Christmas, Bailey's and a Phenomenal Stocking.

First thing roommate and I had to do was to get a Christmas tree. The first place we spotted them was at the Loblaws about a 20 minute walk from the house. I met up with roommate at the subway, me in my snow gear and her in her work clothes wearing a lovely black work coat, her Goretex ski mitts, a hat and her scarf wrapped around her neck...the fattest most chunky scarf you could possibly imagine.

We picked our glorious tree and carted it home in the freezing, biting, harsh, cold winter wind, all along the Danforth, roommate struggling with her purse while keeping a tight grip on the tree and me with my backpack full of groceries. Of course we had to get groceries at the same time as a Christmas tree...we would rather struggle through the pain of the heavy items weighing us down than have to go for a second trip to Loblaws.

We got home, I set up the tree stand and we brought the tree in. Swagger was extremely skeptical and very confused that the item he so frequently pees on outside was now entering his home. I held the tree in position as roommate tried to get the base of the tree secured in the stand. It was no use. "We have to do some sawing, the tree is too big for the stand". Oh roommate. Did she want me to go and grab the saw we had in our kitchen cupboard? As soon as she said it, she knew it was impossible. We don't own a saw. Nice try though roommate. So, a new tree stand it is.

Decorating the tree was magical, making sure we put nothing on the bottom part of the tree as Hooligan is mesmerized by lights and tree ornaments. I occasionally find an ornament on the floor and can sometimes hear her tinkering with the branches. I have a glass bell ornament that alerts me to her attack on the tree, it urgently chimes if the tree makes any kind of movement. Last year my tree took a tumble when she tried to climb it. Luckily I hadn't decorated it yet, and she narrowly escaped being squished.

Finally the tree was decorated, eggnog  and Bailey's bought, wreath hung on our door, stockings over the fireplace and garland hung. Since roommate headed west today we decided that we would have our Christmas last night. We did each other's stockings and seeing as her childhood stocking is with her family, i had to buy one for her. Unfortunately the thing is quite heinous. It was the only one I could find. A red felt thing with "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" written across the top and three plastic bubbles on it with images of the classic Rudolph claymation film inside them.

Anyway, all cozied up in our jogging pants and hoodie attire with some wine in hand (and Bailey's too...), we began to unwrap our beautiful stockings:

Me: "Guacamole dip mix! I love guacamole!"

Roommate: "After Eights! I love After Eights!"

Me: "Organic animal crackers!? Amazing! I love animal crackers and they're organic!"

Roommate: "Oooooohh, Flake Away! For dryness! My scalp is so dry, this is perfect!"

Me: "Nooo! That doesn't go in your hair. It's a skin exfoliating wash! Please don't put it in your hair".

Roomate: "Oh, hahaha, imagine!?"

Me: "Yay! A Peel & Stick Chalkboard! We can put it in the kitchen and I can leave you a funny message every morning!"

Roommate: "Yeah, we have to find the other half of that gift. I couldn't find any chalk."

Me: "I love it!"

Roommate: "Oh my God...is this what I think it is!? Oh my God!" (Roommate is holding the yellow banana case I got for her). "Open that one! The one shaped like a banana!" she points to my pile of unwrapped stocking gifts.

Me: "No way! I got a banana case too!?!? Holy shit it's pink! I love it! And we'll know which one's mine and which one's yours because they're different colours!"

This was just phenomenal. There had been no previous talk from either of us about wanting a banana case for Christmas. We just knew. We knew it would be the best gift to give, and apparently it's the best one to receive too. No more bruised bananas, ever.

I was so excited for the last item roommate had to open. It didn't quite fit into the Rudolph stocking, it was on the fireplace mantle waiting for her. She unwrapped it and her eyes lit up right away and I could swear her head exploded when she recognized what it was.

Roommate: "NO YOU DIDN'T."

Me: "Yes! Yes I did! Ha!"

Roommate: "I was missing this! It's my favorite!!!!!"

Yes, I bought her the Dirty Dancing limited keepsake edition DVD. It comes with 2 special features DVD's and a book. It really is something. She loves it, and we decided right then and there that we were going to watch Dirty Dancing immediately. You can't just put that kind of thing on hold, but first I had to open my final gift. A beautiful pair of black leg warmers with buttons along the sides! I can't even explain how much I love these leg warmers. I knew right away they would be a perfect match for my black sparkle Christmas shoes. We really do know each other well.

Christmas is awesome, even if the lead up is chaos. I went to the mall last week, went into about 8 different stores and immediately turned on my heel and left. Too many crazy people. The Christmas music started on my favourite light rock station 98.1 the day of the Santa Claus parade, which was back in November. I hate radio Christmas music. That being said, I love curling up on the couch with roommate, the Christmas tree all lit up and sparkling, a hot chocolate and Bailey's in my hand (and a glass of wine!?), content after having opened the best stocking ever, munching on organic animal crackers.

Dirty Dancing starts, and our early Christmas couldn't have been more perfect.

After Christmas, we plan on making a giant snowman on top of all the empy bottles on the back deck.