It's been a good Christmas this year. A highlight was the Dude playing the role of Joseph at the Christmas pageant. When we arrived at church just minutes before the program was due to start, the priest organizing the pageant asked the Dude if he'd like to be Joseph because no one else had volunteered to do it. The Dude was a good sport and joined the kiddies up on stage. It was hilarious!

It's officially winter now. Hooray! Not because it's winter, but because the days will be getting longer from this day forward. I can already smell the summer coming...yeah, I'm hopeless.

Spent the morning with the Chancel Guild ladies decorating the church for Christmas. I mainly worked on flower arrangements. I've never really done flower arranging so I was a bit nervous, but to my relief my work was approved. And there was a lot of holly left over so I brought home a bunch to to fill our little apartment with some Christmas cheer.

It seems that every year I kinda get hyper during the Advent season, especially during the times I've lived in Vancouver. So I've been getting very sleep because I keep waking up super early. As Christmas approaches I just get more and more excited. Also, all the festivities distract me from the crappy weather so I generally feel really cheerful and upbeat. I regain the energy I normally have during the summer for a short month in the dead of winter. And then in January I usually crash. But I'm going to try to avoid that this year.

It just feels more Christmas-y here in Vancouver so I totally get into it. And I'm especially relieved that this year the snow won't paralyze the city as it did last year at this time.

My etsy shop made its first sale over the weekend! Yippee-skippy!

Lotsa things happening...one highlight has been joining the Chancel Guild at church. Our group's turn came up this past weekend so I got to learn the ropes. I've been wanting to be part of the Chancel Guild ever since I attended my first Anglican church, so when I was invited to join I jumped at the opportunity. After having not been very involved in a church for the first year I was back in Vancouver, now I'm very eager to get plugged in at my new church. When I left All Saints Pasadena, which I adored, I thought it would be nearly impossible to find a church that I liked enough to settle down in. But by God's grace I did, and I'm very happy where I'm at. Usually at a new church I hang back for at least half a year before getting involved in anything, but at this current church somehow it's ended up that I've been getting plugged in pretty much from the get-go.

I finally opened up my first Etsy shop! It's called Sugarpush Vintage and it specializes in handpicked vintage goods for the home. It went live last week and it's still very much a work in progress. I have more items that need to be added and hopefully the photos will improve.

I've wanted to have an online store for a long time and finally went ahead with it. I'm very excited about it! And I really love Etsy as a place to do business.