The last favourites post of the year! Our month was filled with a lot more Christmas activities than last year. I’ll tell you about those as well as sharing the books that I (and my kids) read. I hope my December favourites give you some ideas you can carry into next year.

Read

I read one of my favourite novels of the year this month: A Gentleman in Moscow. (Now I’m planning to read Rules of Civility in 2019.)

I also read a novel that was perfect for the bath: light, easy, and fun — Miss Buncle Married.

I tried a couple of others from my TBR list but they didn’t grab me. My list is very unwieldy so at least it’s nice to whittle it down and move on.

Two books about Christian living that I enjoyed (convicting as they were) were Side by Side by Edward Welch and Counter Culture by David Platt.

I also appreciated Simplicity Parenting. Much of it was preaching to the choir, but it was encouraging and helpful as well.

I ordered quite a few Christmas picture books from the library this year. We enjoyed Jan Brett’s Christmas Treasury, Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree, and The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey. 

And finally, The Rough Patch is a non-Christmas picture book that was a completely unexpected look at grief.

Eat

In the middle of the month I hosted a Christmas tea party for the girls and ladies at my church. It was so much fun to decide on the food, tea, music, games, and decorations. We had wonton snowflakes, snowball truffles, cherry kiss cookies, walnut sandwich cookies, and gingerbread letters spelling “Merry Christmas” and “Joyeux Noel.”

Other delicious, seasonal food/drink I consumed included tourtiere, homemade smoked salmon, various cookies and chocolates, eggnog, wassail (complete with singing “Here We Come A-wassailling”) and plum pudding (complete with singing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”).

I made Andrew some fancy granola for Christmas using a basic granola recipe I’ve made dozens of times over the years (note: I leave out the brown sugar and add cinnamon). For the first time I tried adding cocoa before baking it, then after it cooled I tossed in bits of dark chocolate and crushed coffee beans. I think it was a success!

Play

When six nieces and nephews came to visit I made play dough using this recipe. I didn’t have any food colouring, but at least I had cinnamon to make it smell nice.

Listen

We went to two concerts in December: the Georgian Bay Children’s Choir (with Bells of the Shore bell choir) and the Georgian Bay Symphony (with dancers performing selections from The Nutcracker).

Watch

I took my oldest to her first play, The Wind in the Willows put on by The Kids in the Meaford Hall. It was fun to watch, especially since it was directed by a teenager from our church, with two of his siblings in lead roles.

Meditate

For the Lord comforts Zion;
    he comforts all her waste places
and makes her wilderness like Eden,
    her desert like the garden of the Lord;
joy and gladness will be found in her,
    thanksgiving and the voice of song.
– Isaiah 51:3

Happy New Year! What are some of your favourite things from the last month (or year)?