Happy New Year, everyone. I hope you all had a Christmas as lovely or lovelier than mine was.

I went back to work yesterday and we were all exchanging the post-break greetings: “Happy New Year. How was your Christmas,” and more than a few people just said, “Oh, no need to ask how your Christmas was,” instead of asking, or on thinking better of asking. I guess I make a Big Deal out of how great my Christmases are.

It really was a fabulous Christmas.

Another favourite: Ian saying, "What day is it, Hannah?" And her shouting, "It's Christmas!!!"

I took an unprecedented two weeks off at Christmas this year – that probably contributed to this year’s fabulousness. I don’t know when the last time is that I had a bunch of time to spend with my family at Christmas.

It was so lovely. I went thrift shopping with my cousin the day after she got into town. (That’s where I scored those sweet vintage skates, above.) And I spent a lot of time hanging with my kids and cleaning and making candies. Christmas Eve still found me with nothing wrapped, so I sure didn’t do Christmas more efficiently, but I had time to do a little more and to occasionally putz around and visit more. One of my best memories from this Christmas was that because I was making baked french toast for breakfast, I had a moment between the kids opening their stockings and my needing to get to work on breakfast. So when I went out to feed the birds, I brought a vase and scissors and took clippings from all my lovely backyard conifers to put together some last minute arrangements and decorations. It was just a lovely piece of Christmas zen.

As a side note, every year I think, “this is going to be the year that I have some presents wrapped before Christmas Eve,” and every year I’m wrong.

Not only do I not wrap until Christmas Eve, we have a big family supper on Christmas Eve for my cousin’s birthday and so I don’t start wrapping until I’ve come home, got the kids to bed, and finished prepping for the next day’s breakfast.

This year I bemoaned that fact a little more than I generally do. And my family said, “just find pretty gift bags. Make things easy on yourself.” Which is a philosophy that I am all about, but I couldn’t say to them, “all your gifts are antique plates and things like that with bottoms too wide for gift bags and I’m not putting them on their sides. I just said, “Yeah, I’ll think of something.”

And then I came home and thought of wrapping them all up in vintage pillowcases.

It was perfect. Way more perfect than gift bags. Sitting on my chippy painted chair, under my vintage skates the linens were just exactly the look I’m into these days. Plus it’s really the apex of re-usable wrapping.

I guess next year I’ll be looking around for similar wrapping ideas so that with a little planning the wrapping can truly be part of the gift.