As most people know, this holiday season will be our first as husband and wife, but also our first without dad, and our second without Gram and Olivia. Although it will undoubtedly be the toughest season we have ever faced together, it is one we wanted to face together with happiness, love, gratitude, and hope in our hearts. We didn't want to pretend that it was not hard or sad for us, but we wanted to enter the holiday season with as much love in our hearts as we could. Don't ignore the bad, simply focus on the good.
As December crept towards us, we came to the realization that we were in need of some hubs/wifey time, so we both arranged to be free of any commitments from December 22- January 2!
First things first, we had a couple things to add to dads remembrance, and tidy up the condo so we didn't have to worry about it all week.
Once the condo was nice and clean, we were lucky enough to have a visit from our beloved friend Chris Gallagher who had recently returned to Alberta (although I was missing my Amy)! It's always nice to see friends that warm your heart and make you laugh.
As December crept towards us, we came to the realization that we were in need of some hubs/wifey time, so we both arranged to be free of any commitments from December 22- January 2!
First things first, we had a couple things to add to dads remembrance, and tidy up the condo so we didn't have to worry about it all week.
Once the condo was nice and clean, we were lucky enough to have a visit from our beloved friend Chris Gallagher who had recently returned to Alberta (although I was missing my Amy)! It's always nice to see friends that warm your heart and make you laugh.
All for dad. 💓
We ate copious amounts of food, cuddled on the couch with the cutest balls of fur, and watched countless movies. We had many adventures planned for the week, but we were already off to a perfect start.
Sasha "helping" complete the Christmas cards.
Our attempt at a Christmas card... safe to say the cats were not having any of it.
Before we knew it, it was Christmas eve-eve, or December 23, and I was itching for a mountain adventure. We packed up, and headed out to Lake Louise and Johnston Canyon.
Below are a couple photos from our trip, but check out my Lake Louise & Johnston Canyon post for all our photos from the day.
We spent Christmas Eve watching some more movies, playing on Jake's new Ipad, and making a travel bucket list for 2019. I always find it easier to change my mindset from negative to positive when I write out all the things I have going for me; seeing it on paper in front of me forces my mind to focus on the happiness of life.
As Christmas day rolled around, we made family calls, opened gifts, and by no surprise ate some more amazing food! I was in charge of breakfast so I whipped up some cinnamon buns, and finger food throughout the day while Jake made his AMAZING beer can chicken, brussel sprouts, corn, and stuffing. Trust me when I say it's fun being married to a chef.
We thought a lot about those we were missing across the country, and those who were now watching over us. This season is really all about family, and instead of focusing on the pain of losing our loved ones and missing their presence we focused on how lucky we were to have had them in our lives. We are two blessed little souls, and we make sure to remind ourselves of that, even on the hard days.
December 26th brought the anniversary of losing dear Olivia.
I'm still dealing with the magnitude to which this loss affected me, so in lieu of words I will be sharing a photo of her to remember her beautiful smile. I wish I had some smart quote to insert here, but I don't.
In remembrance of her vibrant soul, we went for a nice long walk around our community and stopped for a coffee. We sat, talked, and enjoyed each others company.
I still miss you Livy, think of you often.
Rest In Peace Angel
December 27th will go down as a day that we conquered a feat we thought we would never be able to say we did.... WE BATHED SASHA! And I don't mean with water-less shampoo, I mean we got that house cow into the bath tub and gave her a full bath. Surprisingly, it went so well that we decided to give Midnight a bath as well. His did not go so well and he ended up doing the splits to avoid getting his feet wet.
All in all, they were two squeaky clean kittens, and we were two proud adventurers.
Here you can see one soaking wet, unhappy kitten.
Don't let this fool you, once she was all dried off, she was really quite happy and it really showed in photos that I took of her after. Check them out below.
Tell me that is not one happy kitten!!
At this point, Midnight still refused to acknowledge my existence, but you will be happy to know that he has since forgiven us.
This bring us to today's adventures, THE ZOO!
We chose a warmer day (as warm as Calgary winters can be), and trekked off to the zoo.
Here are a couple of my favorite photos from the day, feel free to check out the rest here:
Tonight, Jake is off winning big (hopefully) during poker night, and I am relishing in the week that I have been able to share with my beloved. Our adventures don't end here though!!!
I am hoping to convince Jakey to go on another hike with me this weekend, we get to see our friends Court and Tay tomorrow (FINALLY!), and we have NYE to look forward to. If NYE is anything like last year, I will be having too much fun to take and share any photos.
With that being said, I hope that everyone is having a wonderful holiday season filled with laughter and love.
Can't wait to share our future adventures with you.
xoxo
til next time friends
char hazzard
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