hold.

I am far from being the Christmas Grinch but there is a very different feel about it this year with recent events dominating the media, my husband being far from home and us being otherwise family-less in a foreign country.

Luckily Poppy is so young that she won’t notice if we have Christmas late, or not at all. For her – every day her “Dad-dad” is home is Christmas replayed over and over again like Groundhog Day. She’s pretty easily pleased.

So this year will not be about presents. 

Instead – we will focus on Poppy and the things we want for her.

More than anything – we just want our little girl to grow up to be kind and thoughtful of others. Last year we started her first Christmas tradition where we take her to buy 2 presents – one for a boy, one for a girl – and donate them to a Children’s Charity. It’s only one act, but it’s a start.

We know how lucky we are. We are living our Canadian dream, we have a beautiful, happy and healthy daughter – and after almost 4 years of marriage – we are still crazy in love. When all is said and done, we don’t need presents under a tree – or a moose in our case – we just need our family and everything will be ok.

Merry Christmas everyone.

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