a hip mom’s Christmas

People often wonder what a Hip Mom does at this time of year. Well, first off, we don’t celebrate Christmas but all the same, we can’t help but be drawn into the festive swing of things. Maybe it has to do with the huge, brightly lit Christmas trees or the long school holidays or the year winding down to a close.

Whatever it is, this is the best time to shop, eat out and unwind. After all, we have all year to put our noses to the grindstone! All work and no play makes us grow old faster. So, hi-ho, Prancer, Dancer, Silver … no, not you, Silver, you’re with the Lone Ranger !

This year, I sent out only 10 Christmas e-cards to close friends and family. I used to send a lot more but seeing as how many people even bother responding, I’ve slashed my list down to just that. Of the 10 I sent this time, 6 people opened their cards and only 1 person (my Scottish girl friend) bothered to reply. So much for the Christmas spirit !

On a more positive note, I’ve unfailingly received a Christmas text greeting from my car salesman every single year for the past 10 years. In fact, the dear man (bless him!) sends me greetings for every celebration including Valentine’s Day. Either he has a major crush on me or he’s nagging me to buy a new car .

Christmas Eve, we had dinner at a friend’s. There was a whole spread of homemade soup, salad, spaghetti and lasagna, turkey slices with cranberry jelly and turkey stuffing, lamb slices with mint sauce, mashed potato, and Christmas cake and pudding.

I took only 1 slice of turkey and 1 sushi roll of stuffing but ended up finishing up everything else on the girls’ plates, out of politeness. Suffice to say, my picky eaters decided the food was just a little too ‘different’ from my cooking .

Christmas morning, we had McD’s as I needed to make a quick trip to the mall to grab some last-minute fresh mushrooms, carrots and tomatoes for my Christmas dinner of chicken and shrimp linguine with roasted carrots. And that was it! Nothing too hip, just a quiet Christmas day!