Happy Boxing Day Everyone! I hope everyone had a great Christmas filled with love and family. Blake and I both had to work this Christmas, so we missed out on seeing all of our loved ones' beautiful faces, but we will be seeing them this weekend so that's okay! Christmas isn't over for us yet! Even though we couldn't spend Christmas with our families, we did spend Christmas together and got spoiled by Mollie. Mollie graciously came over and made Blake and I a delicious dinner so that we wouldn't have to worry about too much after working on Christmas day. Mollie is awesome!
Anyhow, I wanted to share the weekend that Blake and I got our Christmas tree, because it was the starting point of our Christmas this year and our first Christmas in our new home together.
Now that we have our own home, it was important to Blake that we have a real Christmas tree. There aren't many tree farms near Peterborough, so we went to a tree farm - recommended by my coworker Erik - near Port Hope called Barrett's Christmas Tree Farm. We invited both sets of parents to come along with us while we chose our very first Christmas tree. Everyone was quite excited!
It was approximately a 40 minute drive from Peterborough and Whitby, so we decided to meet everyone there. The weather was perfect! It was a little bit chilly, but the sun was out and the sky was clear. Blake and I drove down from Peterborough to meet our parents at the tree farm. Once everyone had arrived at Barrett's we began our search. The farm had a petting zoo and a campfire for people to roast marshmallows. We took a hayride up to the top of the farm to begin our search. It was fun searching for our first tree. My mom seemed drawn to the skinnier trees and my dad was just searching for any perfectly shapes tree; however, Blake wanted a particular type of fir tree (he couldn't remember when I asked ... he just said "Balsam??").
Here is a picture of my parents next to the skinny, perfectly shaped tree they would have chosen. I just think it's a super cute pictures of my parents.
I think we only searched for about 15 minutes before we found our tree! It didn't take Blake long to saw down the tree either; then we were on our way. Blake carried the tree all by himself (strongman) while the rest of us strolled along the path behind him. I made him stop a couple of times for pictures, but he was quite speedy - he was carrying a tree after all.
While he paid for the tree, my dad and I goofed off at the petting zoo. We had a mini photoshoot with my dad feeding the animals. Also, my mom bought us all hot chocolates. During this time, Blake and his parents were figuring out how we were going to get the tree home. Lucky for us, the tree fit in our backseat, so off we went. Blake's parents headed home, but my parents followed us back to Peterborough for some tree trimming. Once we returned, my mom and I started getting the tree ready by covering it in lights. We went with a mixture of colour and white lights. I'm more of a fan of the colour lights, but we didn't have enough to cover the entire tree at the time. Once lit, Blake and I started decorating the tree with all of our ornaments. Blake and I try to buy an ornament once a year to symbolize part of our year. That way, each decoration on the tree has a significance to us versus covering our tree in store-bought generic decorations. Last year, I bought us a house ornament in hopes that we would get to put it on our tree this year. Obviously, everyone knows that we bought a house this year, so that particular ornament is front and centre on our tree this year.
My parents spent the afternoon with us before heading home. Usually, my parents will stay the night if coming up for the weekend, but Blake and I had my Christmas work party to attend that evening, so home they went. After my parents left, we rushed to get ready. The party didn't start until 6:30pm, but Mollie was one of the coordinators and asked us to meet her there at 5:30pm to help set up. Blake and Bobby (Mollie's boyfriend) set up the speaker systems, while the rest of us girls claimed our table and relaxed until the rest of the department started arriving. The party was catered by a local butcher shop called Franz and it was delicious. We had prime rib and it was some of the tastiest meat I have ever eaten. The pieces that were cut were HUGE, but that didn't stop Blake from going back for a second helping. I was 50% disgusted and 50% impressed by the amount of meat Blake consumed that night. The evening was fun! After the delicious food, there was a lot of dancing. The Ultrasound department maintained their presence on the dance floor the whole night and kept the party going until the very end. Blake had to go home early because beer + meat + dancing = a shaken, upset belly. We live very close to where the Christmas party was held, so I sent him walking home, so that I could keep the car for the end of the night. The party ended around 11pm, but the person in charge of the music didn't want to leave until midnight. Even though we brought the speakers, Mollie felt bad ending their party, so we had to wait around until midnight to cut them off. Amy and I were ready to leave long before then.
(From left to right: Katelyn (our ultrasound student 2019), Lorelle, Amy, and Me!)
Once the work party was officially over, the girls wanted to keep the night alive, so I drove them (Mollie, Amy, and Lorelle - another co-worker you will start to hear more about soon) to the bar. They had quite the fun and eventful night, but I headed home, so you'd have to ask them what transpired that evening.
The following day, Sunday, Blake had promised that we would drive down to Whitby for his family's tree cutting. That was the day of the terrible snow/ice storm. Everyone recommended that we bail, but I left the decision up to Blake and he wanted to go. The drive down wasn't too bad, but it definitely wasn't great. We met Blake's parents and his brother at the tree farm in Courtice. As the ice pellets were burning our faces, we hurried through the farm to find the perfect tree. We didn't search too long before finding the Aylward's Christmas tree. I'm not sure if the process was so short because of the weather or because we had a smaller party than usual to make the final decision, but nonetheless we headed back to the Aylward's for some hot cocoa. On the drive home, Blake and I stopped to pick up our new housemate's Christmas gift.
Side Note: Blake and I recently began renting out a room in our house to one of Blake's co-workers. His name is Isaac and, at the time, he was going through a tough time in his personal life, so Blake decided to take him under his wing and welcomed him into our home. Honestly, I was a little bit apprehensive at first, but it has been great having someone else in the house. He's the same age as us and very talkative, so I have gotten to know him pretty quickly. He's swell and does a lot to help us around the house, so it's nice having him.
Anyways, back to the gift. I pride myself on getting good gifts for people, so when I found this particular gift I knew I wanted to get it for Isaac. It was a bit over the top for only knowing someone for a month, but Blake and I wanted to show him that there are people in this world that will go above and beyond for him and that care. (Side Note: We're awesome!) The gift was a Nashville Predators hockey jersey - his favourite team - that was signed by the entire team in 2014. I found it online and bought it off of a lady in Whitby that day, so it worked out perfectly. When we gave it to him at our Friends Christmas Dinner, he screamed and cried. It was great.
Back to the Aylward's. We didn't do any tree trimming, but we did have hot cocoa and relaxed before our treacherous drive home. I decided to sleep because I can be somewhat of a poor passenger when it comes to Blake's driving, so I thought sleeping was for the best for us all. I awoke as we were nearing Peterborough. Blake said it was one of the top 3 worst drives of his life, so I'm happy I didn't have to witness the whole thing. I was just happy to be home after the hectic weekend.
Today is Boxing Day. I had the day off, but, unfortunately, Blake had to work again today. I'm hopeful that he will let me keep the Christmas tree up at least until the New Year. As I'm writing this, I'm sitting on the couch and have the perfect view of the Christmas tree in the nook of our living room. I'm able to smell the pine every now and then; and the sight of the wrapped presents under the tree fill my heart with joy. Christmas is my favourite time of year. It is also one of the most stressful times of the year, but once it's over, I can't wait to do it all again next year. This Christmas felt different for us - with us both working - but we were still able to make it feel special and I can't wait to spend the next few days celebrating Christmas with our families and truly embracing this amazing holiday season!
Happy Holidays Everyone!
