November 11 – Remembrance Day in Canada is Singles Day (aka 11/11) in China so we usually buy a few things direct from sites like AliExpress on what is China’s equivalent of Black Friday to get our Christmas shopping started.
November 12 – Remembrance Day is over so I can officially start getting into the Christmas mood. (By this point, Costco has had Christmas stuff out since August.)
Late November – the never-ending battle between Shea and I about when to set-up our Christmas Tree usually comes to a truce around late November. I’d set it up on November 12 if she’d let me but she’d prefer well into December so we usually comprise for late November or early December.
Late November – RPL’s Social Club hosts a party for staff members that usually involves a supper, dancing or other entertainment, plus lots of door prizes (every time we’ve gone, there’s been enough that everyone attending wins something!) This event has been a moving target – other years, they moved the annual dinner into the New Year – Jan or Feb or even March – because people were busy in the weeks leading up to Xmas but I’m a big fan of having it before Xmas myself (which is what they’ve done the last couple years.)
Early December – RPL’s Social Club also always has a kid’s Christmas party. Don’t tell the kids but it’s pretty fun to catch up with Santa (a retired Physical Plant employee) before the party.
Early-Mid December – Shea and I go for our traditional Christmas lunch at a local restaurant we’ve never been too on a day we both have off and while the kids are in school and/or daycare.
Early-Mid December – All branches of RPL host a Holiday Open House with food, drink, crafts, music and more to thank our patrons for their patronage (get it?) through the past year.
Early-Mid December – one or two work Christmas parties for our offices/branches. Shea’s work had theirs in late November which was awesome. Mine ended up deciding not to have one as we couldn’t find a good date that worked for everyone.
Mid-December – Pace has a Christmas Holiday Concert at his school where we juggle afternoon and evening performance attendances with grandparents/Sasha depending on who’s available/who’s working/who’s not.
December 24 – Pace reads us “The Night Before Christmas” as he has every Christmas since he was 3. (Er, that wasn’t really reading. That was inserting the final word of the story as daddy read it aloud.) [Edit: New Tradition: We’ve started talking about the importance of giving to the kids and we try to pick a few charities to donate a bit of money to on Christmas Eve.)
December 25 – bring on the Bailey’s for breakfast! 😉 The big day includes presents, music, food, naps, occasionally a street hockey game, assembling toys/adding batteries, and did I mention food?
