This is date number seven in our 12 Dates of Christmas series. What do you do when you can’t decide between 3 restaurants? Go to all 3 for a food crawl!

SHE SAID:

Anyone who knows me knows I don’t have the biggest appetite. It’s not that I don’t want to eat; simple physics keeps me from stuffing much in. So when Brad suggested we go on a food crawl for one of our Christmas dates I was a bit concerned about how I would stuff 3 courses in.

A Christmas miracle happened. I somehow managed to stuff in some Mexicali Dip, lasagna and cheesecake without needing a tums. Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t necessarily finish each course, but at least had a healthy sampling of each. Now I sit and wonder how I did it and hope I didn’t stretch my stomach beyond repair.

I think the key to enjoying all 3 courses is to have ample time in between to recover. For instance, after our main course I was sure I wouldn’t be able to stuff in any cheesecake at Perk’s, but instead of heading there right away, we went on a mini drive to look at Christmas lights. This did wonders for the gag reflex. I was so happy that I could shove in more than one forkful of Chocolate Eruption dessert.

The food crawl was probably one of my favourite dates thus far. We got to try out 3 new restaurants and enjoyed a full night of each other’s company.

HE SAID:

After doing a bunch of Christmas themed dates that kept us mostly inside the house I was happy to get to do the food crawl. The idea is simple, take a pub crawl and replaced the pubs with restaurants and the alcohol with meals.

We both agreed we wanted to try at least one restaurant that was new to us. Our first stop was for appetizers at Mexicali Rosa’s. If you remember our post about the holiday parade, our car got trapped in the parking garage due to the traffic, so we went out for nachos. That was our first time at Mexicali Rosa’s and we really enjoyed it so we decided to come back. We ordered the Mexicali Dip which has beans, taco beef, Monterey Jack, sour cream, Pico de Gallo, guacamole, and green onions. It was very tasty with both the nacho chips and the pita bread for dipping. The best part about going to Mexicali Rosa’s for nachos/dip is that you get a little basket of nachos to snack on (instead of the usual bread) while you wait for your nachos!

After we finished with the appetizers we headed to Dofsky’s Grill for the main course. I had the Dofsky’s Burger (adventurous, I know) and Susan had Dofsky’s Signature Lasagna. We enjoyed it all very much. I got the burger because I wanted something that wouldn’t be too big since we still had another restaurant to go to. Little did I know that the burger was going to be massive. It tasted great though and I’m pretty sure we both liked it enough to go back some day. We were terrible at remembering to take pictures though, so you’ll have to settle for staring at my half eaten burger.

Lastly we went to Perks for dessert. If you’ve been reading our blog for a while you know that Susan and I enjoy Perks quite a bit, but we usually just go for coffee, tea, or hot chocolate. We had no idea they had such great desserts until a friend told us about it. We had some kind of Chocolate Eruption cheesecake or something that was really great.

The food crawl was a lot of fun. The best part about it for me is that we can do it again and make it feel like a totally original date if we pick a different set of restaurants. In the summer time it’s fun to pick places within walking distance of each other so that you can work off each course, but since it’s freezing cold this time of year we opted to jump in the car.

I would recommend a food crawl to anyone without hesitation. We had a great time. It’s fun to mix and match different types of food into one night, plus we got to experience a new restaurant. If you’ve ever done a food crawl we would love to hear about your experience.

This is date number six in our 12 Dates of Christmas series. Everybody has that thing that makes it “feel” like Christmas, whether it be Christmas goodies, Christmas movies, or being around friends and family. For us that thing is taking a drive around town and looking at all the houses decorated with lights for the holidays. This year we did it a little earlier than usual, but it might be worth doing twice.

SHE SAID:

Going for a drive to see Christmas lights was one of my favourite things to do when I was a kid. There was a subdivision the next community over from ours that used to have a Christmas lights competition that never let us down. We would all pile in the car and judge the houses and my dad would patiently drive as we screamed at him to slow down for certain houses.

There was one house in particular in Fall River that we always used to go to that was elaborately decorated with various cartoon characters and mountains of sparking lights. You could get out of your car and go into the “gingerbread house” (shed) to sign the guest book. Brad’s family used to take him there as well so we may very well have brushed shoulders as kids as we gazed upon the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Mickey Mouse displays.

So far this year I have yet to be really impressed by anyone’s Christmas lights. In fact, I’m a little disappointed. I don’t think the problem is in the neighbourhoods we’ve picked or the time of night we go. I think the disappointment lies in the lights themselves. I think the switch over to LED Christmas lights is more pronounced now and there’s no ignoring the hideous blue glow anymore.

I get that LED lights burn less electricity and they’ll somehow stop the ocean waters from rising, but couldn’t the global warming geniuses have come up with something that has a bit of a warmer glow? There, I said it. Call me environmentally irresponsible, but I will never own or adorn anything with LED Christmas lights. If the dim bluish glow isn’t enough to whip you into a depression, the manner in which they bug your eyes out surely will.

That being said, there are a few homes that still hang the so called “old fashioned” lights up and even though half the paint is chipping off the lights they’re still my favourite houses to visit.

Even though the lighting fashions have changed, I still enjoy grabbing a cup of hot cocoa (the peppermint hot chocolate with whipped topping from Second Cup is the best!), putting on some Christmas tunes in the car and driving lazily around town to see the sparkling lights.

HE SAID:

A few years ago my family and I went to Florida for Christmas. We all had visions of basking in the hot sun on Christmas day while all our friends and relatives froze back home. Instead we got rain, rain, and more rain. We made the best of it though and it is now a Christmas I will never forget.

One of the best memories of that trip was from Christmas Eve. Our tradition when we’re home is to jump in the car on Christmas Eve and go look at all the homes that have been decorated. It’s sort of like the final thing that makes it “feel” like Christmas. We didn’t want to lose the tradition just because we were in Florida that year, so we jumped in the car and drove around looking at Christmas lights. We were staying at my grandmother’s place where there are a lot of seniors in the area. Let’s just say they put us Canadians to shame when it comes to lights. They go all out.

We actually tried this date twice since the first time didn’t really work out. We thought it would be fun to drive to a really nice part of town where all the super rich people live. My assumption was since they have all kinds of money, they would go all out with the festive decorations. Not so my friends, not so. Maybe in these tough economic times they thought they would be rubbing their wealth in the faces of the rest of us if they got carried away, I don’t know. If that is the reason, I think it’s a poor one since their huge mansions do a nice enough job of exhibiting their wealth. Regardless, there was hardly a light to be seen.

Our second attempt was a little closer to home and it was much nicer. It’s fun to see the new trends every year that people try out. A few years ago everybody bought those reindeer made of lights, and another year it was the icicle lights hanging from every surface on the houses. This year it seemed like a lot of people used the same company, Christmas Decor, where you buy the decorations and you pay them to do all the work. It’s easy to tell which houses used them because the roof lines were all perfectly outlined in white lights.

Although it wasn’t Christmas Eve, I still had a lot of fun looking at Christmas lights this year. I actually saw a neighborhood I had no idea existed, even though I lived five minutes away for most of my life. It’s a great way to explore the town you live in, get in the Christmas spirit, and spend time with someone you love. Truth be told, we enjoy it so much we’ll probably do it again on Christmas Eve.

This is date number five in our 12 Dates of Christmas series. One of the best things about the holidays is all the great food that seems to be everywhere you look. The smell of delicious, freshly baked cookies makes a cold winter night a little more pleasant. So we decided to do some Christmas baking and decorating.

SHE SAID:

Every year I plan on cutting down on the Christmas baking, and every year it seems I add one more baked good to my list. This year I really wanted to enter John Mayer’s Interfaith Holiday Baking Competition, and I still might, but I have yet to find the time or inspiration that John deserves. Sorry, John.

I like to bake, but I rarely take the time to do it. When Christmas rolls around, I usually make the mistake of trying to fit it all into one day. This year was no different.

Unless you have the energy level of the energizer bunny, I would not recommend attempting more than one baked good on your date. In fact, I might spread out the baking and the decorating over two days.

Baking can be pretty fun, but my favourite part in the process is the decorating. I think Brad would agree. This year during my baking supplies shopping at Michael’s I found these cute little sugar pearls that I think take your decorating from okay to semi-impressive. I also bought some new snowflake cookie cutters. It’s nice if you can have a variety of cookie cutters so that boredom doesn’t set in. That being said, sometimes it’s nice to stick to one shape and alternate designs.

If baking is not your thing but you’d still like to give decorating a try, buy some undecorated cookies from the grocery store, pre-made icing and sprinkles and you’ll be good to go.

HE SAID:

One of our favorite TV shows is Cake Boss on TLC. We both love watching Buddy create the most elaborate, beautiful, and not to mention edible creations. Though I now know what fondant and modeling chocolate are thanks to Cake Boss, watching a show does not an expert make.

Susan mercifully spared me from the actual baking portion of the evening, probably for her own sanity more than kindness towards me. Whatever the reason, I’m glad she let me sit on the sidelines. She turns into a machine when she gets baking. There’s screaming and shouting coming from the kitchen, a cloud of flour dust in the air, and a few panic attacks, but in the end she always walks away with a Costco sized amount of baked goods.

When it was time to sit down and decorate, I felt pretty confident. How hard could it be to put icing on cookies and make them look nice?

I started easy with a star shaped gingerbread cookie. I just outlined it with icing and then put a sugar pearl in the center. As soon as I tried to get a little fancy by adding another outline of icing it all went bad. I then moved on to the stocking shaped ginger bread cookies. They were nice and easy. My favorite part of the night, my crowning achievement, is my little Himmery (our cat) gingerbread cookie. I’m not sure what the cookie was supposed to be shaped like, but it looked like a good candidate for a cat to me.

Let’s face it, I’ll never be on Cake Boss. My cookie decorating skills leave much to be desired. That said, it was actually more fun than I expected. There was one minor issue though. I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m really not a fan of getting my hands dirty. So when I got icing all over my hands while decorating, I was not pleased. In fact, I may have panicked a little inside. Thankfully there was a glass of water near by, so I dowsed my hands and kept going.

If you’re with someone who is really easy going, and you’re pretty easy going yourself, go ahead and try the actual baking part of this date together. Otherwise, do what we did and let the more experienced (and particular) of the two of you do the baking and then decorate together. Remember to just have fun with it. When things go bad, just go with it and see what happens. We would love to hear your Christmas baking stories. What is your favorite holiday treat?

This is date number four of the 12 Dates of Christmas. Watching Christmas movies is one of our favorite holiday traditions. There’s nothing better than settling in on a cold winter night and watching a movie that reminds you of all the good times that come with Christmas. This year we decided to watch Elf. Though it wasn’t an easy decision to make, the night turned out just fine in the end.

SHE SAID:

Every year since we’ve been married we’ve had the tradition of adding a new Christmas movie (or two) to our collection. I’m sure we’ll eventually run out of good ones, but so far in our collection we have Home Alone, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, The Holiday and the original How the Grinch Stole Christmas movie.

This year was a bit of a battle of the sexes as I wanted to buy The Santa Clause and Brad wanted to purchase Elf. Since I weaseled my way into getting The Holiday last year, I graciously agreed to his choice.

Elf is one of those movies that I originally hated and now like more and more every time I watch it. I’m not sure where my initial hatred stemmed from, but I think it had something to do with having no prior Will Ferrell appreciation. Brad, on the other hand, has loved Elf since day one, when Zooey Deschanel first appeared to him on screen and changed his life forever.

Elf is actually a pretty funny movie and I’ll watch it any day over A Christmas Carol. That movie is a glorified Christmas horror film that will NEVER make it’s way into my collection…unless maybe if it’s the Muppet’s version.

One movie that I have been trying to get my hands on is a cartoon that aired on CBC back in the 80’s called Bluetoes: The Christmas Elf. I know you can get it on YouTube, but if anyone out there knows of where you can buy it on DVD please let me know!

Our movie date started out pretty well, but ended as many of our mid-week movie dates do – me asleep within the first half hour. I made the mistake of lying down and not eating to keep my brain awake and turned into a limp, unconscious figure. Clearly, I was not a very good date. Learn from my mistakes.

HE SAID:

One of the traditions that my family started during the last few years I lived at home was to watch a Christmas movie on Christmas Eve just before we went to bed. We didn’t just watch any Christmas movie, no no. We watched National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. I love that movie. Sure, I don’t laugh as hard as the first time I saw it, but it still gets me every time.

Susan and I don’t have a specific day that we like to watch Christmas movies on, but instead our tradition is just to buy and watch a new Christmas movie until we run out of ones we’re interested in. I won the battle this year and got Elf. I would imagine this is a love it or hate it kind of movie. I think Will Ferrell’s silliness is perfect in this movie as he plays a human who was raised as an elf. Of course the best part of the movie is Zooey Deschanel, who lights up the screen (and my heart) with every scene she is in.

Anyway, I love watching Christmas movies. For me it’s one of the best ways to get into the Christmas spirit. I remember as a kid being incredibly excited when we would catch a Christmas special on TV.

I think some of my favorite Christmas specials are ones that I can’t find anymore, except on YouTube. Last night I came across the Sesame Street Christmas Eve special. I used to have the audio of it on cassette when I was a kid and I remember listening to it when I went to bed. I also remember enjoying Raggedy Ann & Andy Great Santa Caper, A Muppet Family Christmas, and Babar and Father Christmas.

Watching a Christmas movie is a great date idea. There’s no better way to bring two people together than through a classic movie you both enjoy. It might be a good idea to have a festive treat to eat and to make sure it’s not too late at night if you’re like us and tend to fall asleep easily.

Since our collection includes two copies of Home Alone on DVD, we thought it would be fun to give one copy away to you. Here’s how to win:

The Prize: 1 copy of Home Alone on DVD

How to Enter: Leave a comment on this post about your favorite Christmas movie. Make sure to include your email address so that we can contact you if you win.

Fine Print: Contest closes Friday, December 11th at 2pm ADT (that’s tomorrow, so be quick!) and is open to Canadian and U.S. readers. If you are chosen as a winner we will message you to find out your shipping address. You then have 72 hours to respond to our message.

Winner: We have a winner! The winner of the Home Alone DVD is Cali. I’ll be contacting you shortly. Thanks to everyone who entered.

This is date number three of the 12 Dates of Christmas. Decorating the Christmas tree is a great tradition. It brings everyone together to have fun and remember years gone by. It also brings on uncontrollable rage and tears of frustration when two people from very different tree decorating backgrounds try to come together to create their own masterpiece.

SHE SAID:

One thing that really gets my goat about Christmas is all of the false images associated with most traditions. Everywhere are images of perfect families happily decorating perfect Christmas trees and drinking perfect hot cocoa while sitting by perfect fires. For once I wish someone would show the flipside of things – cranky families decorating crooked trees and burning their tongues on hot cocoa while sitting next to their TV’s “Faux Fire.” Maybe then I wouldn’t feel so frustrated when my attempts at a perfect tree don’t work out.

I know creating the perfect tree is an impossible task, but my childhood compels me to try. When I was growing up, my parents always seemed to effortlessly create the perfect Christmas tree. My dad would spend at least two nights running rows of lights in and around every branch to create the perfectly balanced glow of lights, while my mom would patiently string silver beads expertly from branch to branch, creating perfectly spaced loops. By the time we were done, the ornaments all hung freely and an angel sat perfectly erect at the top.

Things weren’t quite the same for Brad growing up, so it’s no wonder that when we first decorated a tree together there were a few misunderstandings.

It happens to us every year. Every year I get excited about dragging out all of the ornaments and putting up the tree, and every year, at some point, I get cranky at the tree and want to set a match to it.

The rage usually begins to present itself during the lights stage. Nothing makes my inner Christmas tree burn more than unevenly distributed lights. Next are the beads. Beads are usually what do me in, so this year we skipped them, and I don’t think I will ever bead a tree again!

Though I had to re-hang a few ornaments behind Brad’s back that weren’t hanging freely, I think I did really well this year at just relaxing and enjoying the time spent together.

HE SAID:

Decorating the Christmas tree was always a fun time in my house growing up. We’d put some Christmas music on really loud and talk about all our favorite ornaments as we took them out of their boxes. There wasn’t a whole lot of attention to detail. We just kind of put the ornaments wherever felt right (although mom probably fixed things up a little after we were done and gone to bed).

I still enjoy decorating the tree, however I’ve learned that not everyone shares my feelings about not needing perfection. To me it’s the fun of remembering the old decorations that have been around for years, and about spending time with family. If the lights are a little bare in some spots, who cares, just mask it with extra bulbs!

Our first two Christmas’s together we opted for a real tree. We liked going out into the cold and choosing the right tree, then bringing it home and having the smell drift through the whole house. The problem is that the second year our tree was crooked and thin and didn’t even have a smell. So after cleaning up 10 lbs. of needles, we finally caved and went fake. We found a really nice fake tree though that looks quite full.

Every year we try to buy a new tree ornament. Our first year together we got one with two penguins on it that says “Our 1st Christmas”, then the year after that we got one in New York. This year, we (or more specifically I) chose an ornament at the craft fair made to look like the Grinch. This is now one of my favorites and I think when we have kids they’ll get a kick out of it too.

Of course no task in the Murray household would be complete without being entertained by our cat Himmery. He was very curious about every decoration we brought out. His favorite new hiding spot is right underneath the tree in the back corner where he likes to sit and gnaw at the low branches. I think he secretly hopes to choke on a plastic needle so he can rid himself of this mortal coil. He somehow found a way to perch himself on the back of our couch and watch us decorate. I’m sure if he could speak English he would have been judging us harshly. That’s just how he rolls.

We had a great time decorating the tree this year. I think we’re both learning to bring our very different tree decorating backgrounds together in a way that isn’t quite as stress inducing as previous years. What are some of your favorite tree decorating traditions? Do you have any favorite old ornaments that you love seeing every year?

This is date number two of the 12 Dates of Christmas. Neither of us had ever assembled a gingerbread house before, and both of us had visions of it ending in a heaping pile of gingerbread and tears. Thankfully it didn’t turn out that bad, and we might even do it again next Christmas.

SHE SAID:

For years I have avoided making a gingerbread house. I would sidestep the displays in the grocery stores and scoff at the advertisements that promised family fun. Knowing how impatient I can get if something tedious and time consuming doesn’t work out (remember the model car post?) I figured I would do everyone involved a favour and steer clear of the little homes of sugary delights.

The thing I thought would send me over the edge was how to get the walls of the house to stay up. What I didn’t know was that some kits that you can buy (like ours) have little grooves that you fit the house into to help support it. Plus, I didn’t realize how thick the icing was. Problem solved!

Once the walls were up, it was time to get creative with the candies. I loved having the kit because everything we needed was included in the box. The only thing I was disappointed with was the fact that you couldn’t make it look as good as the gingerbread house on the box because it didn’t come with the fancy icing bag tips you can use to make nicer designs.

Now that I’m over my gingerbread house qualms, I’m thinking I might get a little crazy next year and maybe try to make one without a kit. I haven’t mentioned this to Brad yet, though, so don’t hold me to it. He may have a few reservations.

HE SAID:

Most parents buy their son some LEGO at some point in his life. This is usually met with excitement and happiness. These kids dream of building exactly what is shown on the box, and then taking it apart and building something totally different. The parents beam with pride when their child shows them what they’ve built with the LEGO, and all live happily ever after….this is not my story.

My parents did buy me LEGO at some point, but happiness on my part did not follow. I opened the box, emptied out all the pieces, read the instructions, and began to build. The first few pieces were always fun and easy to assemble. Then came that first vital piece that would make or break the construction. Emphasis on break. My LEGO dreams always ended in a pile of pieces while I contemplated throwing the whole box right across the room.

Now, 20 years later, I still fear activities that hinge on construction. So I was naturally terrified to put together a gingerbread house. It seemed like a slightly more delicious version of my LEGO nightmare all over again.

Thankfully my fears were totally unneeded. The gingerbread house came together relatively easily. We ran into some issues due to the frosting that holds everything together not drying fast enough, but there really were no major catastrophes to report. One of the biggest problems we encountered was one side of the roof kept sliding down. While trying to get it back in place, one of the walls of the house started to cave in. Luckily we got it all under control and nobody raged as a result.

This could be an interesting date depending on how long you’ve known the person you are with. It’s a good test to see how well you communicate and work together. More importantly, it’s a great way to expose the hidden rage that resides in you or your partner. Trust me, if there’s anything bubbling beneath the surface, it will show itself before the gingerbread house is complete. For us it would have been fine no matter how it turned out. If I had smashed the house like I did with my LEGO as a kid, it wouldn’t have shattered our relationship. However, if it was a first date, my luck might not be so good.

(Click here to see our Christmas Giveaway)

]]> http://thingstodofortwo.com/12-dates-of-christmas-gingerbread-house/feed/ 5 http://thingstodofortwo.com/12-dates-of-christmas-relive-our-first-date/ http://thingstodofortwo.com/12-dates-of-christmas-relive-our-first-date/#comments Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:21:45 +0000 Brad http://thingstodofortwo.com/?p=537

This is the first of our 12 Dates of Christmas series so we thought reliving our first date would be fitting. We jumped in the car and went to Perks in Halifax where we reminisced about old times and dreamed about things to come. We also had a run in with a crazy lady, but you’ll have to read on to find out about that!

SHE SAID:

Our first date was definitely not very glamorous and some might argue it was no date at all. We simply went to Perks, a local coffee shop in Halifax, ordered hot chocolates and talked for a few hours. It was simple and perfect and not too costly to relive!

It’s hard to believe it’s been over six years since our first date, so it’s no wonder I barely recognized the inside of Perks. I no longer live in Halifax and therefore don’t frequent Perks as and had no idea they had undergone such extensive renovations. The only thing we did differently than our first date was that we opted to sit in the new cozy little nook off the main entrance.

While we were trying to think of the details of our first date, I found I remembered really odd, useless details like what we drank and Brad nervously playing with a napkin. Brad, on the other hand, can practically quote our conversation verbatim. This time around the same thing happened. Once again we ordered hot chocolates and once I again I forget what we talked about. I swear I was paying attention.

I really enjoyed going back to the place it all began. Not only did we get to reminisce but we got to make new memories as well.

HE SAID:

I’m not sure what most first dates look like, but I’m pretty sure ours was a little unusual. We had been friends for several years so we knew each other quite well. It was more of an unofficial first date since it was quite a while after this that we were officially a couple.

You know how men are typically the ones who forget important details about their relationships? Well, in this case it’s reversed. Susan totally forgot the fact that I bared my soul to her on our first date. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever worked up the nerve to do, and all she remembers is the music we listened to in the car on the way there.

It was a lot of fun to go back to Perks all these years later. Life has changed a lot, and so have we, but it was nice to take a minute to look back and see how far we’ve come.

No relived date would be complete without making new memories. Let me set the stage. We’re sitting off to the side of Perks, drinking our hot chocolates, and enjoying our evening, when all of a sudden this older woman comes around the corner talking about how she should have a reserved sign on her seat. She then proceeds to sit down right next to us and just sits there and stares at us for a good five minutes. She wasn’t sitting in the next seat over either, she was so close we could almost smell her breath as she snorted in disgust. Susan wanted to get up and leave, but I refused to give in. We sat there staring at each other in silence determined to out wait this woman. After what seemed like an eternity, she angrily got up and moved to another seat. It was one of the strangest things a stranger has ever done to me. If she had politely asked us to move I may have considered it, but since she decided to force us out by making us feel awkward, I decided to out last her awkwardness. It worked!

There were no life altering conversations at Perks this time around, but it was great fun. We talked about the memories of when Susan used to live in Halifax and the fun we had just hanging out together. We also talked about the future and how grateful we are for the way life has turned out. Reliving our first date was a great idea. It gave us perspective on how far we’ve come, and reminded us to have fun in life as much as possible, because time goes by very fast. Hopefully your first date experiences were positive enough that you want to relive them. If so, get out there and give it a try!

Back in 2008 Oprah featured a couple from Nova Scotia on her “Favourite Things” show. The couple had taken the idea of the 12 days of Christmas and created the 12 dates of Christmas instead. They wanted to promote spending time with loved ones rather than spending a lot of money on Christmas. Unfortunately, we are not the couple that was featured on Oprah, but we love the idea. In fact, we love it so much we decided to do our own version of the 12 Dates of Christmas.

Out of our list of twelve date ideas we chose eight of our favourites to write about. We both wish we could do all twelve, however due to the craziness of this time of year, and our desire to remain married, we were forced to choose only eight.

Without further ado, here is our list (in random order) of the 12 Dates of Christmas:

1. Relive our first date

2. Put up and decorate our Christmas Tree

3. Make home made Christmas ornaments

4. Play a Christmas board game

5. Bake some Christmas treats

6. Assemble a gingerbread house

7. Have a Christmas movie night

8. Make homemade Christmas gifts

9. Go for a Christmas lights drive

10. Go on a Food Crawl

11. Make a Snow Supper (winter theme)

12. Go see a Christmas show (such as The Nutcracker)

Look for our blog post about reliving our first date on Wednesday, December 2nd, and since it is the most wonderful time of year, our most wonderful giveaway yet is just around the corner. Hopefully this list looks interesting to you. We’re looking forward to lots of fun over the next few weeks and can’t wait to hear about all your favourite Christmas activities, traditions, and memories.